ArchLIGHT Summit

The singularity refers to a moment in time when technological innovation occurs so rapidly, it is incomprehensible. Humans inherently understand and falsely project technological advancements as linear growth. However, most technological evolutions are actually advancing exponentially, as seen in the Moore's Law trend. Lighting is no exception. This can be seen from the use of fire to the beginnings of electric lighting, to the current efficacies of LED sources and the recent LPD reductions in current energy conservation codes. Light sources used for millennia were all flame based, with viable electric lighting only being available for the last ~200 years. From the first electric lamp, it took close to 80 years to have a viable incandescent light for commercial use. Lighting technology has continued to improve to today’s available sources. We are now at a point where our current LED technology is 20x as efficacious as traditional incandescent sources, and have 50+x longer lifespan. Within the last 10 years alone, LED efficacies have doubled. What is next? And how quickly will be get there? This presentation will explore the history of the tools of lighting, and their trajectory toward the lighting singularity.