Cross-straits Seminar Focuses on Green Lighting

The 12th Cross-Strait Lighting Technology and Sales Seminar, jointly organized by the Taiwan Lighting Fixture Export Association (TLFEA) and the China Illuminating Engineering Society (CIES), was held in Chengdu, China on Nov. 9-11 last year.

The seminar focused on green lighting and covered such topics as the lighting environment and equipment for intelligent buildings, energy-conservation standards and making the most of natural illumination in modern buildings, new standards for road lighting and intelligent lighting controls, the latest development of new light sources such as LEDs and OLEDs and their applications, efficiency standards for energy-conserving lighting products plus the establishment and implementation of the standards, energy-conserving design and improvements in traditional lighting products, strategies for promoting green lighting, and energy-conserving solutions in lighting design.

The seminar was designed to provide a platform for interaction by manufacturing, marketing, and application organizations in the field of energy-efficient lighting products. It aimed to create an environment that would inspire participants to exchange ideas and opinions. New and efficient lighting products were also on display.

The event was attended by over 100 specialists from industrial, academic, and research organizations on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. The Taiwanese delegation, led by TLFEA chairman Sam Chen, numbered around 40 people.

Workshop presentations were made by E.P. Tsai, chairman of the China Electrical Mfg. Co.; Dr. L.L. Lee, a senior researcher from the Energy and Resources Laboratories of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI); Dr. Hsiao Horng-chin, a professor from the Department of Electrical Engineering at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology; S.B. Huang, project manager from the Optoelectronics and Systems Laboratories of ITRI; Dr. Chou Ding-chen, professor from the Architecture Department of the National Taipei University of Technology; and C.S. Chen, vice president of the Taiwan Fluorescent Lamp Co.

The high price of oil has brought on renewed concerns about global energy resources; this is especially relevant to lighting, because lighting products account for an estimated 20-25% of total power consumption in the United States and 10-12% in China. Obviously, the development of energy-conserving lighting products has emerged as a pivotal task-and opportunity-for lighting companies on both sides of the straits.

The lighting industry has grown very rapidly in mainland China-thanks in no small part to decades of effort by Taiwanese manufacturers operating there--and is one of the key industries that have been pinpointed for encouragement by the mainland authorities. Electrical power is in short supply there, prompting the government to vigorously promote environmentally friendly, energy-saving lighting products such as automatic electronic ballasts, dimmers, metal-halide lamps, high-pressure sodium lamps, low-voltage halogen lamps, and LED lamps. (KL)