Are LED’s takig over our lives?
Shanghai, 19th May 2014
Arrived in the land of LED for a couple of project meetings over the next few days…with (as I have been made to understand) more than 6000 LED manufacturers in China alone I think we can easily call China the kingdom of LED. You just need to walk through the city here in Shanghai which I did earlier to go for dinner to see for yourself. There is hardly a light that is NOT LED. The thing is that here the mentality is probably a bit different. In China it has always been about money so what you see are not the high end products, somehow people don’t seem to care, its just a new technology and if it does not work we just fix or replace it. While lifespan and energy saving maybe part of the sales talks, LED just seem to be another commodity, despite all the sales talk nobody really seem to have high expectations probably as this has been a way of life in China anyhow.
Copying and cheating, despite the government’s huge drive to stamp out corruption is still very much rampant and over the years people have come to accept that good quality is an exception rather then a rule. However things are changing; just walk along Nanjing Xi Lu and you will see all the international luxury brands and departments store are represented with their branded goods, even though you can buy a copy just a few streets away. There is a clear trend towards wanting to break with the image that Chinese are copiers, not caring for quality. With the new found riches you will be surprised how many youth also frequent the real branded good stores!
But to come back to my train of thought, you cant escape the feeling that the LED’s are slowly but gradually taking over our lives! On my way to Shanghai this morning I have been working on a remodelled version of my talk recently held in Qatar that specifically centres around this thought. We are no longer free to decide what lighting we want…as by now LED seems to be the only available choice!
Light Watch 5-83: As I walked outside there was a slight drizzle creating some polaroid like effects in some pictures…not sure why in May there is still a Christmas like LED decoration in the trees?
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