Green thinking grid ceiling light: RICOMAN's MD interview

03-10-2019

“The challenge was obvious, we needed to create a truly sustainable grid ceiling luminaire to help us build a greener future”

LED lighting has revolutionized lighting as we know it, with its great many benefits and environmental aid, relieving the issues associated with fluorescent lighting. However, some LED lighting, particularly grid ceiling luminaires can have their own problems which seems to have been largely overlooked, until now.

Traditional LED panels contain a large amount of plastic in the refractor and diffusers. This is a cause for concern as the chemicals used in the manufacturing of acrylic products, the chemical waste from the acrylic plants and what happens to the materials after they have served their life can be a big issue for the environment.

This encompasses the two-fold issue, RICOMAN have tried to eradicate; the heavy use of plastics and the throw away nature of LED panels on the market.

Speaking to Liang Gao, MD RICOMAN Lighting;

“The use of plastics in every product is something that is at the forefront of our business ethos and corporate responsibility. When we look at the grid ceiling market, LED panels are being sold into the UK market by millions of units per year  – that means an unimaginable amount of plastic is being used in the production of these panels and even more horrifying the same amount of plastic is being discarded.  This needs to change and the challenge was obvious, we need to create a truly sustainable grid ceiling luminaire to help us build a greener future. The luminaire needs to use as little plastics as possible and the components need to be able to be replaced at the end of the products lifetime.”

RICOMAN has launched an innovative new product into the LED lighting industry which they believe will change the market for the better. The new luminaire offers installation versatility, different optic to suit lighting design applications and fantastic performance to give even more energy savings, all at an affordable cost comparable to panel lights.  However, their new luminaire uses around 94% (by weight) less plastics than a standard LED panel and at the end of its lifetime the modules which contain the light engines and drivers can be simply replaced without the need for any wiring or even any tools! The old modules can even be returned back to RICOMAN where they will be recycled into new modules.

In addition to the environmental benefits the product holds, there are also many features which would spark the interest of architects and lighting designers.  The modules within the luminaire are available with a plethora of options; starting with the basic -  colour temperature options, these are available in 3000K, 4000K, 5000K and tuneable white. When we look at dimming, the luminaires are available in DALI, 0-10V or mains dimming; however to get to the really exciting part we need to look at the lighting modules themselves. The lighting modules are available with 5 optic styles; Standard diffusing, recessed aperture defusing lenses, wall washing optics, low glare louvre and an LG7 diffuser which emits light onto the ceiling surface.

All of these options can either fit into a standard grid ceiling, be surface mounted or suspended. In addition they are able to be used with our metal pan ceiling clips so the luminaires can be pushed up into a Burgess, SAS or Armstrong ceiling.

The O2 modular system emerged from a commitment to create products that are both innovative and have a minimum environmental impact.  This is how RICOMAN proudly launches in the market a genuinely sustainable product, the O2, hoping to contribute to the ongoing attempt for a greener future.