Ben Cronin
Everything is up for grabs
You might think it difficult to condense six days, 1,500 manufacturers and all of their products into a simple conclusion, but one message suggested itself loud and clear at this year’s Light+Building: LEDs have come of age
Time to call a ceasefire
There comes a moment in the development of certain types of technology when it becomes impractical to significantly improve them. Sometimes there’s a need to refocus on what’s really important to the end market
Low energy, not low quality
In February 2009, in the teeth of the global financial crisis, the Australian government announced it was making $2.7 billion of public money available to insulate the roofs of 2.7 million homes. On paper it seemed like a brilliantly conceived economic stimulus package with a number of advantages
What Jobs can teach lighting
When Steve Jobs died recently, it was easy to speculate that his demise would have resonated with the lighting industry more than most. Perhaps it was the way his products melded engineering with beautiful aesthetics, or his talent for delivering watershed technology, but it would take an unimaginative manager or product designer not to wonder what the man in the turtleneck would have done for lighting
The energy story
We went to press this month just as news reached us of the sad demise of Elite Lighting Solutions and lower than expected growth in the lighting division at Philips
Self flagellation
When asked his formula for beating the England cricket team, a former Australian captain once said: “We’ll win the first match, and then let the British media do the rest.” Coming from a typically confident Australian, this judgment on our capacity for self flagellation ought to have been taken with a pinch of salt.
