2014 China Road Lighting Forum Opens on the 15th in Gaoyou, Jiangsu

　　The 2014 China Road Lighting Forum (10th Edition), co-organized by the China Association of Lighting Industry, the Outdoor Lighting Committee of the Illuminating Engineering Society of China, and the Urban Lighting Committee of the China Municipal Engineering Association, was grandly held from April 14-16, 2014, in Gaoyou City, Jiangsu Province. With the theme of "Leading Innovation and Development Direction," the Forum adheres to the principle of "building a comprehensive exchange and cooperation platform for municipal management experts, technical experts, constructors, road lighting designers, and road lighting manufacturers." Co-organized by China Street Lighting Manufacturing Base, Philips, Tianying Zhiguang, Zhongqi Shiye, NVC, Longteng Lighting, GE, Cree, and other organizations, and with China Light Network (the official website of CALI) as the supporting media providing comprehensive coverage of the conference.

　　On April 15, the first day of the Forum featured technical exchange presentations, and in the afternoon, two parallel sessions were held to discuss road lighting product design, standards, and testing; urban road lighting management and technical application. At the opening ceremony of the Forum, Liu Shengping, Chairman of the China Association of Lighting Industry; Li Guobin, Director of the Outdoor Lighting Committee of the Illuminating Engineering Society of China; and Zhang Hua, Deputy Secretary-General of the Urban Lighting Committee of the China Municipal Engineering Association, delivered addresses respectively, while Chen Yansheng, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of CALI, served as the host of the conference.

　　The main content of the Forum includes: the latest policies, regulations, and plans on urban lighting from the three national ministries; summary and analysis of urban lighting management; academic exchange and discussion topics: 1) Unified planning and energy-saving implementation of road lighting and nightscape lighting, 2) Road lighting design, selection, and energy-saving technology application, 3) Road lighting maintenance and operation management, 4) Research on the application of semiconductor lighting in roads, 5) Tunnel lighting design and application research, 6) Road lighting luminaire design standards, problems in implementation and solutions, 7) Discussion on road lighting enterprise management, development strategy, and technological innovation; introduction of excellent domestic and international road lighting engineering cases; dynamic trends of international road lighting-related standards and technology development; introduction of new technologies and new products of road lighting enterprises (in the form of technical seminars), etc. Through discussing the development of road lighting at home and abroad, the Conference summarized the standard setting, comprehensive design, implementation, and engineering experience of road lighting in China; promoted scientific planning and design of road lighting construction, further improved the level of scientific research, manufacturing, and technical application of energy-saving light sources, lamps, ballasts, and intelligent control that are energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, safe, and stable in performance; promoted the scientific and efficient implementation of operation, maintenance, and management by road lighting management units; improved the quality of urban road lighting and tunnel lighting, and created a safe, comfortable, economical, and healthy living environment.

　　At the meeting, Wang Shuxiao from the Light Environment and Lighting Research Center of the China Academy of Building Research introduced the development status and trends of semiconductor lighting. The main work carried out by the China Academy of Building Research in the field of road lighting includes: being responsible for the compilation of major national lighting application standards (the standards that currently have an important impact on LED lighting products in road lighting applications mainly include: "Urban Road Lighting Design Standard" and "Technical Requirements for LED Urban Road Lighting Applications"); undertaking semiconductor lighting project tracking and inspection tasks commissioned by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development; and conducting LED road lighting project inspections nationwide (inspections revealed that the qualification rate of main road lighting is only 10%, and that of secondary roads is merely 5%. The lumen maintenance of most luminaires is lower than the laboratory-predicted value; LED luminaires with a rated life of 35,000 hours have a lumen maintenance rate of 94% at 6,000 hours; there is a huge difference in quality among LED luminaires). In summary, for lighting users, technology is only a means, while lighting effect is the purpose. Lighting commissioning is an important guarantee to ensure that the performance of the lighting system meets the design expectations, therefore the current primary task is to establish lighting system commissioning standards. Recommendations: strengthen the control measures over the quality of lighting products applied at project sites and strengthen project process management; standardize design methods and strengthen supervision and completion acceptance; enterprises should form a correct brand view, possess self-discipline awareness, and earnestly design and produce lighting product performance (light distribution, light color quality, stability, standardization) reasonably according to lighting needs.

　　Yao Mengming, Technical Director of Philips Lighting (China), believes there are two reasons for the current blossoming of LED lighting products: insufficient respect for lighting application standards; and an overly one-sided evaluation system (technically the sole pursuit of lm/W, commercially the sole pursuit of yuan/W). The correct application concepts and evaluation system are the first things users need to understand. Looking ahead at applications, lm/W and yuan/W will remain the main line of LED road luminaire development for some time; emphasis on luminaire light distribution makes product cost performance more important; once the performance of LED chips stabilizes, the design of LED road lighting luminaires will become diversified; luminaire color temperature tends toward warm white (3000K); lighting control is becoming increasingly popular, multiple technologies are being put into practice, and true Internet smart lighting emerges; the lighting standard level of the same road varies with time and traffic flow, becoming the mainstream; road lighting and control begin to integrate into other urban functions (alarms, navigation, communications, etc.); research on the comfort of LED road lighting deepens, and the modification or validation of glare evaluation systems. Dr. Lin Yandan, Associate Professor of the Institute of Electric Light Sources at Fudan University, mentioned in her report: the brightness range of road lighting belongs to the mesopic vision category, and evaluating road lighting with mesopic vision theory is more consistent with the adaptation state of the human eye. According to the MES-2 mesopic vision system recommended by CIE, the higher the S/P value of the light source and the lower the illumination level, the greater the effect of correction using the MES-2 system.

　　In addition, well-known enterprises such as NVC, GE, Longteng, and Zhongqi also delivered excellent reports.

　　Leaders from the Ministry of Construction, relevant competent departments of urban construction in various provinces and cities, power supply bureaus, and science and technology bureaus; heads of municipal administration, urban road lighting management offices and stations, power supply bureaus, and clients of various cities; experts and scholars from urban road lighting research institutes, stations, and centers; chief electrical engineers, deputy chief electrical engineers, consulting chief electrical engineers of municipal design institutes and units, and electrical heads of large and medium road engineering projects; general managers, chief engineers, and designers of urban road lighting engineering companies; general managers, chief engineers, and electrical engineers of urban road lighting product and equipment manufacturers; and heads of lighting industry societies, associations, and chambers of commerce attended the meeting. At the forum site, the 2014 China Road Lighting Forum Green Lighting Knowledge Competition hosted by the China Association of Lighting Electrical Appliances and China Light Online attracted the participation of many attendees. During the activity, scanning the QR code allowed participation in the quiz, with a small gift to be won, and the questions centered on green lighting knowledge.

　　On the 16th, attendees of the Road Lighting Forum participated in the grand opening ceremony of the Gaoyou Lighting City and visited the Gaoyou Guoji Lighting City. As a nationally renowned street lamp manufacturing base, Guoji has nearly a thousand outdoor lighting and supporting enterprises in the whole town, with an annual output value of nearly 20 billion yuan for outdoor lighting. One out of every four street lamps in the country is produced in Guoji, with a strong industrial foundation. Guoji Lighting City has a total investment of 380 million yuan, with a total building area of 110,000 square meters, and is committed to building the largest outdoor lighting production and sales base in China.

At the opening ceremony, Ms. Liu Shengping, Chairman of the China Association of Lighting Industry, delivered a speech. She stated that Gaoyou City's road lighting fixture industry is highly concentrated, with a relatively complete industrial chain. In recent years, it has maintained a favorable momentum of continuous development, and Gaoyou City's "China Street Lamp Manufacturing Base" has established a certain reputation and influence within the industry. The Gaoyou Municipal Government has promoted the healthy development of the region's road lighting fixture industry through proper guidance and excellent services. The China Association of Lighting Industry will continue to award Gaoyou City in Jiangsu Province the honorary title of "China Street Lamp Manufacturing Base".