Panasonic’s Room Light Automatically Changes Brightness to Save Power

Panasonic Corporation has come up with a new way of helping reduce energy use. The new Panasonic room light is able to detect the luminance in a room, and adjust its output to keep a steady amount of light in the room at all times. The brightness can be set at “100%,” “70%” or “50%” by users. The speed
of dimming and brightening was optimized so that users do not notice
them.

Similar lighting fixtures have been developed for some corporate applications, but this is the first time that automatic lighting has been offered to residential consumers. The light is expected to go on the market officially on March 1st, 2009.

The “Auto-eco Light-control Twin Pa,” equipped with a luminance sensor,
detects the brightness in an area of 3m diameter directly below the
lamp (when the ceiling height is about 2.4m) and controls the light
output so that the luminance in the room is maintained constant.

In a room where a light is left burning at all times, power consumption could be reduced by as much as 60%, as the lamp reduces output according to the influence of natural lighting. The light can be mounted on horizontal or vertical surfaces, and is available in 89 and 74 watt models.

The bad news is that the 89 watt version is expected to cost around US$389.