A Victorian acoustics engineer has taken steps towards revolutionising the entire lighting industry. Graeme Huon speaks to Paul Skelton about his new technology and how he unwittingly became a player in the phase out of incandescents.

Controlled Plasma (CP) lighting technology is a term you probably haven’t come across before, and there’s no reason you should have.

But in the future this technology will undoubtedly become a part of your business, particularly when the government’s phase out of incandescent lights comes into effect in 2010.

Developed by Victorian acoustics engineer Graeme Huon, CP globes are fully compatible with existing wiring, are individually dimmable and over their lifetime will only cost the user approximately half of their current lighting expenditure.

Also known as cold cathode fluorescent lighting (CCFL), a CP globe is quite simply a light. And a simple light at that. With a lifespan of 20,000 hours, a CP also uses just one-tenth of the energy of a standard 50W downlight.

That’s right; the CP only uses approximately 5W of power.

“CP uses a combination of three existing filament-free light technologies – neon, cold cathode and high intensity discharge – along with a new controller to regulate the way it works,” Graeme says.

“That way, you get cool flicker-free light and cool running temperatures – you can grab a hold of it and not burn yourself.

“Further, the light fitting supplied is fully sealed – there is no issue with heat and you don’t have bugs and loose-fill insulation dropping through, which is a problem that grows as you punch more and more holes in ceilings.

“And the built-in controller removes the need for ballasts and transformers, so it’s simply a matter of ‘plug and play’.”

A CP globe’s design differs from other, more pervasive lighting technologies, such as standard incandescent globes, halogen downlights and fluorescent tubes, as they all need filaments to generate heat as well as light. CPs do not.

A standard CFL has heaters for the filaments, so if you dim them they will flicker and blacken. A CCFL, or CP, doesn’t have these heaters.

As an acoustics engineer, Graeme didn’t set out to revolutionise the lighting industry. He didn’t even set out to develop an efficient light; rather, he wanted to design a lighting package for home cinemas.

“The initial development of the CP came out of our home cinema business; pro cinema lighting was fine, but when you scaled down to residential applications there were no appropriate lighting solutions.

“Now, the height of our lamp is just about the only limitation we have. It’s the same height as a normal downlight, but if people want to put it into a cupboard or drawer it’s difficult.”

Graeme says they are now looking into new products to solve this issue.

“But the closest equivalent CFL is an 11W light, which we were able to get that down to around 5W for the CP – so we have effectively halved the consumption of a CFL, depending on the application.

“That, together with full dimming control and good colour rendition, means the only competitor in the near future would be light emitting diodes (LED), which are not yet at the same light output level and light spread and have problems with colour rendition. This is because LEDs are essentially a two-colour light; a CP is tri-phosphor.”

But, Graeme says, a key factor for domestic installations was, surprisingly, fire risk.

“This is something we never even considered in the beginning. We knew that what we had was very efficient and therefore wouldn’t get very hot, but we soon discovered that fire is something people are increasingly worried about.

“So, for a domestic situation, the fact that these lights only get up to body temperature after they have been running for a while appears to be something that will prove itself very popular.”

In addition, the current CP design means you can have it as a flush-mounted light, or it can be reversed to be ball-mounted. This way electricians don’t need an inventory that covers separate flush-fit and ball-mounted units.

In terms of the future, the functionality of the light, compared to fledgling LEDs, means CPs are in good stead heading into the national phase out of incandescent globes, announced in February 2007.

“When the announcement was made, I approached the then relevant minister, and now current leader of the Federal opposition Malcolm Turnbull. The CP globe was seen as a pretty important piece of technology.”

Ultimately, Graeme has developed a product that could phase out the current halogen downlights, and they sit flush with your ceiling and sit in rows, as halogens do.

“Australia has one of the highest 55W halogen downlight penetrations – potential fire starters – in the world, and this was the one area the government didn’t think there was a suitable replacement product.

“While CPs have a different directivity of light – they don’t have a bright spot like halogens so they are not directly suited to long throw or spotlight applications – they do have a similar total light flux. This means they were seen as a feasible alternative that provided slightly less but more uniform light.

“This also meant the one exemption that was going to be given didn’t necessarily have to be.”

And it’s not just Australia that is showing interest in the CP, whether Graeme believes the technology is ready or not. International organisations are closely tracking the progress of the light with several countries, including Singapore and Malaysia, putting the lamp through rigorous testing.

Graeme explains the light, which in Australia will be distributed under the Kambrook brand name, will be available in two versions – a commercial version and a domestic one.

The commercial version of the light has a quick connect system, which allows electricians to quickly plug the house’s wiring into the top of a lamp and loop on to the next in the run. It will also come in a flat pack for electricians to assemble.

The domestic pack, on the other hand, is available fully assembled with a mains plug and is ready to plug and play.