There’s currently a debate circulating the world of theatre; yes LED lighting is practical, green and cheaper to run, but traditional tungsten lighting gives an unparalleled warmth and quality of light.

While this debate is raging in commercial theatres, if you have a school or college performance space, chances are you’re looking for practical, flexible lighting that gives beautiful results and is cheap and efficient to power.

This is where LED lighting is increasingly taking the spotlight; indeed, LED lighting is becoming so mainstream that it’s almost become unfashionable to opt for anything else – despite some lighting designers praising tungsten.

Why LED?

So why choose LED lighting? You know that it is greener and more efficient, but what makes it superior in sustainability terms? LED lighting offers impressive lighting levels but loses hardly any heat energy unlike traditional tungsten bulbs. To quantify the benefits, LED lighting is said to be 80-90% efficient, a vast improvement over traditional bulbs which operate at about only 20% efficiency with the remaining 80% lost to heat energy.

LED lighting is also incredibly durable and can last for over a decade even when heavily used. Adding to the eco credentials, LED lighting doesn’t contain toxic chemicals and is completely recyclable.

Functional and Practical

LED lighting isn’t about moving away from what you know and giving your drama department and students a whole new concept to get their heads around. The benefits of LED can be utilised through common types of stage lighting that everyone is used to managing, such as Fresnels. A good stage and studio installation company will also be able to combine your LED lighting with traditional tungsten bulbs, a great way of harnessing the benefits of LED without going for a major costly overhaul.

Flexibility

If you’ve ever seen one of those illuminated ‘sports bars’ signs, then you’ll know how flexible LED lighting can be – especially when used as stage lighting, where it can be utilised to create a range of colour effects. Unlike traditional stage lighting where colour scrollers and gel filters are required to create coloured lighting effects, LED lighting contains a spectrum of colours – red, blue, green and white – allowing the lighting designer to create stunning effects relatively simply.

LED lighting can also be transported – perfect if your performance/rehearsal space is multi-use!

For more information about LED stage lighting and how you can reduce your energy output, get in touch with PG Stage to share your ideas for your space. Remember, energy efficient LED solutions can be incorporated with your existing stage lighting to combine traditional ‘warm’ lighting alongside powerful LED illumination.

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