When you think about lightings technologies – well actually – maybe you don’t really think about lighting at all. It’s something that many, if not most, people take for granted. Need some light? Turn on the switch. Light bulb burned out? Replace it. Too sunny? Lower the shade.

Even the cavemen probably didn’t think about lighting all that much. When they needed light, it was either the sun, or a fire.

But looking back through history and examining the types of lighting used in each era is fascinating.

From the earliest oil lamps – which were invented before candles if you can believe it – to using the SURE Universal remote to control the latest smart lighting, let’s take a look at how lighting has evolved over the years.

Primitive Lighting – Oil Lamps, Candles and Gas Lighting

Approximately 6,000 years ago, people were using candles and primitive oil lamps to see in the dark.

It wasn’t until 1780 that the Argand lamp – a revolutionary (at the time) fixed oil lamp – became a popular lighting choice.

Also around this time in the late 1700s, William Murdoch invented the first gas lamp technology, which is still around today in slightly different and safer forms.

If you’ve ever seen a camper using a portable Coleman lantern, there’s a good chance it was a propane lamp. And those fancy lights you sometimes see on the tables of expensive restaurants – you guessed it – oil lamps.

When Were the First Electric Lights Used?

In the 1800s, many experimenters were perfecting the electric light. Problems with the electric light back then were with the material – the filament used at the time burned too quickly – and the atmosphere inside the bulb – from a vacuum state to a noble gas state.

As the 1800s progressed, Thomas Edison revolutionized how we use light when he created the first commercial light bulb. This new technology soon spread across the world and the incandescent light was born.

When you were growing up, the 60-watt or 100-watt bulb was probably the norm, right? Although these incandescent bulbs were cheap and effective, they could break easily, they became quite hot, didn’t always last very long, and definitely weren’t energy efficient.

Modern Lighting Technologies

Because of their poor energy efficiency and other drawbacks, incandescent light bulbs started to lose popularity, opening the channels for alternative light sources.

Halogen lamps came onto the scene in the 1960s. They are a type of incandescent bulb, but with 40% more efficiency and a longer lighting life. Today, you often see them used in track lighting systems commonly found in kitchens and bathrooms – places where plenty of bright, direct lighting is needed.

In the quest to find energy efficient lighting, the compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb was developed as a way to replace the incandescent light bulb.

These CFLs are three to five times more energy-efficient than incandescent bulbs and they can last up to 15 times longer. But due to mercury concerns (compact fluorescent bulbs contain small amounts of mercury), their high initial cost, and the cool, white light many of the bulbs gave off, they didn’t appeal to many consumers.

In the recent years, LED bulbs have made a wave in the lighting industry and are quickly becoming the de facto standard. These types of bulbs have a lifespan and electrical efficiency many times longer than incandescent lights. They also are more energy efficient and last longer than most fluorescent lamps, contain no mercury, and aren’t sensitive to severely low temperatures like CFLs.

There is a higher initial cost to LED lighting as compared to incandescent, but with incandescent light bulbs being phased out by many regions, you may soon not have much of a choice.

The Future of Lighting

The future of lighting is Smart and connected.

With companies like Phillips integrating their lighting system with your smart phone or connected home products and appliances, you can customize your lighting preference to your individual taste.

Philips refers to their Hue line of products as “your personal wireless lighting system.”

You can sync the Philips Hue to have it change colors with your movies, music or just “paint” your house with different color temperatures. And with our SURE Universal remote capable of controlling Philip Hue lighting, you’ll truly have a connected home.

Wrapping It Up

From fire and candles to LED smart lights, lighting has come a long way in the past few thousands years, hasn’t it?

Over to you – are you still using up a stockpile of incandescent bulbs, or have you fully made the switch to modern LED ones?