Project Overview

Melbourne based premium LED lighting company Brightgreen's BR450 candle bulb offers a long-life, energy efficient alternative to 35W incandescent candle bulbs that marries contemporary aesthetics with environmental responsibility.

With an operating power of 7W and a brightness of 414 lumens, the BR450 uses only 20% of the energy of its incandescent equivalent to give an efficacy of 59 lumens per Watt, making it impressively efficient. The bulb's conical luminaire is designed to cast an even 180° spread of warm 3000K light across interiors, and its streamlined shape and minimal detailing makes it the ideal partner for modern light fittings.

“The BR450 was developed in response to the trend for modern, minimal light fitting aesthetics as a more suitable energy efficient alternative to the classic candle bulb. It has definitely caused a stir with lighting designers; many have commented that its unconventional form flatters contemporary designs,” says Brightgreen CEO and head product designer David O’Driscoll.

Organisation

Brightgreen Pty. Ltd.

Team

The BR450 LED candle bulb was developed intermittently between late September 2012 and May 2013 by Brightgreen’s in-house engineering and industrial design team under the guidance of CEO and Head of Product Design, David O’Driscoll.

Project Brief

At Brightgreen, we design all of our products to be as efficient, intuitive, adaptable and enduring as possible. The BR450 LED candle bulb was instigated as a long-life, energy efficient alternative to 35W incandescent candle bulbs that answers the current desire for products that are high quality, stylish and easy to use.

Its streamlined shape and attention to design detail reflects Brightgreen’s response to the current market affinity for sleek minimalism. A specially developed conical lens allows the bulb to emit light in an omni-direct 180° spread to provide maximum illumination.

Product compatibility is key to the bulb’s design; the DR450 comes in a range of common bayonet and screw fittings so can be used in a wide variety of existing light fixtures, whether to juxtapose traditional and modern aesthetics or to create an entirely contemporary look.

Concerning efficiency and endurance, the BR450 has an exceptional lifespan of 50,000 hours, which equates to over 20 years of daily use, as well as a superb efficacy of 59 lumens per watt. Its high quality finish and use of durable, non-toxic materials and components ensures that it will see out its lifetime.

Project Need

The BR450 LED candle bulb embodies an innovative approach to lighting design that considers today’s ecological, practical and aesthetic concerns.

The uniqueness of the shape of the BR450 – most notably the conical lens and linear aluminium body – shows aesthetic vision and introduces a new form into lighting designers’ palettes, prompting them to think beyond current norms. Beyond aesthetic appeal, the conical lens was specially developed to distribute light evenly in 180°, overcoming optical challenges. The internal electronics system means that the BR450 is fully dimmable and thermal throttling enables the bulb to maximize brightness while running at a low temperature.

The BR450 is also the first bulb in Brightgreen’s retrofit range that is available in such a wide range of fittings, indicating our drive to innovate within our own product offering as a means of producing practical lighting solutions that can be used by all.

Design Challenge

The BR450 LED candle bulb was designed in response to the interior design and lighting sectors' needs for a contemporary candle bulb that flatters modern fixtures and spaces, and acknowledges our planet’s need for a reduction in energy consumption.

Although we understand the need for traditional candle-shaped globes – and this is something that we hope to design an LED equivalent for in the future – we received feedback from interior and lighting designers suggesting that a more streamlined bulb that borrows from technical aesthetics was necessary to fill a gap in the marketplace. Enabling the resulting form to emit omni-directional light resulted in significant lens design development.

The efficacy of the bulb is key to its role in bettering the environment. Standard incandescent candle bulbs have an efficacy as low as 10 lumens per Watt. The efficacy of the BR450 is significantly higher at 59 lumens per Watt, therefore using less energy to give brighter illumination.

Our team was also challenged to make the retrofit bulb as accessible as possible, adapting it so that it could be produced in B15 and B22 bayonet fittings and E14 and E27 screw fittings to ensure universal compatibility.

Sustainability

At Brightgreen, we consider planned obsolescence, energy inefficiency and the use of harmful or un-recyclable materials as being unsustainable practices.

The BR450 LED candle bulb has a lifespan of 50,000 hours, meaning that once a customer buys one, they don’t need to replace it for at least 20 years (with 6 hours use per day), reducing wastage caused by planned obsolescence while saving the consumer money.

Like all of Brightgreen’s products, the BR450 does not emit UV and is free from all heavy metals considered toxic to the environment, including mercury and lead (found in CFLs and other LEDs respectively) and hexavalent chromium, making it safe to use and safe to recycle.

It is also composed of recyclable materials and is covered by Brightgreen’s buy-back scheme; when it reaches the end of its life we will buy back the product to be refitted or reformed.