Page 30 - Respond 2016 Magazine

lighting

where

ambition Government Affairs, Philips Lighting
By Harry Verhaar,
Head of Global Public and

meets reality http://lighting.philips.com

renovate buildings to save

energy and the climate

In the history of climate change, this year’s record book
gives pause for thought. The National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) reports that July 2016 was the hottest Philips Lighting
month since scientists began keeping records in 1880. The planet (Euronext Amsterdam
is heating up at a faster pace than at any time in the past 1,000 ticker: LIGHT), a global
years. And that’s not all. leader in lighting
products, systems
and services, delivers
At the same time, the global population is growing – to almost 10 billion by 2050, according innovations that unlock
to United Nations estimates. More people need more resources, especially in cities where business value, deliver
two-thirds of us will live. The combination of these mega-trends poses a stark challenge rich user experiences
to humanity. To meet rising demand we will need to foster new economic models of low
carbon growth. and help improve lives.
Serving professional
Energy efficiency is the low hanging fruit: an easy win among the raft of measures needed and consumer markets,
to tackle climate change. Today, energy efficiency improves by about 1.5 per cent every year. we lead the industry
Translated into an equivalent reduction in coal-fired power stations, simply doubling the in connected lighting
annual rate of improvement in energy efficiency to 3 per cent per year would set us on a
sustainable path. systems and services,
leveraging the Internet
Philips Lighting CEO Eric Rondolat has called this “The 3% Syndrome”. In terms of reducing of Things to transform
carbon emissions, greater energy efficiency could deliver fully two-thirds of what needs to homes, buildings and
be done to meet the bold commitments agreed at COP 21 in Paris. This incremental gain urban spaces. With 2015
in energy efficiency improvement would unlock huge benefits – for the planet, its people,
business and society. sales of EUR 7.5 billion,
we have approximately
Connected LED 36,000 employees in
To meet the needs of a growing population, we need to consume resources more efficiently. over 70 countries. News
To create successful cities, we need clean energy and smart infrastructure. Fortunately, from Philips Lighting
our response to these challenges is helped by a fourth mega-trend: Digitalization. The
transformative powers of connected technologies offer a myriad of ways to make our world is located at: www.
cleaner and smarter. newsroom.lighting.
philips.com
Lighting is a significant part of the answer. By 2030 for example, the global tally of light points
will have increased by 35% to 60 billion. Simply adopting LED in place of incandescent lighting

28 www.rtcc.org