We love, and that is to say without any hesitation that we absolutely love, everything about event lighting. No matter whether you have a large, small, or somewhere-in-between budget, there is so much flexibility when it comes to lighting concepts that it’s easy to make a dramatic statement in your event. Lighting can transform a room and make you feel as if you are walking through the middle of a Mardi Gras festival cloaked in vibrant purples and greens or moving on the dance floor of a Latin lounge swathed in fiery reds and oranges. Evening parties all around can add breathtaking, eye popping displays to their decor through the use of good lighting, and when it comes to making sure your lighting design is eco-friendly there are a few acronyms to keep in mind.
In the event lighting world, there are two types of bulbs that reign supreme: LED and CFL. LED is the primary type of bulb that dominates the green movement in the lighting arena, and CFL trails behind with a more limited usage due to it’s increased limitations and environmental hazards when compared to the almighty LED leader. While both are much more energy efficient than the traditional incandescent light bulb, LED bulbs lead the pack for the following reasons:
- They require only half the electricity to power as a CFL bulb, and they take only one tenth of the energy required to power a incandescent light.
- They have no mercury in them while CFL bulbs contain an average of 5mg of mercury.
- Bulbs that are LED lit are made to be more durable and will stay cool over time, making them the more efficient lighting option.
- LED bulbs has a wider array of uses compared to CFL bulbs, making them more popular in lighting equipment. For instance, the color spectrum available with LED bulbs covers the largest range of colors available from any bulb on the market.
If you have the choice, always opt for LED lighting over any other option. It’s the more advances technology and offers a high quality light display with a low environmental impact. With that being said though, if LED is not available then don’t hesitate to go with a CFL lighting design in its place. CFL lighting is still leaps and bounds ahead of incandescent bulbs, and you can achieve a high 
quality, innovative look very easily by using equipment powered with CFLs. The good news with sustainable event lighting is that it costs vendors less money to supply equipment that uses LED or CFL bulbs, so it isn’t terribly difficult to find. It’s unlikely for you to be stuck with an outdated and unsustainable lighting design that uses incandescent bulbs due to this.
Almost anything that requires lighting has an LED or CFL option, from large stage uplighting projects all the way down to the individual battery powered tealight and votive candles. Talking to lighting vendors will help you find that perfect choice to elevate your event to the next level, and remembering the LED and CFL acronyms will go a long way toward decreasing your event’s energy consumption. You can literally power an event for ten percent of what it used to take just a decade ago, so dive into this piece of your event’s design knowing that the lighting decisions you make will be both beautiful and healthy for our planet.
Photo Credits: Jen Goldstein, Scott Sandars, Trent TSD
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