Reportedly, the National Gallery in London is about to install LED lighting in all galleries in the main Wilkins Building and in the Sainsbury Wing over the next two years, which will become the first institution in the world to use these lights in conjunction with a system that automatically adjusts external roof light blinds according to the amount and angle of sunlight.

This ensures that only diffused light is present in the galleries through UV-filtered roof light glazing. The new LED lighting system will slowly augment the natural light as needed, as opposed to the old system that can be distracting to visitors by going on and off abruptly.

With the new lighting, it can not only improve the public’s enjoyment of the collection, but also reduce the Gallery’s emission of carbon dioxide by 400 tonnes each year. It will reduce the Gallery’s lighting energy consumption by 85%. The ‘lamplife’ of LEDs is 25 times greater than that of the current tungsten lights, therefore it can reduce the maintenance costs.

Furthermore, the new lighting system does not produce any UV light, so filters are not required and lens losses of the amount of available light are minimised.

The National Gallery will install the lights in the Sainsbury Wing in a programme from July to March 2012 and will complete the installation in the Wilkins Building by the spring of 2013.