The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts has taken a step towards utilising new green-friendly technology with the purchase of twelve Pro Shop LED Pro Tri-colour PAR64 cans.
“For our purposes in an educational environment the Pro Shop LED ProTri-colour PAR64’s enable us to give our students the opportunity to work with this new technology and provide us with a larger palette,” remarked Jerry Reinhardt, Lighting Coordinator at WAAPA (pictured). “The primary benefit of using the RGB (Red, Green, Blue,) LED lighting fixtures is threefold. First and foremost is the flexibility and minimal power consumption. Standard theatrical luminaries require the use of 500watt to 2000watt lamp sources which are expensive and use a lot of electricity. The LED fixtures we have purchased will draw a maximum 72watts of power.
“Secondly, conventional theatre fixtures have a lamp life between 1000 and 12000 lamp hours which effectively means that they burn out and we have to replace frequently. The source of LED illumination is more cost effective as they provide between 50,000 and 75,000 lamp hours.”
Lastly, Jerry cites the third benefit of RGB LED fixtures – the ability to mix colours and reduce the expenditure on gel.
“Having said all this, I am not saying that LED fixtures are the answer to all of our theatrical requirements,” he added. “They have definite limitations on their luminosity and are not consistent with control. They do not provide a consistent white light and should really only be considered as an augmentation to a conventional system. The units we have acquired provide our students with the opportunity to use the new technology and they are cost effective for WAAPA. However, these units are merely one small addition to the resources we have. They do provide a larger palette to paint with and I am very happy that we have them.”
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