All systems go

Amendments to the building regulations are around the corner but there’s every chance the next edition of Part L will be just as ineffective as the current version. That’s why Lighting is calling on the industry to back the Lighting Systems Legislation Campaign

News that the Building Regulations Approved Document L will be updated in 2013 should be good news for the lighting industry, but has been greeted mainly by fears that any amendments will once again fail to address the fundamental problems that exist with the current regime.

“It’s completely essential. If it’s three people it will get ignored. If it’s a unanimous voice we’ll get more power. It’s as simple as that; together we’re more effective” Mark Ridler, BDP, PLDA and ILP

“One of the main issues with the regulations as they stand is that they focus on controlling luminaire efficiency by monitoring installed load, without taking into account the impact that effective lighting controls and intelligent use of daylight can have on overall energy usage,” says Mark Ridler, lighting director at BDP and a professional member of the Professional Lighting Designers Association.

“With the current regulations and the ones being proposed you could put very efficient but poor quality luminaires, window-to-window, wall-to-wall, and you’d be compliant and achieve Part L,” he says. “But you’d be using a lot of energy. With appropriate amounts of daylight and control you could design something that uses 50 per cent less energy but isn’t compliant. Luminaire efficiency is only one load lever a designer has in creating a low-energy solution.”

“I’m fully committed to improving sustainability of our buildings but I think there are better ways of doing it. The fact that no other European country has done what Britain has lends itself to that argument” Neil Knowles, Elektra Lighting Design

Focusing on the installed load rather than the amount ofenergy that is actually used also takes no consideration of how the space is used, says Neil Knowles, director of Elektra Lighting Design. “We do a lot of lighting for hotels, bars and restaurants and they have a lot of different uses,” he says.

“It might be a trade show, a work conference or a wedding. You can have three or four entirely separate but overlapping sets of lighting that do all those different jobs so you can just turn one on and the other off and suddenly you’ve transformed an office into a ballroom. The regulations make no allowance for that.”

The fact that the regulations are up for debate, however, presents an opportunity for change. A draft document on the proposed changes is likely to be released in December, and individuals, businesses, professional bodies and manufacturers will be able to make their views known in a public consultation that will run until around March.

The lighting industry has already voiced concerns, with the Lighting Industry Federation (LIF) and the Lighting Liaison Group - made up of a number of professional lighting bodies – collectively calling for a number of factors to be incorporated into the amended regulations.

“We can really make a difference to the UK’s energy bill, but this will only happen through good lighting design and that means the systems approach. Now is the time to act” Liz Peck, SLL secretary and director of LPA Lighting

Any approach must acknowledge the role lighting controlsystems can play, says Liz Peck, director of LPA Lighting and secretary for the Society of Light and Lighting (SLL). “We must move to a systems-based approach, based on energy consumption,” she says. “We need to change the perception that the only efficient luminaire is one that’s off when it’s not needed, and that means controls. Installed load is meaningless in the real world.”

Lighting should also be measured separately from other building services such as air-conditioning or heating, suggests Knowles. “The current regulations take no account of the fact that the building trade is fragmented the way it is,” he says. “It assumes there’s one person designing the entire building who can control all these individual factors but in fact it can be split between ten consultants on a big project. I don’t see why we should have to use a particular source of lighting everywhere if the architect doesn’t put enough insulation in the walls.”

“The bottom line is the amount of energy used and how often you use it. We want buildings lit to the right level, at the right times and with the right amount of energy, regardless of the light source” Stewart Langdown, Tridonic

Already, a system exists that can measure how much energy is actually used in a building by lighting, stripping away the impact of other services. Known as Leni (standing for Lighting Energy Numeric Indicator), this calculates the energy consumption for lighting divided by square metre per annum and is advocated by many leading lighting manufacturers. Its basis lies in the application standard BSEN 15193: Energy performance of buildings - Energy requirements for lighting.

“It is important to give such guidance to the lighting community and Leni is a good tool,” says Mike Simpson, technical and design director at Philips Lighting. “The current backstop in the Building Regulations is luminaire lumens per circuit watt but this takes no account of where the light goes and may not always produce the most efficient solution. Leni gives the lighting industry a means to drive innovative solutions which optimise user comfort and minimise energy use.”

“There is a consensus within the industry and profession about these issues and it’s important that theseviews are refl ected in the 2013 edition of the regulations, not put off for a further five years” Mike Simpson, Philips Lighting

The PLDA, too, is backing this as a temporary solution. “Given where we are, Leni is currently the only measure that is available and therefore needs to be supported,” says Kevan Shaw, immediate past director for sustainability and current professional member of the PLDA. “If carried out properly it makes a good assessment of lighting energy in use. In the longer term we need to look again at how we specify the amount of light and therefore the amount of energy required.”

Peter Raynham, president of the Society of Light and Lighting, points out that the rules of Leni have already been incorporated into lighting calculation programmes such as DIAlux. “We have all of the tools necessary to make a real improvement in the energy performance of our lighting installations, but it does not look like it is going to be used in the building regulations,” he says. “To get energy efficient lighting we need to provide the correct amount of light, in the correct place, at the correct time with the correct equipment.”

The use of a less crude measurement than installed load also requires a greater focus on how light is used, says Stewart Langdown, global pre-sales manager at Tridonic and chairman of LIF’s lighting and energy control application panel. “If aspace is managed it should be controlled,” he says. “It’s about using the light in an appropriate way to the occupancy of the space, so if you have no one there the light should be off, if you have daylight the light should be dimmed and if it’s outside working hours then there’s a whole series of benchmarks that can be used to judge lighting levels.”

“We need to come together - designers, manufacturers and engineers - to discuss all matters of interest and create a more comprehensive and well-thought-through result” Magdalena Gomez, Maurice Brill Lighting Design

This is an approach most lighting designers already take, but one that is not reflected in the current or proposed regulations, says Magdalena Gomez, senior lighting designer at Maurice Brill Lighting Design. “We never use fittings installed to 100 per cent,” she says. “Our control philosophy appeals to create harmony and balance in the atmosphere in every particular space. In some cases, the power installed will be too high but, once all scenes are set, the project will benefit from dimming control and will use less energy than the installation.”

Post occupancy

Finally, many in the industry would like to see a greater focus on post-occupancy, to ensure those actually using the buildings use lighting in the manner in which it was intended. “We see many situations in completed buildings where the measures used to contain energy use are defeated by the building users,” says Shaw.

“Even as tenants move in they get the lighting controls re-programmed to defeat daylight compensation and to maximise lighting levels above the design level. We also see facilities management companies changing switching times to leave lights on at night or defeat occupancy sensors, apparently to facilitate cleaners. This currently unregulated behaviour causes huge wasteful energy use.”

“PLDA strongly believes that future lighting energy legislation should be based on a systems-based approach using Leni. For once, pretty much everyone in lighting is behind this move” Kevan Shaw, PLDA

The LIF recently took part in discussions with the Department for Communities and Local Government. Bernard Pratley, technical manager with LIF, told Lighting he had pushedfor the introduction of both Leni and the mandatory use of building controls but believes the government’s aversion to new legislation means it is unlikely to incorporate such changes unless the public consultation forces a rethink.

Lighting magazine, however, is campaigning for the above changes to be incorporated or reflected in the new Building Regulations and has pledged to use the Leni standard as the criteria to judge the efficiency of entries in the low carbon category at this year’s Lighting Design Awards. We want people from the industry to respond to the government’s consultation and to become members of our LinkedIn group (see page opposite) so we can help to steer the campaign and keep you informed on when the document for public consultation is released.

“I speak to a lot of people who all agree the building regulations are rubbish, archaic, and many other less-thancomplimentary phrases,” says Peck. “We have a chance to make our voices heard and to make a difference. When the consultation papers are issued later this year I implore everyone who calls themselves any kind of lighting expert to comment. For the first time, headway has been made with an understanding of why we need to look at consumption rath˚er than installed load but now the industry needs to unite and back this up with action.”

To contribute to the debate, please search for the ‘Lighting Discussions’ group on LinkedIn and post your comment under those that already appear in the Lighting Systems Legislation thread. We will alert all users when the draft document for public consultation is released.

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