TS2013 Method for Environmental Assessment of Lighting System Design

Session 4 Paper 1, CIBSE Technical Symposium, John Moores University, Liverpool
11-12 April 2013

Lighting system design can be described as a combination of applied art and science, aiming to obtain visually and psychologically comfortable built environments while minimizing lighting energy. As environmentally responsive sustainable building design gained more importance during the last decades owing to the increasing energy and environmental problems of the world, correct design of lighting system in buildings became substantially crucial. Today, there are several environmental assessment systems and tools, developed to determine the environmental performance of buildings as well as building sub-systems.

The main goals of sustainable architectural lighting design can be summarized as fulfilling required visual comfort conditions, improving lighting energy performance and providing environmental consciousness from the design phase to post-occupancy. Environmental assessment of lighting systems is necessary for determination of environmental performance, reduction or elimination of negative impact caused by lighting energy consumption and CO2 emissions also considering the lamp’s and luminaire’s waste management. This paper focuses on developing a methodology for environmental assessment of lighting systems in the context of sustainability, energy consciousness and environmental impacts.