Energy Efficiency In Emergency Lighting

Through the establishment of LED technology, the lighting industry has already played a crucial role in improving overall global energy efficiency, but as the remarkable advancements in LED efficacies finally slow toward theoretical limits, attention shifts to other aspects of the lighting system capable of offering energy savings.

A key driver in the adoption of energy-efficient lighting is of course the stick of legislative measures.  Within Europe this originates in the form of directives such as the Energy Related Products (ErP) Directive and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, the requirements for which become incorporated via their associated EU regulations into relevant national legislation, for example, Part L of the Building Regulations in the UK.
 

Standards are also developed to define methods and metrics that can serve to demonstrate compliance with limits set by legislation.  A widely-adopted metric in this respect is the Lighting Energy Numeric Indicator (LENI), which allows a standardised calculation to be made to indicate the energy efficiency of an entire lighting installation over the course of a year’s usage.  LENI brings with it a significant benefit over previous measurement metrics in that it includes the influences of important factors such as parasitic loads, use of controls, occupancy levels and daylight harvesting.  Some of these factors include considerations that may previously have escaped scrutiny, for example, how efficiently the emergency lighting handles charging of batteries, which under LENI is included in the parasitic load calculation.

And the carrot?  Whilst the effect of legislation provides a consistent push toward the adoption of smarter lighting systems to achieve energy efficiencies, the proven cost savings and benefits in terms of connectivity and control to the user is tending to provide the pull.