Remain in light

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We will always need light.

Cutting light consumption and therefore energy use is high on the sustainable buildings agenda. But what measures are actually being taken on the ground? fmME reports.

‘What did we do without mobile phones?' So go a number of bewildered conversations. Well, empires were built and more recently men landed on the moon. Not bad when you think of the lines communication available.

Equally, the conversation could go: ‘What did we do without artificial light?' Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel and London, earth's most populous city with nearly a million people living there in 1800, made do with candles, rushlights and tourches and lanterns.

That the modern world needs artificial lighting to function, and only functions 24/7 today because of the lighting technologies available, means the thurst and expectation for light will only increase: reports concerning energy consumption in the UAE last year claimed 25 percent of the Gulf's water had been consumed - one fifth of which was used to generate electricity. The report also estimated the UAE would need to find US$10 billion to satisfy energy demand for the next 10 years, due to the amount of ongoing construction.

Focusing on energy consumption and the built environment, research by lighting manufacturer Osram shows electricity used for indoor lighting accounts for 10 percent of the total electric energy required for buildings. In many facilities, this percentage is even higher. For example, illumination in an office space of 400 m² accounts for approximately 40 percent of total energy consumption.

Hot topic

"Climate protection and sustainability is a big topic for us," says Mourad Boulouednine, director of projects, Osram Middle East. "We have set the trend in energy saving lamps and feel a great obligation to play an active role in the migration to energy efficient lighting solutions. With our sustainability campaign - which we started in 2007 - we want to tell our customers about the fact that climate protection and money saving go hand in hand, throughout the world."

Energy efficient products already account for 65 percent of Osram's sales says Boulouednine, which the company intends to increase to 80 per cent by 2016. "It is currently possible, for example, to save up to 80 percent of electricity by using energy-saving lamps, or intelligent T5 fluorescent lamps. On average, more than 90 percent of the environmental relevance of our products relates to their usage. This is more than in any other industry," he points out.

"Lighting accounts for around 15 per cent of the energy bill in most homes, and around 25 percent in commercial buildings," says Bastable Lighting Services MD Rod Bastable. "We are UK-based but have an office in Dubai. Just as energy prices have risen dramatically in the West, the Middle East is now experiencing the same with energy bills increasing by around 60 percent. So the need to implement smart control systems and low energy lighting is pressing, as is attendant lifecycle maintenance."

The construction industry is targeting lighting as a key element of sustainable design, and there is now a global movement to develop and implement lighting solutions that meet people's needs and concerns, and address environmental regulations.

With this in mind, the US Green Building Council (USGBC) installed the third-generation version of its green building performance rating and certification system, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), early this year. This latest system results from over four years technical research, reviews of many actual LEED certified projects, and the advisory activities of technical experts.

Control systems and FM specific products

"We don't have to do without light," says Bastable, "it's about controlling output. Flexible controls to enable zoning and gradation of lighting do just that - to the human eye, the dimming of a light by 10 percent is imperceptible, yet the cost savings are significant."

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