LIGHTING SPECIAL BUILDING REGULATIONS
energy use. This is all about the system, not just the luminaire. LENI embraces daylight, occupancy, operating hours and activity, and uses the controls package to predict lighting energy load for the building. It knows that the same building in Scotland will have to use a little more lighting energy than an identikit building in Brighton because the daylight availability differs. There are those who champion it and those who think it too cumbersome. Admittedly it is the single-most complicated equation ever written (and I did maths A-level) but for that we can blame the European Commission for letting two of our cleverest boffi ns (Lou Bedocs and Peter Raynham) loose together in a room. The good news is that not only does all lighting calculation software (free to download) already include a LENI calculation, but also there are a number of equally free-to-download software calculation programmes available. The table of targets also seems
more complex than we might have wished for, but we are working towards harmonisation with the SBEM calculation and this will lead us to it; it is a fi rst step along the journey and, although at this stage it is an optional metric, we should embrace the move made by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in introducing it.
Six months on from the closure of the consultation, things are eerily quiet. Most of us expected the Approved Documents to be released in September/October for adoption in spring 2013, but the DCLG website remains in lockdown
18 CIBSE Journal December 2012
I know there are those who will argue
that it shouldn’t be necessary for smaller projects, where there isn’t the budget to invest in a specialist lighting designer – that the whole process is too complex and unnecessary. But a specialist lighting designer will typically use 30% less energy on a project than a non-lighting expert. So can we really afford not to be using specialists in this area now? For a long time, I have been outspoken
about how poor Part L is in terms of delivering its goal of ‘conserving the use of fuel and power’. However, I can honestly say that the changes being proposed – particularly introducing that measure of energy in use – are a massive improvement and should be embraced by the whole industry. Which brings me to my fi nal point:
six months on from the closure of the consultation, things are eerily quiet. Most of us expected the Approved Documents to be released in September/October for adoption in spring 2013, but the DCLG website remains in lockdown. There is some talk now of release in April for adoption in September but the DCLG cannot confi rm this. The 2013 Part L has the potential to
be the greatest change in delivering sustainable buildings of the future. It could be – and should be – a bright new dawn for the industry. I sincerely hope the consultation doesn’t prove to be a false dawn due to cold feet in Westminster. As someone who’s recently moved to Leeds from Brighton, I can recommend some thick socks if required. CJ
● LIZ PECK is a fellow and vice president of the Society of Light and Lighting and principal of LPA Lighting
www.cibsejournal.com
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