068 FOCUS
‘The old joke about how many (fill in your stereotype) does it take to change a light bulb doesn’t work any more’
control gears (LED drivers) on new luminaires placed on to the market after September of this year (though stocks of existing fittings can be run out).
A handful of manufacturers, from large multinationals and national players down to smaller operations, should be applauded (and maybe rewarded with our custom) for their hugely positive moves towards circular economy-capable fittings, supporting ecosystems to keep them in operation and use of a disparate array of accreditations. You might be thinking that retailers have enough problems already, why should they bother? Te combined challenge of the move to online shopping and Covid-19 lockdowns are maybe far more important agendas. But customers, especially younger ones, are becoming ever more environmentally aware – they can see through greenwash and they want authenticity in the stores they frequent. But the retail sector, with its preponderance of track, should be the early adopter for practical reasons as well as its high churn rate of equipment – fittings can be easily demounted, upgraded, improved, checked and reinstalled. At least one manufacturer even has a mobile workshop with a float of fittings where they’ll come to site, upgrade the fittings and keep the store lit while they do so. Much responsibility lies with the lighting specifier and what they should be considering alongside basic factors
Bob Bohannon finished his term as president of the Society of Light and Lighting in May and is instrumental in developing three new SLL tools to promote the CE in lighting, including specifier support, scheduled to be available this year:
CIBSE SLL Technical Memorandum on the adoption of the Circular Economy in the Lighting Industry
Circular Economy Assessment Method for Manufacturing (CEAM-Make)
CEAM-Design: specifier support tool
sll.org.uk
such as light output, distribution and aesthetics. Te following is a basic, five-point guide that is a starting point to establishing that specification is on the right path:
• Ask your lighting supplier about the circular economy performance of their products. If they don’t know what you are talking about, if they don’t have buy-in from their management or they just talk about WEEE recycling, find a better supplier.
• Ensure that light fittings can be upgraded and repurposed, and that the LED or driver can be changed out later in life. If the fitting is glued together it’s going to struggle to be remanufactured or maintained – in a nutshell, use screws not glue.
• Ask what life-cycle/circular economy accreditation your supplier has, for example the upcoming CIBSE/SLL Circular Economy Assessment Method (CEAM).
• Make sure that lighting assets are bought for the long term and that burning hours can be monitored. Ten ensure they can be maintained when needed, upgraded or remanufactured. Don’t think throw and replace. Tink value not price.
• Tose responsible in-house should engage with what will become an ecosystem of new services, building relationships and thinking local – how will the fittings in their new Sevenoaks outlet get maintained in five or 10 years – how does that physically happen? It might be an on-site service, it might be a UK/EU based facility, it’s unlikely to happen 6,000 miles away.
Left and above Low energy sources have ironically led to a proliferation of luminaires in hospitality and other sectors
As Ellen MacArthur, whose eponymous foundation was established to accelerate the transition to a circular economy, has said: ‘Tere is a massive economic opportunity out there to be taken without waiting for government legislation.’ Specifiers of retail and hospitality lighting and the stores themselves can not only be green, but can be seen to be green. It’s highly likely that, over the long term, it won’t cost more – but it will cost the planet less.
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