Regulations for lighting in Europe

Paul Littlefair and Anthony Slater, BRE, UK

Keywords

lighting, energy efficiency, building regulations, building energy codes, lighting energy calculation

Abstract

This paper presents a survey of lighting in building energy regulations in European countries. Of the eighteen nations, seven had nothing on lighting in their building energy regulations though most had separate standards on lighting provision. Five more countries had default values for lighting in their building energy calculation procedures, though it was not possible to use more efficient lighting to offset higher energy consumption elsewhere.

Four countries had, or are planning, a detailed calculation procedure for lighting as part of their building energy requirement. In each case the energy consumed by lighting in the building can be estimated and then included in the predicted overall building energy consumption. Installing more efficient lighting will therefore make it easier to achieve the overall building target.

Among the countries surveyed, the UK is unique in having a specific requirement for efficient lighting in its energy regulations. Revised Building Regulations dealing with conservation of fuel and power came into force in England and Wales in April 2002. These introduce some new requirements and tighten existing requirements. For the first time, requirements are introduced for new dwellings. Existing requirements for lighting in buildings other than dwellings are extended to cover luminaire efficiency in offices, industrial and storage buildings.