Back to Right Light Proceedings startpage
Allan Ottosson Office Lighting - A Large-Scale Demonstration Project in Cooperation With Electricity Distributors Royal Institute of Technology, Box 88, S-801 02 Gävle, Sweden Roger Wibom National Institute of Occupational Health, S-171 84 Solna, Sweden Abstract Lighting in Swedish offices accounts for an average installed power of 23 W/m2. To improve the energy-efficiency in office lighting a large-scale field demonstration project was started by the Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development (Nutek) in 1992. Three main parts of the project can be distinguished: a) the development of energy-efficient lighting design criteria for office lighting; b) laboratory testing of lighting design proposals from manufacturers to find designs fulfilling the lighting criteria; c) a field programme for the application of these lighting design criteria in installations in existing office buildings; d) an evaluation of the project including photometric measurements and interviews. 34 lighting designs have been found to comply with established office lighting requirements. 26 different office locations were selected for the study. At the average 10 single-person office rooms were selected for the project at each location. New lighting was installed by local contractors in cooperation with local electricity distributors. 7 different lighting concepts were used in the field programme. In each room the old lighting was documented photometrically and each room occupant was interviewed as to psychological and physiological reactions to the old lighting. After two months or more after the installation of the new lighting the investigations were repeated. 172 office employees within 19 locations have so far fully participated in the field experiments. Semi-indirect lighting designs were preferred by the office users. Eye discomfort complaints were reported when the new lighting was installed. This study also shows that reported eye complaints depend on the maximum luminance in the field of vision of the office clerks.
|