IAEEL newsletter3-4/95

CIE-IAEEL workshop in Delhi

A workshop on Energy & Lighting was held at the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) 23rd Session in Delhi this past November. In an effort to achieve increased coordination with other lighting groups, CIE invited IAEEL to organize the workshop in cooperation with CIE's TC 3-24 (Energy Aspects of Lighting). There were approximately 150 attendees.

The workshop provided an overview of energy and lighting and covered specific topics such as daylighting technologies and design strategies, control systems, quantifying lighting-HVAC interactions, human factors, harmonizing lighting quality and efficiency, government initiatives, and lighting efficiency standards. The workshop placed special emphasis on developing countries. Following a series of briefings, the focus of the workshop was on audience participation and input, with the aim of helping CIE to identify promising areas for future work in the area.

BACKGROUND
Global lighting energy use is probably around 2 000 TWh per annum, and represents 10% to 25% of the total electricity use in most countries. This is equivalent to $200 billion in annual expenditures, at typical Western electricity prices, and the output of 1600 electrical power plants with a capacity of 250 megawatts each. The environmental dimension of lighting energy use is also important: Lighting alone is responsible for about 5% of all energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide-the primary "greenhouse gas".

A wide variety of deployment programs are underway, designed to overcome various market barriers that tend to slow the rate of adoption of efficient lighting solutions. However, great care should be taken to ensure that reductions in lighting energy don't come at the expense of lighting quality, thereby reducing the performance and well being of people conducting visual tasks. Indeed, we must pursue efficient lighting solutions that maintain or enhance lighting quality with a view towards expanding the definition of quality to include energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Recent efforts to promote energy-efficient lighting have produced a very dynamic market, characterized by rapid technological development coupled with the involvement of many diverse actors.

CIE is in an ideal position to contribute to continued progress in the area of efficient lighting. In fact, it already has a number of technical committees dealing with specific aspects of this broad topic.

FINDINGS OF THE WORKSHOP
The primary aim of the workshop was to identify key agenda items that CIE could pursue in the future, possibly in collaboration with IAEEL, to increase the CIE role in international efforts related to energy-efficient lighting. Based on panelist inputs and considerable audience participation, the following topics were put forward as agenda items for consideration by the CIE (not necessarily in order of importance):

Cross-Cutting

Add "Energy Efficiency" to the official CIE Keyword list. There is currently no keyword that explicitly covers this topic.
Systematically consider the energy implications of activities across all CIE divisions and technical committees. For instance, the potential energy impacts of proposed changes in illuminance levels could be examined more deeply. It may also be possible to enhance coordination among existing committees dealing with various energy-related topics.
Continue the process of building bridges for cooperation between developing and more industrialized countries.
Support the creation of educational and informational materials, as well as other forms of outreach, for non-lighting professions involved in energy-efficient lighting activities. These groups include electric utilities, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations.
Use the unique CIE network to assemble key market data on energy-efficient lighting at the national, regional, and international levels. An example is provided by the tables of CFL sales by country provided in the "Indian Lighting Industry Directory" distributed at the conference.
Continue the process of building bridges for cooperation with less-developed countries.

Systems, Applications, Quality

Create CIE "Best Practice Guidelines" relevant to key energy issues. Topics could include (a) energy audits and (b) commissioning of new lighting systems to ensure that equipment as well as operations and maintenance measures are implemented as planned by the designer.
Develop improved rules of thumb for estimating the energy impacts of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) interactions. For example, distinctions can be made among various types of buildings and climates.
Give increased attention to window-lighting interactions. Involve the window industry in CIE activities.
Countries with relatively high illuminance standards should review them with an eye for energy savings.
Increased attention to maintenance of lighting systems.
Increase level of coordination with other organizations dealing with quality-efficiency issues.

Lighting Controls

Integrate with other CIE activities.
Less emphasis on hardware; more on education and training.

Electric Utilities

Help educate their lighting program managers.
Respond to various technical concerns (e.g. power quality).

Daylighting

More emphasis on daylight/electric light integration.
Work more closely with other groups (e.g. IEA task on daylighting).
Develop new publications tailored for practitioners.
More emphasis on daylight distribution.
Explore architectural solutions to daylight-related glare rather than solutions based on artificial light.
Investigate climatic and cultural variations in daylighting design.

Energy Performance Standards

Help select proper criteria and targets for standards and recommendations.
Consider developing a CIE/ISO standard.

See also: CIE: with a an eye on global lighting (IAEEL 1/96).
See also a detailed review of the CIE Session and proceedings, click here.
See also a longer report on the IAEEL-CIE workshop.

Evan Mills

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