Sustainable lighting is

lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylig ...

designed with energy efficient

light source Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 terah ...

s. "There are simple design strategies and some materials that can facilitate the energy saving advantages of natural light. Light colored interiors and open floor plans are good choices. This approach also augments artificial light efficiency. Energy efficient lighting is not simply finding the most light for the least wattage or the longest lasting light bulb. Proper sizing of the light to the needs of the location and the tasks that will be performed, called task lighting, is an energy saving strategy." "The most sustainable source of lighting is daylight, other forms are

solar lamp A solar lamp, also known as a solar light or solar lantern, is a lighting system composed of an LED lamp, solar panels, battery, charge controller and there may also be an inverter. The lamp operates on electricity from batteries, charged throug ...

s harvesting daylight and lighting controlled by occupation sensors. Furthermore technologies such as

light-emitting diode A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (co ...

s can be used to drastically reduce the energy requirement for energy. Part L of the UK lighting regulations contains criteria that effects efficient lighting design. Both day lighting and electric lighting are used in

architectural lighting design Architectural lighting design is a field of work or study that is concerned with the design of lighting systems within the built environment, both interior and exterior. It can include manipulation and design of both daylight and electric ...

, and not just as something installed to enable people to see their task. Satisfaction surveys indicate that people prefer rooms that are day lit to interiors dominated by electric lighting. In addition, the use of daylight can significantly reduce a building's use of

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

. Post-occupancy research indicated that the success of a scheme in reducing energy is not determined solely by the quantity of light from windows, but also on the efficiency and control of the electric lighting and that the users of the building were motivated towards

energy management Energy management includes planning and operation of energy production and energy consumption units as well as energy distribution and storage. Objectives are resource conservation, climate protection and cost savings, while the users have per ...

. In cloudy

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...

diffuse Diffusion is the net movement of anything (for example, atoms, ions, molecules, energy) generally from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Diffusion is driven by a gradient in Gibbs free energy or chemical p ...

light from the sky is the main source of lighting. At the site planning stage, a sufficient area of sky must be made visible to give good interior lighting. People’s needs and preferences to sunlight dependent on the type of building – incoming sunlight can give warmth and brightness but can also cause glare and thermal discomfort. The designer must to analyses the clients’ requirements in advance to determine which parts of a building would benefit from direct sunlight. Once the day lighting has been assessed, electric lighting needs to be designed to complement the daylight; where necessary electric light will take over when the daylight fades. Zones can be considered relative to the daylight distribution – without this there will be a tendency for the lights to be in all the time. Electric lighting can also be integrated within the architecture. Daylight and the

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

can be considered as well as the installation into the buildings fabric and lighting effect.

References

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