In our days, the urgent need for minimizing energy consumption, forces governments to take immediate actions in all directions. A review of the existing norms along with a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis has been conducted, with reference to façade and road lighting in the urban structure. This methodology was selected as a tool for outlining energy issues of high importance in these two areas that consist a major component of the total energy consumption in the urban environment and provide helpful insights. This approach shows that there is a wide range of steps that could be followed towards this direction, not only in terms of proposals through the norms, but also through the implementation of the LED technology along with the use of the latest management systems can support the reduction of energy consumption to a large extent.
The new version of the European Standard of Interior Lighting (EN 12464-1) considers LED technology for energy saving and minimizing environmental impact by giving new criteria for quantitative and qualitative lighting, including those that concern the “non-image-forming effects” (NIF) of light. In addition, it takes into account normal aging as an assumption for proposing increased light levels in indoor workplaces. In real applications, this seems to create lighting conditions that do not fully support human well-being based on the criterion of WELL Building Standard v2 (2021) for Circadian Lighting Design. Therefore, in offices, it is proposed to increase the light levels by at least one step from the minimum provided by the EN Standard. In order to examine this hypothesis, a typical office space is examined. In addition to the main requirements, the Mean Ambient Illuminance (Ēamb) and the Mean Room Surface Luminous Exitance (Mrs) are calculated according to the EN Standard but also the Equivalent Melanopic Lux (EML) and the Melanopic Equivalent Daylight Illuminance (M-EDI) as proposed by the WELL Standard. The comparison between EN 12464-1 and Well Standard has shown that the qualitative lighting design criteria are stricter in WELL than in EN Standard.
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