Eco-Friendly Lighting
Lighting is one of the most crucial features of any indoor space and is often overlooked. Eco-friendly lighting not only promotes more sustainable living, it also promotes optimal health and well being within individuals. Sustainable lighting within a building can be improved by the addition of a skylight or window to increase natural light, and by choosing reflective materials and colours for walls, ceilings and floors. These options not only increase your UVB exposure (great for improving vitamin D levels), but also if implemented during the design process can save on energy consumption.
Although daylight lighting is a more sought after approach for lighting sources, its not always realistic to assume that a building can get sufficient natural light (i.e. night time). There are various types of lighting commonly used in current building practices and a summation of these features (positive and negative) can be seen below:
Fluorescent Lamps
- Last 10 to 20 times longer and are 3 to 5 times more efficient than incandescent lamps
Incandescent Lamps
- Used mainly for accent features and specialty lighting
- Lower energy efficiency and shorter lamp life
High-Intensity Discharge Lamps (HID)
- One of the best performing and most efficient lamps for providing large areas with light or providing longer distances of light
- Can replace the usual high pressure sodium lamps typically used outdoors as HID lamps are more effective in peripheral vision detection
- Do not work well with occupancy sensors as they take some time to generate light once turned on
LED Lamps
- Compared to incandescent lamps, it uses 75% less energy and lasts 25 times longer
Sources:
Fehrenbacher, J. (June 10, 2014). GREEN BUILDING 101: Environmentally Friendly Lighting for Health and Well-Being. Retrieved from
http://inhabitat.com/green-building-101-environmentally-friendly-lighting/
Nelson, D. (August 25, 2014). Energy Efficient Lighting. Retrieved from https://www.wbdg.org/resources/efficientlighting.php
(n.d.). LED Lighting. Retrieved from http://energy.gov/energysaver/led-lighting