Friday, 28 June marked the beginning of a new era in Ecodesign as the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) was published in the Official Journal of the EU. Following on from the European Commission’s legislative proposal in March 2022, EU co-legislators – the European Parliament and the Council of the EU – spent over...Read More

Over the years, LightingEurope has demonstrated the capability to be an influential actor in the political debate at European level on lighting-specific rules and, more largely, on rules applicable to electrical and electronic equipment. In the context of climate change and Europe’s ambitious sustainability agenda, it has just published Lighting Strategy 2030. This document is...Read More

With lighting now recognised as having a major role to play in realising Ireland’s Net Zero objective, Building Services Engineering recently caught up with Gavin Edwards, newly-elected Chair of Lighting Association Ireland (LAI), to examine the contribution lighting can make by way of energy savings, sustainability, circularity and wellbeing. These, in fact, are the core...Read More

Today, light pollution is one of the fastest-growing forms of pollution on the planet. It is growing at a rate twice that of the population growth. That yellow/white hue which bleeds from a distance into the dark night sky is a familiar foe with 99% of the population in Europe and North America, writes Aimee...Read More

The industry is now less than one year away from the restriction of several widely-used mercury-containing lamps in the EU. The 2019 EU eco-design rules for light sources and separate control gears, and the 12 RoHS Delegated Directives published in February 2022, will impact the placing on the EU market of compact and linear fluorescent...Read More

Over the last decade there has been a laser-like focus on in-use lighting energy efficiency, driven both by economics (a return on a lighting investment delivered by reduced energy costs), and increasingly, the move to low or zero carbon buildings in the face of man-made climate change. The result has been a boom in replacing...Read More

The LED evolution is bringing significant gains in energy efficiency. However, as the range of products on offer increases, market surveillance is essential to ensure that they are meeting the criteria required by EU standards. An EU-wide network of market surveillance organisations carries out checks of products covered by EU regulations and removes non-compliant products...Read More

When is a fire-rated ceiling not a fire rated ceiling? When the installer cuts holes in the ceiling and installs non-fire-rated light fittings, writes Mark Walshe, Technical & Quality Manager, LED Group and Lighting Association Ireland Technical Committee member.Read More

In recent years, green building design has gained traction in the Irish building market, using green building certification systems such as LEED, BREEAM or Exceed. Indeed, such certifications are now almost expected, especially for high-profile office buildings. Whereas these certification systems focus on the environmental impact of the construction, a new focus is turning towards...Read More

With UNESCO having declared 2015 International Year of Light, it is appropriate that the leading lighting manufacturers and distributors in Ireland have now come together to form the Lighting Association of Ireland (LAI). Established under the umbrella of the Electrical Manufacturers Distributors Association (EMDA), the two bodies will work closely and strategically to protect and...Read More