Lighting Europe has teamed up with 7 other organisations to call for Indoor Environmental Quality. Addressing the potential of lighting, heating/cooling, ventilation, building automation and engineering technologies to deliver better buildings for people, read the joint recommendations on how the EU Renovation Wave initiative can deliver.
The World Health Organisation estimates that people spend approximately 90 % of their time indoors in residential and non-residential buildings. The yearly renovation rate of the building stock varies from 0.4 to 1.2 % in EU Member States. But if Europe is to fulfil its 2050 climate and energy goals, this rate will need at least to double to reach 3 % per year. Renovation is at the heart of the European Green Deal and has been identified as a key driver for the European society and economy post COVID-19. LightingEurope strongly supports the call for scaling up renovation rates across Europe. With 97 % of EU buildings in need of renovation, we believe that the upcoming Renovation Wave Initiative represents a unique opportunity to not only ensure the energy efficiency of buildings but also to address the wellbeing of occupants through a better indoor environmental quality, both of which lighting contributes to. With this paper, we urge policymakers to address lighting as part of the Renovation Wave Initiative and share our recommendations.
Lighting Europe Recommendations:
• A focus on non-residential buildings (public and commercial buildings), as already set out in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. We believe that public buildings, in particular, should lead by example.
• The use of LED lighting, in combination with controls and sensors. By switching from incandescent lamps to energy efficient LED lamps, it is estimated that Europeans have benefitted from up to 90 % savings. Furthermore, lighting systems, in addition to allowing for large energy savings (see dedicated section), also offer significant benefits to the building users as regards their visual comfort, wellbeing, and productivity.
• A full renovation of luminaires to include controls and sensors, with minimum SRI level – see below. “Just relamping” – simple replacement of a lamp – should be avoided. Replacing luminaires or introducing a whole new lighting design should be stimulated as this will lead to greater benefits in terms of energy savings and indoor environmental quality.
• The Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) should be applied across the EU to maximise its energy savings potential and capture all the benefits it can bring to the wellbeing and performance of building occupants. Renovations should lead to a certain minimum SRI score – see below.
• The introduction of mandatory minimum requirements on Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ). Instructions for lighting can be found in EN 12464-1 and should be referenced to in the Renovation Wave Initiative.
• Access to public financing should be subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions. An obligation to include lighting renovation to obtain full subsidy should be introduced