The Final Curtain For Entertainment Lighting As We Know It?

The European Union is considering new regulations on the sale of lighting fixtures that come into effect in 2020. The Ecodesign regulations would ban the sale of lighting fixtures that do not meet a set standard of energy efficiency (85lm/W).
This is part of a drive to be more eco-friendly and reduce carbon emissions. However, most of the theatre lighting that is currently in use does not meet the new regulations.

The EU’s proposed Eco-Design Working Plan 2016-2019 will require stage lighting to meet new efficiency targets in line with domestic and office lighting. At present there are three sets of lighting regulations for lighting products but the proposed changes would streamline them into one regulation with no exceptions. However, most of the theatre lighting that is currently in use does not meet the new regulations.

Following an initial belief that the main effect of the proposals would be outlawing tungsten light sources, it has become clear that the new regulations will have an effect dramatically wider than just banning tungsten: they will affect the vast majority of lighting fixtures used for entertainment lighting, it later became clear that even potential LED replacements for tungsten fixtures do not meet the required energy efficiency.

The general opinion of manufacturers is that no lighting fixtures that are suitable for production lighting and able to meet the efficiency standard will be available by September 2020. Multiple campaigns have begun throughout the entertainment lighting world and TiL will be watching the debates role on with interest.

More information on the full EU proposal can be found here.
Campaigners calling for a review of the proposal are gaining momentum with #saveourstagelighting 

Photo by Jisu Han on Unsplash