 Office & Workplace
Lighting for comfort and flexibility is key in working environments. Since we are spending more hours at our workplace, we want our offices to feel like home. The wonderful news is that with the increasing availability and affordability of dimming for efficient light sources, not only can every worker adjust lighting for their needs and preference, gains in energy efficiency can be outstanding when used in combination with automatic control systems. Industrial and warehouse environments with lower ambient lighting needs are wonderful locations for daylighting solutions. Just as large high ceiling spaces traditionally used daylighting, we can readopt daylighting for reduced energy consumption. A few more “green” ideas to consider:  |
- Energy efficiency is clearly not the biggest reason for good lighting design, although it is a good reason. It makes sense that maintaining a skilled, highly adaptable and productive workforce requires a well designed, highly adaptable and productive workspace. Quality lighting is a key element.
- Utilize efficient sources where they function effectively in indirect and ambient lighting, as well as in special track and accent applications.
- Ambient light levels standards have been reduced in reaction to the use of computers in office and other work environments. Where office lighting is still commonly designed to 65+ footcandles, most work with computers is best done under 30 fc, with flexible task lighting when needed.
- Modern office lighting design has typically been aimed at providing even illumination throughout the space. Lighting research has shown that higher levels of contrast are well accepted by office workers, and may even be preferred- as long as the desk, walls, and work areas themselves are not too dark. This goes along with the desire by some for a more comfortable, homelike environment – more like the executive suites!
- Low contrast illumination is most required where work locations and partitions are likely to change frequently, and task lighting is impractical. In these situations, high efficiency luminaires with adaptable circuiting and controls remain key to efficient, productive lighting.
- Advances in efficient ballast and fluorescent lamp technology should become more widely utilized to reduce energy consumption well beyond an increasingly standardized T8 system with electronic ballasts. Retrofitting older magnetic T12 “energy saver systems” can yield as much as 40% in energy savings.
- Utilize programmable lighting control panels to schedule lighting for most efficient operation and limited manual override for unscheduled operation.
photo credit: djleban. project credit: baked beads, waitsfield, vt, workspace lighting by light/space/design.