(UK) – LightBytes series to focus on sustainable approach for lighting industry.

Starting on 7 April, the Society of Light and Lighting (SLL) will host LightBytes, a weekly webinar series that will see expert speakers delivering bitesized CPD presentations, focusing on a more sustainable approach for the lighting industry.

The series aims to inform and challenge current practice, considering the implications of delivering a quality lit environment in a net-zero carbon landscape.

The four-part series will explore methods of addressing the unavoidable need to pursue a new approach to lighting, considering manufacturing, design, installation, maintenance and waste.

The Society will be joined by expert speakers from its Sponsors in Partnership; Steve Shackleton, Lighting Applications Manager at Fagerhult UK; Helen Loomes, Innovation Akadamie at Trilux Group; and Tim Bowes, Head of Lighting Application at Whitecroft Lighting.

The first three sessions will see speakers delivering peer reviewed, CPD presentations, followed by interactive Q&As. For the fourth and final session, they will be joined by Emilio Hernandez, lighting designer and Chair of the GreenLight Alliance and Mark Ridler, Head of Lighting at BDP, who will be discussing the actions they are taking to raise awareness and initiate a circular economy approach across the industry and within their practice as designers.

Sessions will be chaired by current SLL President, Bob Bohannon, who has been instrumental in the ongoing development of a new SLL and CIBSE Technical Memorandum and Circular Economy Assessment Method (CEAM) alongside the Society’s Education Committee Chair, Kristina Allison.

The series will begin with a focus on minimising energy use, offering additional considerations relating to design approach; utilising the space and surface reflectance; lighting controls; and modular lighting, exploring how increased flexibility and customisation could lead to a reduction in energy use whilst providing increased comfort for the end user.

From there, speakers will be considering resource. The second session will look at the Repro-Light project, aiming to develop re-usable and reconfigurable parts for LED luminaires, reducing waste and extending their useful lifetime. It will consider the potential for nano-optics and the positive impact of reducing the overall size of luminaires. Finally, there will be an in depth look at Cradle to Cradle certification, highlighting the social and ethical responsibility outlined by circular economy practice, with examples and case studies.

With the need to reduce the amount of energy consumed by lighting, there is concern that the quality of the lit environment has become a secondary consideration. The third session will aim to build on the previous presentations relating to minimum energy and minimum resource, whilst still providing maximum comfort. It will look at defining ‘good lighting,’ what this would look like and the challenges it might raise in relation to reduced energy use.

With the revised BS EN 12464 now at the approval stage, this session will look at increased awareness and consideration of the varied needs of individual occupants within a space; providing individual control over their lit environment; and considerations for the non-visual effects of light in relation to health and circadian entrainment. This will be continued with a look at the new Double Dynamic Lighting concept, developed in association with Aalborg University in Denmark.

Encapsulating the aims of the new series, Bob Bohannon said: “So as not to be constrained by a blinkered, energy only approach, we need to understand and communicate all the aspects that make up better (lighting) in a net zero carbon building.”

Registration for the new series is free for members of the SLL, with a nominal registration fee for non-members to join all four sessions and access the recordings on demand. All the presentations are peer reviewed, providing access to six hours of CPD content.

www.sll.org.uk