Resumen de Sustainability for energy-efficient lighting
Lizeth Artemisa Sánchez Balvás
The social, environmental and economic side effects of the street lighting are the foremost concern for this thesis, since the expanding use of light at night, along with an inappropriate design, has led a large energy consumption, light pollution and impact on human health and the environment. With increasing consideration on the negative side-effects, it has introduced new recommendations for energy efficient lighting, indicators, and new energy classifications systems to evaluate the energy performance of lighting systems.
According to the literature, the energy classification systems are based on installed power and lighting parameters (luminance or illuminance), which influence by regulating the energy consumption and the light levels entering the eye. However, recent studies on the advances of lighting technologies, i.e. light-emitting diode (LED), control systems and luminaires, and developments in mesopic photometry and its influence in energy reduction and vision performance, demand for new requirements. This implies a new quantification system to measure energy efficiency by incorporating all the elements that affect the overall efficiency of the installation.
Within this context, an alternative tool to aid decision-makers in choosing the best energy efficiency system to be implemented and to support evidence on the energy savings on street lighting was proposed. This alternative approach takes into consideration the improvement of visual performance by correcting the standard photometry system (photopic) by the mesopic system recommended within the CIE 191:2010 and the operational hours of the lighting system, which are usually disregarded by the most commonly used energy classification approaches.
The research outlined in this thesis proposes to use the value function approach that allowed standardizing the proposed energy consumption indicator within a value scale ranging from 0 to 1, which also represents satisfaction degree: the less energy is consumed the more grade of satisfaction. A case study comprising 13 representative streets of the Eixample District of Barcelona was used to validate the alternative approach proposed, and results were compared with those obtained by considering three energy efficiency classifications currently used in Spain, Netherlands and Italy. For the sample, a systematic procedure was carried out to collect data regarding lighting class and geometrical characteristics of the streets, and to the main characteristics of the lighting system.
The results derived from the application of the proposed method can be used straightforwardly to quantify the potential energy savings that can be obtained when using different energy classifications. Moreover, these results provide a critical analysis by pointing out the strengths and weakness of the most significant energy performance indicators along with their corresponding energy classification systems. In conclusion, this thesis constitutes a conceptual and empirical approach to the energy classification systems applied in Europe to the street lighting. Thanks to the methodological contribution and the knowledge obtained, this thesis intends to contribute to improving the energy efficiency-based classification systems, and consequently, to move forward into a sustainable and smart assessment tool.
