Reforming the Industry's Contribution to Climate Change

A New Initiative Aims to Reform the Industry’s Contribution to Climate Change

By Parker Allen

The alarm is sounding. In fact, it has been sounding for quite some time. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have surpassed 400 parts per million, and the average global temperature has risen by 1°C since 1880, according to NASA. In my experience, much of the discussion surrounding climate change focuses on what individuals can do, and so the commercial and industrial world’s contribution to the growing crisis is often overlooked. According to a recent program entitled “Toward Carbon-Efficient Lighting,” hosted by the Parsons School of Design, electric lighting is responsible for nearly 5% of global CO2 emissions. The lighting industry has a big role to play in tackling climate change. Brave leaders in our industry have heard the alarm and are beginning to take action.

Introducing the Lighting Industry Life Cycle Assessment Incubator (“the LCA Incubator”), a collaborative effort between the GreenLight Alliance and IALD’s Lighting Industry Resource Council (LIRC). A life cycle assessment (LCA) of a luminaire is a comprehensive analysis of a product’s environmental impact, from the production of the product all the way to its disposal or recycle. The LCA Incubator was formally announced on March 29th during the program hosted by the Parsons of Design. Leela Shanker, Founder of the LCA Incubator, explained, “We believe in owning the societal impact of our design choices as much as designing quality experiences for people with light.”

The Incubator has three main objectives:

1. Support collaboration among lighting manufacturers and lighting designers.

2. Develop a standard for measuring the environmental impact of lighting strategies and products.

3. Encourage global harmonization of these standards across territories.

Climate change and its solutions often exist in the abstract. The Incubator is a tangible effort to minimize the lighting industry’s contribution to the problem. The effort’s primary goal is to develop a consistent approach to measuring, reporting and applying LCA information for lighting design decision-making . As Robert Diedrich of WE-EF noted, “What gets measured gets done.”

“What gets measured gets done.”

—Robert Diedrich

The initial step in the process will be data collection and analysis. Expert LCA analysis will be conducted by the Athena Sustainable Materials Institute, a non-profit research organization that specializes in life cycle assessments for the building materials and construction sector. Data will be gathered for 5 common fixture types:

1. Pendant Linear [4’/ 1200mm]

2. Recessed Downlight [4”/ 100mm]

3. Cylinder [4”/ 100mm diameter]

4. Troffer 2’x2’/Recessed 600mm x 600mm

5. Street Lighting Post Top Luminaire

These categories were chosen based on preliminary consultation with industry professionals on which products may have highest impact due to the volume of product specified, type of projects leading sustainable procurement practice (for example government Request for Proposals requiring Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)), consideration of which environments affect most people (for example commercial office and educational institutions) and program types with highly evolved design standards (such as office space recommendations that are well documented globally, including in the Well Building Standard).

In an ideal world, I would suggest the entire output of the lighting industry be studied. But, here in the real world, compromises must be made, and studying these five categories of fixtures will paint an initial snapshot of the industry’s environmental impact.

The process begins with innovative manufacturers. Those willing to participate and take the lead in this area of investigation will complete a detailed survey used to quantify material components making up the lighting products manufactured at their facilities. They will provide information on the relative weight of materials that form the final luminaires as well as their manufacturing processes and associated energy usage, packaging, waste, and emissions to air and water. The goal is to create a detailed picture of the environmental impact of a product, from cradle to grave.

Following the data collection stage, life cycle assessment will be performed on specific products, and the resulting data will be analyzed and averaged to create a model industry average for a generic fixture in each of the 5 categories. This data will be third-party verified to create what are called industry average environmental product declarations, which will then be shared with designers participating in the Incubator. This data will benefit both sides of our industry. It can be used by manufacturers to understand and improve their production processes and by designers to refine their design strategies to understand and minimize their impact. In the future, with standardized approaches to LCAs and more data in hand, designers will be able to compare different products reliably, consider trade-offs in design priorities and potentially opt for those strategies that have smaller carbon footprints.

From the initial data collection to the rollout of EPDs, the leaders of this initiative expect the process to take about a year. They are hoping to have EPDs in the hands of designers by the first quarter of 2023, if not sooner. Given the urgent nature of the problem, the results of the incubator can’t come soon enough. Arfon Davies, Leader of Lighting at Arup, summarized the situation well. He explained, “We simply cannot continue with business as usual. For us in the lighting industry this means thinking carefully and differently about the decisions we make.” Manufacturers must take steps to reduce the emissions associated with producing their products. Designers must keep in mind the environmental impact of the products they choose and lighting strategies they implement, taking into account things like longevity and adaptability. Davies continued, “We can only make these informed decisions by having the relevant data available, and the LCA Incubator is an important step forward in making this available to all.”

We commend all those involved in this initiative. The lighting industry should be very appreciative of their efforts. They are taking a giant step toward addressing our industry’s contribution to the global environmental crisis. ■