Eco-Conscious Lighting

As the design world becomes increasingly aware of the desperation to become more sustainable and environmentallyfriendly, darc hears from some industry experts on what they are doing to make the design world a better one. We also take a look at what some of the big lighting brands are doing to ensure they practise sustainable product production.

Graphic: Vecteezy.com

030 | ECO-CONSCIOUS LIGHTING | BIID Raising the Industry Standards

During 2021, the British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) launched a new Sustainability Strategy as part of its mission to become more environmentally conscious and to encourage the interior design industry to follow suit.

As part of its sustainability mission, the BIID released various documents outlining their Values, Strategic Plan for 2021-2024, and a Code of Conduct. In its strategy introduction, the BIID quoted Greta Thunberg, saying “The climate crisis has already been solved. We already have all the facts and solutions. All we have to do is to wake up and change.” Speaking on the strategy’s aims, former BIID President Lester Bennett and current President Lindsey Rendell say: “As interior designers, we are part of an industry that accounts for around 40% of the UK’s entire carbon footprint. Through our projects and businesses, small, considered changes could together make a huge positive impact on our environment and emissions. “The climate emergency is one of the biggest challenges of our time and the BIID is committed to rising to this challenge. Our 2021 strategic aims include: ‘to further embed sustainability into interior design practice’, additionally the new 2021 Code of Conduct includes ‘lessen the environmental impact of your work and promote sustainability’. “In February 2020, the BIID committed to become net zero by 2050 along with the Construction Industry Council. We believe the BIID can achieve this much sooner and have decided to audit our carbon footprint from April 2021 and aim to achieve net zero by 2023. “We understand that for most, becoming more sustainable is a journey, one that many of us have been on for years and others may not yet have started. We also recognise that solving the climate crisis requires a collaborative force between clients, designers, suppliers, and governments. We have therefore produced a framework that sets out clear goals and actions, to affect real change at many different levels. “We hope that by our members and industry partners embracing these goals and actions, we will achieve better design outcomes, increased business opportunities and will build a greater awareness of environmentally and socially positive options for their clients and colleagues.” To fulfil some of these promises, the BIID has stated its commitment to Awareness – Knowledge – Promotion: “Build awareness of the Climate Crisis and the positive role members and the industry can have in response. “Develop knowledge for members on practical measures, actions and policies they can adopt in their businesses and projects – in order to become more environmentally and socially responsible. “And prioritise promotion, advocation and celebration of technologies, practices, materials, and products that improve sustainable outcomes – by members, the industry and the world.” The report also identifies four key areas where members and the industry can create positive impacts. As a framework, they used the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) to set out how the BIID and reaching audience can operate more sustainably, benefit from more considered design, improve their business practices and contribute to the sustainable goals for our planet.

The first release to members is the BIID Sustainable Specifying Guide. This guide is intended to provide interior designers with broad knowledge of sustainability issues associated with specifying products, materials and technologies. It is a living document written by members, for members. At the end of the day, clients will have the deciding vote, however arming designers with the knowledge and ability to encourage positive choices to minimise impact will have benefits for the project and the wider world. This document doesn’t link to specific examples of products or suppliers, instead it gives an overview of supply chain/lifecycle considerations followed by a series of useful questions that can be implemented into conversations with suppliers and project install teams. The plan is to then release further information, organise events and create accredited CPDs over the next three years to provide interior designers with the tools, resources, and knowledge to promote, create and implement sustainable and ethical design. Some of the questions asked as part of this document include: “Where do products and materials come from and how they are made? What impact do they have on their immediate and wider environment? What is the durability and ‘end of life’ for products and materials?” An annual review will take place in April this year, with subsequent years receiving updates and new objectives as necessary, announcements of achievements, and where useful provide practical information on how members can also achieve similar goals within their practices. “Interior designers have a unique role to play in contributing to a lasting and sustainable design industry,” added Rendell. “The BIID is committed to leading the interior design sector towards more sustainable design practices and as part of that, the BIID Professional Practice Committee researched how we can best assist our members with tools and support to do their work in the most environmentally and socially responsible way. “As a result, we launched the BIID three-year sustainability strategy last year. Since then, we have published the first Sustainable Specifying Guide for interior designers, which was created to provide interior designers with a broad knowledge of the sustainability issues associated with specifying products, materials and technologies. “We have also increased our CPD content on sustainability topics to help designers to grow their knowledge on this vital and wide-ranging subject. This includes our Sustainability Showcase event on 30th March that will be a full day virtual conference of exciting talks from sustainability experts in the interior design sector. “It has never been more important to show our commitment as an industry to sustainable design practices. Our role as designers is to advise our clients on the environmental and social impact of their projects and we hope these BIID initiatives will help designers to do that.” biid.org.uk

Giving the Green Light

The lighting initiative GreenLight Alliance works together to aid the lighting sector to understand their role in adopting and promoting the circular economy. It works towards industry standards that are universally recognised, trusted and sought-after. Emilio Hernandez, Founding Member, provides darc with some comment on their approaches and advice.

The GreenLight Alliance (GLA) has a regular piece in arc, and has now been invited to introduce circular principles in darc magazine. We’re focussed on creating a community to help the lighting sector understand its role in adopting and promoting the circular economy Circular design sits under the umbrella of sustainability. At its core, its principles of ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ seem simple, but dig a little deeper and you become embroiled in topics such as policy, right to repair, eco design, embodied carbon, reverse logistics, warranties etc... (this is what I’ve spent the last 18 month’s doing). It’s all hugely interesting and exciting to me not just because of the opportunity to reduce the mountains of WEEE (electronic waste) we as lighting designers contribute to each year but because I feel we’re reaching a plateau of how we add economic value as an industry, and circular economy offers a refreshing opportunity for relationships and conversations with new partners in different parts of the supply chain.. The best route to a circular design will vary and will be specific to the type of project and client you have. There isn’t a one size fits all in the same way that there isn’t just one way to value engineer a project. It’s also worth noting that a product can’t really be circular in isolation. This is a way of working and thinking not just a manufacturing technique and as such the project and indeed the supply chain need to employ these principles to ensure materials stay at their highest state of usefulness for as long as possible. As lighting designers, recent years of focussing on ‘efficiency’ have seen us paint ourselves into a corner with the clients’ key perception of value being on payback vs capital expenditure, but there are some other ways that we can focus the client’s eye with regards perceived value. Here are some initial principles that we can follow as designers.

Reduction: This is both subjective and objective. Aesthetic judgement on the how many lights we use & objectively using luminaires that either use less material or use recycled or reusable materials. Products are increasingly being supplied with a Life Cycle Analysis or EPD (Environmental Product Declaration), which can inform you for the origin and embedded carbon of components, which is a more accurate way to determine a product’s environmental impact.

Product attachment: Countering emotional obsolescence by selecting timeless forms, factors or products that will be loved, liked or trusted longer is not to be underestimated. There are countelss examples of long lasting products that are not inherently durable but survive because they are cherished.

Product durability: Addresses countering functional obsolescence by developing products that can take wear and tear for their designed life and beyond. We need to move away from a current trend of engineering out durability purely to reduce cost without considering the impacts on obsolescence.

Standardisation: The goal here is countering obsolescence of the lighting system through use of industry standard components, protocols and formats that will outlast a particular technological trend. There is an argument that this can actually add cost, carbon and sometimes complexity to a product but again looking at the designed installation life cycle as a whole is critical rather than just on a product level.

Ease of maintenance and repair: Aimed at countering functional obsolescence by enabling products to be maintained throughout life. Recent legislation means this ‘right to repair’ is a requirement and while this counters planned obsolescence in products, it requires proactive maintenance and goes against the misleading ’fit and forget’ motto that has been the selling point of so many LED upgrades.

Upgradability and adaptability: This is aimed at countering systemic obsolescence by allowing for future expansion and modification. As a designer we should be mindful of specifying products that can only ever be used in one application. So while custom beam angles, finishes and materials are great tools, its important to consider if these can be modified in the future of the product to have a second or third life. The end user or owner will also need to be diligent about who they approach for their repairs as quality and circular economy competence can vary immensely.

Disassembly: With real world recycling processes in mind, disassembly should be considered at the design stage. ‘Material passports’ are being developed for new products by more reputable suppliers and manufacturers, which will help determine this. Specifying suppliers who are part of a WEEE compliance scheme is the bare minimum that should be written into your specs for when fixtures do eventually reach their end of life.

I mentioned relationships at the start of the piece because I feel that a collaborative approach is the key to unlocking these new avenues. In promoting the Circular Economy we’re not trying to discourage other sustainable routes (such as energy efficiency or products made from waste materials) but to help people understand that while a circular product doesn’t need to ‘look’ different to a non circular one on the outside, taking the above steps, one at a time, to make the process more circular can have just as big an impact. www.greenlight-alliance.com