Lighting is becoming fast seen as one of the essential concerns and issues in the office environment settings. Not only does lighting account for the energy bill in the commercial spaces, but it also affects and promotes the level of concentration, mood and enables office workers to feel a range of emotions from relaxed to attentive.
As the environmental regulatory agencies are tightening up and inducing many companies to have sustainable lighting is a must in the office workspaces and finding ways to minimize our carbon footprint in terms of energy consumption. Many commercial building industries now target lighting as a critical element in their sustainable solutions and design, including installing safe electrical access panels like aesthetic access doors with hidden flanges to keep the electrical components safer.
Natural Lighting
Natural daylight is the best choice to have sustainable lighting in the office. Not only is it free, but it also offers proven health benefits than artificial lighting does. Nowadays, most architects design offices carefully to achieve as much natural light as possible through skylights, atriums, translucent panels, and panoramic windows. The real cleverness comes when natural daylight is reflected evenly across the office workspace, known as daylighting design.
LED Lighting
Instead of lighting being emitted from a vacuum, same as the typical light fittings. The LED lighting fixtures come from semi-conductive diodes that, when electricity passes, the movement of the free electrons will create light. That is why LED lighting is called solid-state lighting. It is the newest energy lighting fixture technology, and it’s becoming popular in most intelligent buildings across the globe.
The LED lights were dimmer in the past than their incandescent counterparts. While LED lights are more environmentally friendly, the consumers or the users found that LED lighting fixtures are too dark for residential or commercial use. However, their innovation can now light at the same level as their less environmentally friendly counterparts. It lasts 100 times longer than incandescent bulbs and is more durable given there is no tube or filament to break. It only requires a low power level to generate far less than a typical lighting fixture.
CFL Light Bulbs
Like other LED counterparts, The CFL lighting fixtures are also notably more energy-efficient than incandescent lighting. These CFL lighting bulbs are among the most common energy-saving bulbs, although it is likely to change as the LED becomes more popular. CFL lighting works by exciting gasses within its bulb and causes the layer of phosphorus to produce light. Although CFL bulbs are cheaper than LED, they are more complex to recycle as they contain small quantities of mercury, which means that additional care is a must when recycling. They also take a bit longer to brighten up compared to traditional lighting, which is why these CFL bulbs are not ideal for atriums, hallways, or public spaces.
Halogen Light Fittings
Halogen lighting will produce lights by its filaments enclosed within its halogen gas. It is the lighting bulb you can come closest to the light produced by old-fashioned light bulbs and incandescent bulbs. Halogen light uses 20 to 30 percent less energy compared to traditional incandescent bulbs. These halogen light fittings are the cheapest option in the market while guaranteeing more energy-efficient use.
One of the advantages of halogen light fitting is that they quickly reach full power having the same speed as traditional lighting fittings, making them ideal in large office spaces. However, their lifespan is shorter than LED or CFL.
Incorporate Wall Wash Lightings
Consider the wall wash lighting in the office. Effectively illuminating wall surfaces will create even lighting in the office space as walls reflect the lightings. Concerning the lighting system in the office, the position of wash wall lights will help spread and diffuse ambient and overhead lighting throughout the office space. Incorporating washing wall lighting is one of the best ways to benefit from wall light reflection in the office space.
Solar Panels for Office Lightings
Solar panels are starting to come into play more nowadays regarding sustainable lighting ideas, as it is also inexpensive to install, and their playback is virtually free energy. Many new commercial buildings and offices are installing solar panels nowadays to have less energy consumption from the grid for their lighting system while helping to reduce carbon footprint and make offices more sustainable and eco-friendly.
Office space and companies are taken far more seriously about sustainable lighting systems. Not only to save money from the bills while helping the environment reduce the carbon footprint, but also because the office lighting system also affects the mood and the efficient productivity of the workers.
