The World Business Council for Sustainable Development reports roughly 60 percent of U.S. office buildings were built after 1970, making them much more apt to contain energy-efficient technologies than older multifamily and residential building stock. However, lighting technologies have advanced so dramatically in recent years that it is very likely many existing commercial buildings contain lighting systems with outdated fixtures that are energy-intensive and provide lighting levels that are neither comfortable nor necessary.
Because lighting can account for anywhere from 20 to 50 percent of a building’s energy consumption, it long has been one of the first systems considered for a retrofit by building owners and facility managers. However, before embarking on a lighting system retrofit, a building owner and/or facility manager has much to consider:
- What is the budget?
- What return on investment is expected?
- What are the project’s goals: a new look, visual comfort, energy savings, all of these?
- What types of technology, including lighting sources and controls, are preferable?
- Will a lighting upgrade result in code updates?
With so many questions and much at stake when investing in a new lighting system, many building owners and facility managers wonder where to start. Three lighting designers from different firms offer a bit of guidance.
Step No. 1: Find an Experienced Lighting Designer
Today’s lighting designers are challenged to remain educated to help guide their clients to a lighting system that meets specific needs. A lighting designer’s job also requires him or her to delicately balance the science of voltage and lumens with the art of color temperature and ambiance creation in a space. “I don’t think entirely like an architect or entirely as an engineer, but I can work as the interpreter between the two,” explains Ingrid McMasters, LC, senior lighting designer with KJWW Engineering Consultants, Madison, Wis. “That is a special skillset that lighting designers, in general, have. We can go back and forth between the science and engineering, as well as use light as part of the palette, choosing color, shape and form.”
To locate an experienced lighting designer who can skillfully balance the art and science of lighting, a number of lighting-focused associations offer help. The Chicago-based International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) provides a list of experienced member designers from across the country. “IALD provides an accreditation and requires a certain number of years in practice and amount of projects installed, presented or in design,” explains Matt Minard, LC, lighting engineer for Eco Engineering LLC, Cincinnati, and an associate IALD member. “You submit your application to IALD, and then you must be elected to this group based upon your approach to lighting design and whether you will properly represent the philosophy of the IALD in your process.”
The Austin, Texas-based National Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Professions (NCQLP) tests and accredits lighting designers. The accreditation signifies a lighting designer understands how lighting affects safety, health, productivity, energy conservation and more. McMasters has served on NCQLP’s Test Committee since 2007. “The NCQLP certification verifies you have a basic knowledge of lighting,” she says. “You also must have three years of experience in the field, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but these days with new technologies you learn a lot in three years.” Thirty-six continuing-education credits during the course of three years are required to maintain the accreditation.