Lighting in Design Q4 2018

Ed Space

A t the end of October, members from the lighting industry gathered for an infor- mation session in Pretoria held jointly by the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS), the Department of Energy and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Information shared was around the planned regulation of general service and directional lamps for general illumination using incandescent, halogen, fluorescent, high intensity discharge, LED, and other light sources. The ramifications of the topic were clearly evident as the room quickly filled beyond capacity with major players from the lighting industry. Theo Covary, Project Manager at the UNDP noted that while the country’s Standards and Labelling Programme in the past focused primarily on white goods, lighting has long been on the radar, and will, within the next few years, become the first electrical product to be regulated in the SADAC region. He noted that the NRCS was fully behind the process of including new tech- nologies in its regulations. “As we speak though,” he said, “there are still a lot of non-compliant lighting products entering the country and the UNDP has assisted in destroying the millions of CFLs that have been seized.” He believes that the indus- try needs to be regulated to level the playing fields, with the mandate of providing quality, affordable, energy efficient lighting to the public. Education will be imperative, and social media campaigns – seen as the best way to connect with the general public – will focus on the reasons to move away from CFLs. A labelling systemwill also be developed educating consumers on, for instance, how to buy a lamp, lifecycle costing and the difference between watts and lumens. Technical Specialist at the NRCS, Langa Jele, explained that while there were already some regulations in place, the new regulations would be based on a mini- mum energy performance standard, effectively banning older technologies. Although much of the groundwork has been done, including feasibility studies, there is still a lot to do before the regulations are approved, including stakeholder engagements, risk assessments and the time consuming approval process. Jele be- lieves that a date of November 2019 for final publication of the regulations is feasible. Michael Scholand, an industry expert from the United States presenting his ex- periences in other countries, noted that the decision to regulate lighting was in line with what was happening globally. “The best approach is to define general lighting, define the parameters around the categories the products fall into in the regulations and then, in the regulations, set the requirements for, for instance, efficacy levels, which will have an impact on which technologies can be utilised.” A heated question and answer session followed where concerns were raised about the proliferation of illegal exports, the cost implications of newer technologies for the poor, and the impact the regulations will have on manufacturers. There is no doubt that regulation of the lighting industry is sorely needed, and we will be following this topic closely over the coming months. Presentations from the information session are available to download at www.savingenergy.org.za Editor: Gregg Cocking (lighting@crown.co.za) • Advertising manager: Carin Hannay (carinh@crown.co.za) Layout: Adel JvR Bothma • Circulation: Karen Smith Cover: Thavhani Mall. Image courtesy: MDS Architecture. Published by Crown Publications cc PO Box 140, Bedfordview, 2008 - Tel: +27 (0)11 622 4770 Fax: +27 (0)11 615 6108 - Website: www.crown.co.za ABC 2 nd quarter: 3 568 • Printed by: Tandym Print All issues of Lighting in Design can be viewed on our website. Visit www.lightingindesignmagazine.co.za Gregg

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LiD Q4 - 2018