Light fixtures get star rating for safety and efficiency in UAE

By Samihah Zaman, Staff Reporter

Image Credit: Gulf News Archives
The Middle East Smart Lighting and Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi (shown at night)
discussed advances and trends in the sector.

Abu Dhabi: A set of star ratings will soon rank light fixtures based on their efficiency, durability, safety and other features that are important to consumers, a senior government official said in the capital on Sunday.

The ratings, ranging from one star for least efficient to five stars for most efficient, are part of the Emirates Standards and Metrology Authority’s (Esma) new lighting regulations and they apply mainly to residential lighting products. They are expected to be implemented from the third quarter of 2014 all over the UAE, announced Mohammad Al Mulla, director of metrology at the Esma.

“The regulations are intended to ensure that residential-use lighting products that are available in the UAE market are all registered with the Esma, and are monitored continuously for compliance with a set of standards, including electrical safety, energy efficiency, durability and hazardous chemical content,” Al Mulla said.

“Even by conservative estimates, replacing the energy-inefficient fixtures in use today with ones that meet our standards will help save the economy Dh668 million each year. Of this, about Dh400 million of the savings will be reaped by customers, who will pay less in terms of electricity bills and money used to replace fixtures,” he told Gulf News.

Al Mulla was speaking at the Middle East Smart Lighting and Energy Summit, which saw lighting industry experts and government officials meet to discuss advances and trends in the sector.

According to details revealed at the conference, 20 per cent of all electricity consumed worldwide is used for lighting purposes. Reducing this energy use is often highlighted as the most effective way to reduce the carbon footprint.

As Gulf News reported earlier, more than 85 million bulbs are used in UAE residential units alone. The Esma regulation will phase out many energy-inefficient home fixtures in use, most notably incandescent lights.

Al Mulla said that the regulation will therefore result in a 65 per cent reduction in electricity used for direct indoor lighting.

“Because energy-efficient lights lose less energy as heat, 28 per cent of the energy currently used for cooling residential units will also be saved. This is similar to the reduction in carbon emissions that would arise if 165,000 cars were taken off the streets annually,” he added.

The regulations also limit the amount of hazardous chemicals like mercury, lead and cadmium, among others, that can be contained in a light fixture.

Once the regulations are implemented, traders and manufacturers will have six months to register their products with the Esma and phase out fixtures that do not meet the standards, Al Mulla said.

The two-day summit, which was held under the patronage of the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City, also briefed attendees about the Department of Municipal Affairs’ updated sustainable lighting specifications for the public realm. These changes include new sections on the use of solar lighting and signage lighting in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

“There is increasing global pressure to reduce energy consumption, and these changes to Abu Dhabi’s lighting policy address those pressures,” said Ahmad Al Sayari, director of internal roads and infrastructure at the municipality.

Source: Gulfnews.com

View All »