Publication of EU GPP criteria for road lighting and traffic signals

Compositions

In the context of the European collaborations that we manage via the BuioMetria Partecipativa project, in 2017 we started to follow a working group concerning the update of the Green Public Procurement guidelines for road lighting and traffic signals.

This group is coordinated by the Joint Research Centre (from its Sevilla, Spain, facility), and in the past 18 months is saw the active presence of several of the light pollution experts we know, together with experts from other domains.

Two days ago through the working group’s mailing list we had news that the results of the activity are available. Please see below the announcement. For more information: bmp@pibinko.org

We are delighted to announce that the EU Green Public Procurement (GPP) criteria for road lighting and traffic signals have been published.

Although lighting systems in general are great examples of potential win-win scenarios for the environment and public budgets, the setting of appropriately ambitious criteria for energy efficiency and durability has been a particular challenge due to the rapidly evolving nature of LED technology. Thanks to detailed input from some of you, including an in-depth analysis of the LightingFacts database using data from the last 6-7 years, it has been possible to present a tiered approach to minimum luminaire efficacy requirements in EU GPP criteria for the next 6 years.

A novel and ambitious approach towards tackling the issue of light pollution has been taken, with requirements on both upward light output ratios and blue light emission being set. The emission of blue light is a particular concern with some LED lighting products and we are pleased to be able to promote a specially tailored metric for blue light (the G-index) which is much more precise and reliable than the commonly used CCT metric. We must say that this was only possible thanks to the previous work of a dedicated group of stakeholders on this particular matter, so a special thanks to those of you involved in the light pollution criteria.

We also have tried to emphasise the importance of durability aspects with LED lighting and to try to shed light (pun intended) on the general misconception that all LED lighting products have excellent durability. There are different quality specifications for different LED chips and durability depends a lot on the quality of the electrical components and appropriate luminaire design, not just on the lamp itself. In line with circular economy principles we are promoting more durable and recyclable products that are correctly labelled to aid in their future replacement, upgrading or disposal.

An excerpt from the presentation of the new criteria, highlighting the combined benefits of LED dimming.

For more information