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NORDIC LIGHT & COLOUR
125
for Energibesparelse” (The Danish Energy Saving Trust (DEST))
- has published several information pamphlets aiming to
guide the users in choosing the ‘right/good kind of light’
2
. The
pamphlets are made in collaboration with key-actors such as
Center for Lys (The Danish Lighting Center), ELFOR (Danish
electricity distribution), VELUX Denmark (Danish specialist in
windows) and DELTA (specialists and consultants in advanced
technology). It is important to note that DEST is an impartial
public organization under the Danish ministry of Climate,
Energy and Building, whereas The Danish Lighting Center as
well as Danish Electricity Distribution are trade associations,
and VELUX and DELTA are private companies. Therefore, focus
in the pamphlets will presumably tend to favor solutions that
will be in favor of the lighting, window and energy industries,
which of course will have consequences for the content and its
presentation in the pamphlets.
In the following, small descriptions and assessments of each
guide are given.
Informing about low energy lighting
“Godt Lys i Boligen” (Translation: ‘Good lighting for the home’)
(DEST, 2004) is a pamphlet focusing on ‘
good
and energy ef-
ficient lighting’ for domestic use, and it emphasizes that light is
used for many purposes eg. safety, various activities within the
household, as well as to create an atmosphere. In the introduc-
tion, it is stated that 15-20 % of the electricity consumption for
lighting easily can be reduced, without compromising the
qual-
ity
of the light. It generally seems to take on a holistic approach
in its way of describing each potential room within a house as
well as the common activities and practices connected to the
room, eg. showering and putting on make-up in bathroom,
playing games, dining and perhaps handcraft related activities
connected to the living room. For each room, lamps and light
sources are related to the room, what activities it should facili-
tate as well as how to utilize them during the different phases
of a day - morning, midday and evening.
Daylight
is emphasized
as an important light source that should be exploited
as much
as possible
.
Pictures with exemplar lighting patterns are presented for each
room, as well as pictures representing a less favorable lighting
set-up for comparison. Schemes stating light sources, watt-
age and type of lamps are presented, as well as a floor plan
presenting the parts of the particular room that cannot be seen
in the pictures. Various situations connected to the rooms are
presented through pictures as well, with small descriptions
and explanations connected to them through a numbering.
The pamphlet dates back from before the phase out of the
incandescent bulb, so incandescent bulbs, as well as halogen
light bulbs and spots, fluorescent bulbs and LEDs (however,
to a small extent) are included in the list of potential light
sources.
The pamphlet seems very thorough and pedagogical in its way
of showing light sources in the
context
of the home through
pictures, particularly emphasizing the everyday life practices
that the given light source is supposed to support. However, it
uses a lot of phrases that in principle can be translated or un-
derstood in many different ways – such as ‘good’, ‘atmosphere’
and ‘quality’. The same applies for the pamphlet’s way of deal-
ing with color rendering capabilities. Although color rendering
is mentioned throughout the pamphlet, especially in relation to
cooking, handcrafting and bathroom activities, it introduces dif-
ferent terms for color rendering besides the actual term ‘color
rendering’ (Danish: “farvegengivelse”), such as color composi-
tion of light (Danish: “lysets farvesammensætning”), as well as
colorfast light (Danish: “farveægte lys”).
In a footnote-like comment it is stated that color rendering is
measured
in Ra (p. 27), and the scale for Ra values is briefly
mentioned. Although the pamphlet, however also in a note-
like form, refers to Elsparefondens own list of energy efficient
light bulbs (mainly fluorescent bulbs) that comply with a-level
energy efficiency (European energy label), as well as complying
with
a number of European requirements on color rendering
, the
pamphlet consistently emphasizes incandescent and halogen
bulbs when emphasizing the need for quality color rendering.
“Lyskilder til Boligen – din guide til energirigtig indretning
med lys” (translation: ‘Light sources for the home – your guide
to energy efficient lighting decoration’) (DEST, 2008) seems
to be an updated version of the pamphlet described above.
Incandescent bulbs, as well as halogen bulbs, fluorescent
tubes and bulbs and LED are listed as the four main categories
within domestic lighting. This pamphlet also emphasizes that
energy saving solutions should be chosen, however without
compromising the
quality
of the light. Designing for maximum
exploitation of daylight is emphasized, yet briefly. Different
rooms and different situations and activities are also described
and presented with pictures; however much more emphasize is
put on the
technical dimensions
of the light sources. In terms of
color rendering, the Ra scale is mentioned as part of the main
text – color rendering is much clearer differentiated from what
color temperature is, and a warning of not comparing different
light sources (with different spectral distributions) even if they
have same color rendering (Ra) value, is given. The spectral
distributions for various light sources are shown (daylight,
fluorescents and incandescent/halogen bulbs), and for each
light source a schematic table describing energy efficiency,