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Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Efficient White Lighting Units

1.1    Scope

Efficient White Lighting Units are a combination of a light fitting (or luminaire), one or more light sources, and associated control gear that have been assembled either into a single packaged unit or a luminaire with remote control gear. Neither light fitting, light sources nor control gear alone can be said to ‘comply with the ETL’. Efficient White Lighting Units may also incorporate lighting control devices such as dimming and 'presence' controls. The luminaire could also include an optical system that reflects and/or focuses the product’s light output onto the item(s) being illuminated. An Efficient White Lighting Unit may be equipped with any high efficiency light source, such that it meets the eligibility criteria set down in this document.

1.2    Definitions

Efficient White Lighting Units are products that are specifically designed to provide efficient, high quality, illumination. These criteria shall only apply to the complete lighting unit.  

Efficient White Lighting Units have been included on the Energy Technology List (ETL) because they offer substantial energy and carbon savings. A wide variety of products are available with a range of performance levels. The ETL scheme aims to encourage the purchase of higher efficiency products that meet certain minimum quality, design and performance standards. 

The ETL Scheme covers three categories of products: 

  1. Amenity, accent and display lighting units
  2. General interior lighting units
  3. Exterior lighting units 

Where: 

  • Amenity lighting is decorative lighting intended to enhance the appearance of a building or outdoor area in order to promote the activities of a business. It can include ‘mood’ lighting of hotels, bars and restaurants and other leisure activities; and decorative lighting for public areas of buildings and parts of buildings or the surrounding grounds (where such lighting is necessary to the enhancement of the business function). It does not include lighting to provide general illumination or circulation, or building lighting that would be present regardless of the type of business being carried out.
  • Display lighting comprises lighting intended to highlight displays of exhibits, merchandise and other associated uses. It includes for instance spot or projector lighting in shops, theatres, galleries and studios.
  • Accent lighting comprises lighting that is intended to provide additional light over a specific small area in order to carry out or promote the activities of a business. This may include lighting required for a particular task (e.g. medical or dental examination, supplementary lighting for fine machining work or critical inspection work). It does not cover general lighting for an entire room or a large part of a room.
  • General interior lighting covers all other interior lighting.
  • Exterior lighting units covers all exterior lighting which is intended to provide downward light onto horizontal or near horizontal surfaces, including roadways, car parks, paths, stairs, ramps, gardens and other open spaces. This includes illuminated bollards and post-top lanterns. It is also intended to cover light vertical or near vertical surfaces, including floodlighting of buildings, monuments and statues.

Eligible Efficient White Lighting Units shall comply with the requirements as set out below. 

1.3    Requirements 

1.3.1    Eligibility requirements  

To be eligible, products shall: 

  • Include one or more light sources, a luminaire and associated control gear.
  • Not be luminaires designed to incorporate or be supplied with light sources that retrofit to existing light fittings.
  • Not be exclusively for emergency lighting. However combined emergency/general lighting is acceptable[1].

In addition: 

  • The luminaire, lamps and control gear shall have an appropriate Conformity Assessment mark.
  • Where products incorporate LEDs, they shall use electronic control gear, and be capable of producing white light. Definition of white light is defined in “The Ecodesign for Energy-related Products and Energy Information (Lighting Products) Regulations 2021 No 1095”[2].
  • Only include components that are compliant with the Ecodesign requirements and energy labelling regulations in force, where applicable. At the finalisation of these ETL criteria, the relevant regulations were: The Ecodesign for Energy-related Products and Energy Information (Lighting Products) Regulations 2021 No 1095.

In addition, lamps and control gear shall comply with the following performance standards (where relevant):

  • BS EN 61347-2-13:2014, “Lamp control gear. Particular requirements for d.c. or a.c. supplied electronic control gear for LED modules”.
  • BS EN 62384:2006+A1:2009, “D.C. or A.C. supplied electronic control for LED modules. Performance requirements”.
  • BS EN 62717:2017+A2:2019, “LED modules for general lighting. Performance requirements” 
  • BS EN 60923:2005, “Auxiliaries for lamps. Ballasts for discharge lamps (excluding tubular fluorescent lamps). Performance requirements”.
  • BS EN 60598-2-22:2014+A1:2020: Luminaires. Particular requirements. Luminaires for emergency lighting
  • BS EN 62612:2013+A2:2018: Self-ballasted LED lamps for general lighting services with supply voltages > 50 V

1.3.2    Performance requirements 

Eligible efficient white lighting units shall: 

  • Have a luminaire efficacy (i.e. lighting efficiency) that is greater than, or equal to, the thresholds set out in Table 1.1 below, when tested after 100 hours of continuous operation.  
  • Have a power factor that is greater than, or equal to, 0.9 at its highest light output level. 
  • Be able to provide a light output (in lumens) after 3000 hours of continuous operation that is not less than 90% of their initial light output (in lumens) as per schedule 5 of The Ecodesign for Energy-related Products and Energy Information (Lighting Products) Regulations 2021 No 1095.

In addition:      

  • With the exception of combined emergency lighting, individual control gear shall have a standby power not exceeding 0.5 Watts when the lighting unit incorporates an electronically addressed dimming, switching circuit or data logging. If the product is not fitted with an automatic switching or dimming circuit, the product shall not consume power when it is switched off. This is in line with the Schedule 3 of The Ecodesign for Energy-related Products and Energy Information (Lighting Products) Regulations 2021 No 1095.
  • White LED in all categories, and all light sources used in amenity, accent and display lighting fittings shall have a colour rendering index that is at least Ra 80.
  • If the product incorporates dimming control it shall be tested at its highest light output level.
  • Amenity, accent and display lighting units to be installed indoors shall have a minimum light output of at least 100 lumens after 100 hours of continuous operation. All other fittings shall have a minimum light output of at least 200 lumens after 100 hours of continuous operation.

Table 1.1    Minimum luminaire efficacies for efficient white lighting units

Category Minimum luminaire efficacy (in luminaire lumens per circuit watt)
Amenity, accent and display lighting units ≥ 106
General interior lighting, using downlighting units (DLOR/LOR ≥ 0.9) ≥ 125
General interior lighting using uplighting units (DLOR/LOR<0.1) ≥ 125
General interior lighting using combined up and down lighting units (DLOR/LOR ≥ 0.1 and <0.9) ≥ 125– (20 x DLOR/LOR)
Exterior area lighting units ≥ 125

Where: 

  • “≥” means "greater than or equal to".
  • Downward Light Output Ratio (DLOR) is the ratio of the light emitted by the unit in a downward direction to that emitted by the bare lamp(s) in any direction. 
  • Light Output Ratio (LOR) is the ratio of the total light emitted by the unit to that emitted by the bare lamp(s). 
  • Luminaire efficacy is defined in terms of lumens of light output emitted by the luminaire per circuit watt of electrical power consumed. 
  • The electrical power consumed (in circuit watts) is defined as the total power consumed by the whole lighting unit from main circuit connection point to the light source, including losses in the control gear (ballast or driver).  
  • The product shall perform at the minimum required efficacy at each drive current for which the product is designed to operate, when tested after 100 hours of continuous operation. If the product incorporates dimming control it shall be tested at its highest light output level. 
  • For amenity, accent and display lighting units, general interior lighting, and exterior floodlighting units, light output is defined as the total light output in all directions (TLO), which is the sum of: 

          a) Light output in a downward direction (DLO) i.e. below the horizontal as installed, and 

          b) Light output in an upward direction (ULO) i.e. above the horizontal as installed. 

Note: In luminaires containing replaceable lamps the TLO may also be expressed as the result of the following calculation:

Initial (100 hour) lamp lumen output x LOR 

  • For exterior area lighting units only, light output is defined as total light output in a downward direction (DLO) only i.e. below the horizontal as installed (i.e. light output in an upward direction is not included in the calculation of product light output or luminaire efficacy). Note: As above the DLO may also be expressed by the calculation: 

Initial (100 hour) lamp lumen output x DLOR 

1.4    Measurement and Calculations

1.4.1    Test Requirements

All products shall be tested in accordance with the procedures laid down in one of the following: 

  • BS EN 13032-1:2004 +A1:2012, “Light and lighting. Measurement and presentation of photometric data of lamps and luminaires. Measurement and file format”.
  • IESNA LM-79-19, “Electrical and Photometric Measurements of Solid-State Lighting Products”.
  • BS EN 62722-2-1:2016, “Luminaire performance Part 2-1: Particular requirements for LED luminaires”.

If a white LED based product is sold solely[3] for use in refrigerators or freezers with a declared application temperature of 5ºC or below, its efficacy and luminous flux may be measured at a temperature of between 0º and 5ºC on its external casing.  

1.4.2    Rounding  

For the avoidance of doubt, test data should be presented to zero decimal places by rounding down. As an example, an efficacy of 105.9 luminaire lumens per circuit Watt for a display lighting unit would be expressed as 105llm/W and deemed to be a fail.

1.5    Verification for ETL Listing 

Any of the following testing routes may be used to demonstrate the conformity of products against the requirements: 

  • In-house testing – Self-tested and verified or cross-checked by an independent body.
  • Witnessed testing
  • Independent testing
  • Representative testing (see clause 1.5.1 below)

Further information regarding the first three routes can be found in the ETL Testing Framework.

1.5.1    Representative testing

Where applications are being made for two or more models that are variants of the same basic design, test data may be submitted for a single ‘representative model’ provided that all variants such as housing components, different drivers (with same drive current), colour finishes (chrome, painted etc), means of connection (tails, plug/socket etc):  

  • Are of the same product family, with the same construction and number of LEDs  

It should be noted that:       

  • If a manufacturer voluntarily removes the representative model from the ETL then other products linked with that representative model may or may not be permitted to remain on the ETL.
  • If any product submitted under these representative model rules is later found not to meet the performance criteria when independently tested, then all products based on the same representative model will be removed from the ETL.

1.6    Conformity testing

Products listed on the ETL may be subject to the scheme’s conformity testing programme in order to ensure listed models continue to meet the ETL requirements.

1.7    Review

1.7.1    Indicative review date

This specification is scheduled to be reviewed during the 2023/24 review cycle.

1.7.2    Illustrative future direction of the requirements

The next technical review will consider the implementation of the new testing and verification process and further consider product categorisation and performance thresholds. It will also consider a reference to opening the scope of the criteria to individual light sources and the introduction of lifetime performance requirements.

 


[1] A luminaire containing two or more light sources, at least one of which is energised from the emergency supply and the remainder from the normal supply.

[2] https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/1095/contents/made

[3] If luminaires are used in other applications, this is not required.