Summary

Efficient visual comfort

To optimise efficient visual comfort in lighting concepts, ERCO has cooperated with designers and users to formulate five factors which reinforce each other and in practice result in significant increases in light quality, resource savings and economic efficiency.

Lighting requires energy. Everyone involved in an aspect of lighting - from the manufacturer to the designer and the user - should use the limited resources responsibly. Against the background of rising energy costs, architectural lighting has made enormous progress over the past few years and has already achieved a significant level of efficiency. Efficient visual comfort as promoted by ERCO means steadily improving both the energy efficiency and the light quality - through innovative technical and design-oriented approaches.

Efficiency through visual comfort

Man and his perception determines whether lighting is efficient. Irrespective of any technical measure of efficiency, if light produces glare, it will impair vision and diminish people's comfort, resulting in wasted energy. The eye is forced to adapt and the pupils contract. The result is that even zones of high illuminance will appear relatively dark in comparison with the dazzling source of light. Glare-free, comfortable light, by contrast, creates optimum viewing conditions for the human eye. From the outset it allows the designer to use an energy efficient solution with lower illuminance levels and subtle contrasts.

Less can be more

The investment in light quality is beneficial from both an economical and an ecological point of view. A carefully planned and implemented lighting concept using high-quality products effectively is more attractive to the client and user. In the long run, it will produce savings in both operating and maintenance costs. Specialised, professional lighting tools are highly efficient in achieving a specific light effect in a differentiated lighting concept. They invariably replace several non-specific, cheap products, which compensates for their higher price. Modern, efficient lamps reduce the connected load of the lighting system and the thermal load - with additional positive effects, such as the size and operating costs of air conditioning and ventilation systems. Intelligent designs and high-quality lighting tools ensure lighting solutions that reduce the operating costs while meeting all the aesthetic, functional and ecological requirements.

5 factors for efficient visual comfort

Vertical illuminance

Vertical illuminance is a characteristic feature of well-designed, economical lighting concepts. For this reason, ERCO offers a particularly wide range of appropriate lighting tools. Vertical illuminance using special wallwashers is far more important to the subjective perception of brightness than the light on horizontal surfaces. This is taken into account in perception-oriented lighting design as an optimal solution that contributes significantly to meeting the requirements of the users of architecture and can help save energy if used in an appropriate lighting concept. So, for example, the impression of brightness in a room is created more efficiently using a differentiated lighting concept which involves wallwashing than a uniform level of brightness resulting only from direct ambient lighting. The average illuminance can be decreased accordingly, reducing the required number of luminaires.

Qualitative lighting design

Careful, perception oriented lighting design uses light specifically to meet the requirements of the user: vertical lighting, for example, provides a subjectively high impression of brightness in a room. The same applies to controlled accent lighting which is invariably more effective than blanket high levels of lighting. Lighting tools which provide good visual comfort prevent glare and inherently allow the designer to produce an energy efficient solution with lower illuminance levels and subtle contrasts. The variety of efficient and differentiated lighting tools, indeed the scope and structure of ERCO's entire Program, is orientated towards qualitative lighting design.

Effective lighting technology

Efficient, precise optical systems lower the energy requirement for lighting. A comprehensive toolbox of lighting equipment ensures optimal and thus efficient light distribution for specific lighting tasks. This extends from the asymmetric wallwasher and various spotlight characteristics to the reflector lens system for illumination of product displays in shops. Innovations such as the ERCO Spherolit reflectors provide both high light output ratios and visual comfort. New light sources such as high-power LEDs with their directed beam require entirely different light guidance systems than conventional lamps, which creates new lighting technology challenges. The result is lighting tools which give the user complete control and allow effective planning.

Intelligent lighting control

ERCO's DALI technology simplifies scenic lighting and makes it economical. Individual light scenes to suit each situation are selected and controlled by the user. This is in combination with automated light management using sensor systems and timer programs which have the potential for enormous savings. Typical scenarios here include the use of presence detectors to dim or switch off the light in unused rooms or else, twilight switches or analogue daylight sensors to call up light scenes depending on the amount of available daylight. Easy installation, setup and ease of operation contribute to the high level of acceptance of these systems among users.

Efficient lamps

ERCO is heavily involved in the development of LED lighting equipment to make practical use of the many advantages of LEDs in terms of luminous efficacy and functional life. ERCO also continues to provide an exceptionally wide range of products for use with economical, long-lasting metal halide lamps and compact fluorescent lamps.