The state governments of Australia are fostering schemes to improve energy efficiency. There are differences in implementation but all rely on creating financial incentives for organisations to invest in energy saving products. One of the product groups identified targeted is energy efficient lighting, incorporating both improvements to existing technologies and emerging technologies. Emerging technologies are those that are not fully developed and have little in the way of performance benchmarks. As such, they require development of a common set of metrics with which to compare products.
LED lighting and the wider implementation of induction lighting are two emerging technologies. Compact fluorscent lamps (CFL) and T5 fluorescents are examples of mature technologies that are being refined. For the most part, the energy efficiency schemes in Australia are focusing on emerging technologies.
All schemes rely on evidence based documentation that has, at its source, test laboratories reporting measurements. There is regulatory testing, such as EMC and electrical safety testing and performance testing. The performance testing determines the extent of the energy savings for the product. For LED lighting, the majority of performance testing in Australia is to the North American IES standards: LM-79 and LM-80. A number of other standards are being developed around the world and there are currently attempts to harmonize the standards. The LM-79 test comprises a photometric luminous intensity test along with electrical measurements (including the requirements to satisfy a lamp circuit power test) and LED specific colour metrics. The LM-80 test is a life test that, due to its duration and cost, is typically performed by the manufacturer of the LED module who will then make the data available to implementors.
The current schemes for testing of LED products are:
NSW (Ipart). The laboratory tested performance requirement consists of a single measurement of electrical supply power (otherwise called LCP or lamp circuit power). Refer IPart home and IPart fact sheets for details and publications.
Vic (VEET). The VEET scheme has a longer list of requirements. Documentation requirements comprise an LM-79 test along with LM-80 and other data supplied by the manufacturer. Refer VEET home and VEET publications for details and publications.
For further information about performance and regulatory testing for lighting products please contact us. More details of our testing services can be found here.