Modern Building Services

MODERN BUILDING SERVICES AUGUST 2022 11 FEATURE ELECTRICAL SERVICES LIGHTING With this model, customers no longer buy lighting technology but pay a monthly rate (the manufacturer remains the owner) for a planned, installed, and maintained LED solution. In conjunction with the sustainability advantages, after disassembling the products, a lighting expert decides whether they are suitable for further use or if they can be refurbished and updated with new components. 3. Recycle Our final R: recycling is something we are all used to at home. Recovering rawmaterials fromend- of-life products has two additional advantages: recovery is often more efficient in energy and costs than new extraction, and recycled materials are usually obtained locally, reducing transportation- related carbon. In 2021, the UK collection of waste B2B light fittings treated through the WEEE system was 2,581 tonnes, with 41,240 tonnes of B2B light fittings placed on the market. That gives a national collection rate of just 6.2% which still leaves much room for improvement. In the same year, Recolight’s members achieved a collection rate that was 12%, so twice the national average. Through analysis of its value chain, we have reported decreasing waste volumes in production for years. In the UK, it is partnered with Recolight to manage the recycling of all luminaires. Designing in sustainability Reuse, Refurbish and Recycle are great end-of-life strategies. However, as manufacturers, we need to make them easier to implement. This starts at the design phase, from packaging to durability and disassembly. The lighting industry In November 2021, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) and the Society of Light and Lighting (SLL) launched TM66 - Creating a circular economy in the lighting industry. TM66 provides practical guidance and a methodology for assessing the effectiveness of products and projects to circularity. Designing out waste We participated in the European Repro-light research (re-usable and re-configurable parts for sustainable LED-based lighting systems). The project investigated the modularisation of luminaires, and a smart production scheme, via a Life Cycle Assessment that quantifies the environmental impact over a product’s entire life cycle (from production to use, through to end-of-life). A natural continuation, in 2021, it spearheaded a consortium that launched the two-year SUMATRA project. Sumatra’s objective is to design a modular architecture and intelligent production scheme for LED luminaires to make lighting technology fit for the circular economy. Here, wemay finally have a definitive blueprint on how circularity can be achieved in lighting that is scientific and quantifiable. The group plans to share the findings, helping the lighting industrymove towards amore sustainable and competitive future. Reduced packaging We started reducing packaging waste right from the product development stage. Packing options are reviewed on sustainability. Recyclability is essential in selecting materials and design. Furthermore, it has obliged all its suppliers to take back their packaging and has introduced a system to avoid unnecessary packaging and minimise the amount of material. Design for durability Design for longevity is critical. The idea is to build better, durable products with longer life cycles. This includes making parts more accessible and easier to maintain, replace or upgrade. Design for recycling We now ask ourselves; “How do we design luminaires so that components and raw materials can be efficiently recycled and returned to the material cycle?” Here, we focus on reducing the use of virgin materials and avoiding hazardous, critical, and precious substances. Innovative material use Manufacturers must champion material research and test environmentally friendly renewable materials as an alternative to classic plastic-based luminaires. We have put this into practice. A good example is its Parelia PLA prototype. PLA is a synthetic polymer based on lactic acid obtained from corn starch in an environmentally friendly way, which is 100%biodegradable. Due to its properties, it is suitable for producing the luminaire body via 3-D printing. The result is a naturally decomposable luminaire that does not add to electrical waste or adversely affect natural resources. In summary, brilliant people are working hard to find solutions to tackle our planet’s anthropogenic crisis. Adopting a circular approach in the lighting and construction industry is no longer a nice to have. In the future, collaboration, shared value, and adoption of disruptive and radical innovation will be vital to the success of circularity and drive the much-needed transformational change in lighting and the construction industry. More information can be found at www.trilux.com/gb