Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Incubator
The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Incubator is an initiative of the GreenLight Alliance in collaboration with the International Association of Lighting Designers Lighting Industry Resource Council (IALD LIRC). The pilot study was launched as an invitation to the industry to work together, across expertise and territories, in a collaborative approach to address the impact of our designs on people and the planet.
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Life Cycle Assessment of Five Common
Architectural Luminaires
PROJECT TO DATE
(March 2022 - 2024)
Industry dialogue supported through 20 Industry Roundtables hosted over 15 months.
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9 Manufacturer Roundtables,
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7 Lighting Designer Roundtables,
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4 Combined Manufacturer and Designer Roundtables
Ecosystem
Global Community of Pioneering companies and individuals working toward global harmonization of the lighting industry’s approach to life cycle assessment.
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30 Manufacturers from across Europe, North America and Australia
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133 lighting designers from 68 Design Firms, from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America, South America, UK
Harmonization
5 Luminaire Product Types analysed to produce one LCA Report and 5 Industry Average EPDs
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4 interior luminaires: Downlight, Pendant Linear, Pendant Cylinder, Troffer/ 600mmx600mm
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1 exterior luminaire type: Pedestrian Post Top
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45 Primary products data sets received from manufacturers
Measurement
PROJECT GOALS
Ecosystem: To support collaboration between the product and design sides of the lighting industry, creating an ecosystem of designers and manufacturers enabled to lead decarbonisation progress in lighting.
Harmonisation: To enable global harmonisation of standards across territories. This will minimise confusion and conflict between approaches to measurement and reporting on LCA by facilitating dialogue on developing frameworks and supporting interpretation of data for better informed decision making.
Measurement: To directly address data gaps for luminaires by committing to creation of five industry environmental product declarations for the most commonly used types of lighting fixtures for the applications with highest volume specifications such as offices, schools, higher education, healthcare, cultural venues and science and technology.
METHODOLOGY
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An international sample of participating designers and manufacturers was assembled from small, mid, and large firms to ensure a representative sample of current lighting industry practice. The goal was to support global harmonization by including dialogue between key practitioners from multiple territories across the globe and enable the development of consistent approaches to analysis.
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An LCA Expert was appointed to develop the lighting data collection surveys, support data collection, and life cycle assessment analysis. Athena Sustainable Materials Institute (Athena) - a non-profit research organisation specialising in ISO compliant LCA for the building materials and construction sectors was initially appointed. The Industry EPDs will be issued by WAP Sustainability.
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Data was collected from individual manufacturers on products meeting the performance criteria. The data was averaged and analysed to produce an Industry Average Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for each of the following five (5) fixture types: Linear, Downlight, Cylinder, Troffer Recessed 600mm x 600mm, and Pedestrian Post Top.
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Designers conducted studies of recent projects including fixture schedule analysis, sustainability goals, and controls narrative analysis. Developments in current practice were shared through roundtables including amended lighting specification sections on projects and industry mapping to understand which products have EPDs and LCA available.
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Designers will apply the resulting Industry Average EPD data for generic luminaires to typical spaces in projects they have in development.
Output
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One Life Cycle Assessment report that outlines findings of the data collection and analysis process including hotspot materials, components and processes
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Five Industry-Average Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), one for each of the luminaire types studied: pendant linear, recessed downlight, pendant cylinder downlight, recessed troffer LED panel and pedestrian post-top.
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Identification of areas requiring further research and lighting industry consultation to establish consensus on critical aspects of LCA framework harmonisation of standards to ensure future reports are comparable and therefore useful for decision making by specifiers.
Participants
The following manufacturers supported this pioneering industry work by contributing data on products that meet the performance criteria outlined above. We thank each of them for their investment in the beginning of consistent, comparable information for decision making with some of the highest volume products specified on projects globally. Please contact them for Industry-Average Environmental Product Declarations on the five luminaire types studied through the Incubator if you are seeking to satisfy LEED and BREAM certifications.
