Speakers at a seminar on ‘Green lighting for a greener world,' have called for better understanding of the importance of architecture for better and comfortable lighting.
Inaugurating a seminar organised on Saturday by the Indian Society of Lighting Engineers (ISLE), in connection with the four-day Light International 2011 expo, Warren Julian, chairman, Lux Pacifica, and authority on lighting and architecture, said, “Lighting is for human beings and hence it requires better understanding.”
Terming current living “cave life,” as offices and malls were dark without lighting, he said the “real problem” lay in the type of interiors being designed. While new products had been found better, their use was found to be more difficult.
Pointing out that research was quite successful in road lighting, he said that cost proved most important criterion in building lighting.
With reference to sun light, Dr. Julian asserted that architecture needed to improve.
Underlining need for integrating lighting and architecture, he said it would be achieved only when lighting and architecture were to be considered as a “whole,” and “when lighting is understood to be more than just electric lighting.”
Praveen Thampi, executive director of Ministry of Light, dismissed the impression that green lighting was “synonymous” with LED lamps.
Even the educated were taken in by this type of marketing and there was a mad rush. While LED did not have mercury, to say that alone meant “green lighting” was not right.
Avinash Kulakarni, national president of the ISLE, presiding, lamented that there was so much of wrong impression regarding green lighting that everyone plumped for CFL lamps earlier. Now, a lot of people switched over to LED lamps under the same misconception.
As an organisation set up to help society as a whole and which had excellent professionals, he said that ISLE should establish “model installations” (of good and comfortable lighting), which could prove a “bench mark and hence could be replicated.”
