The Fabric of our Society

August 2023

Feeling the Heat? Let’s Push for Sustainability...Now! 

Christine Hope
Principal, Focus Lighting

For many years, climate change has felt like a future problem. A problem for our grandkids to deal with, maybe? But this summer of record-breaking heat waves around the world – and one extreme weather event after another – makes living with climate change a daily occurrence for most of us. “It’s so far out of line of what’s been observed that it’s hard to wrap your head around,” Brian McNoldy, a senior research scientist at the University of Miami, told The New York Times. “It doesn’t seem real.” Sometimes I think about the nineties before Al Gore blew everyone’s mind with An Inconvenient Truth. Fast-forward 20 years, and no one can deny this is real. The lighting industry needs to adapt, quickly.

Twenty years ago, we designed with lighting power densities that are unthinkable today. With halogen downlights and socket strips, having a project come in at 10 W/sqft was completely normal. The LED revolution I’ve seen over the course of my career has been remarkable. We’ve made great strides in energy efficiency across all aspects of the built environment, and I’m proud. And digital controls are raising efficiencies while keeping lighting practical and comfortable. But this summer I’m asking myself, what does our industry look like 20 years from now?

Energy codes: necessary evil or opportunity?
I must be perfectly honest: I used to think of energy codes as a huge drag. I felt they were restraining my freedom as a designer. I would rejigger loads and apply every allowance and exemption I could find. Then one day I turned the process on its head: What if I put all that effort into doing smarter, more resourceful design? In recent years, I’ve been actively retraining myself to think of code limitations as opportunities to make bold creative choices.

I think we can all challenge ourselves to design to higher standards, combining fearless design with environmental and social responsibility. Analyzing and implementing change are always challenging (and often costly), but we need to keep reinventing the practice of lighting.

I am excited to see how the lighting community is embracing and promoting sustainable lighting equipment and design. I have designed too many windowless casinos and nightclubs to be anything close to an expert on daylighting, but I feel so inspired that in the past three years we’ve seen six Lumen Citations awarded for use of daylighting, sustainable design, or raising environmental awareness. Let’s keep this up! All members of the specification and supply channel can push clients to embrace thoughtful and creative design work. I’m always interested in projects that bring environmental issues to the fore.

Working together 
Beyond design, there are opportunities within manufacturing processes and the tools we use as specifiers. A new generation of designers is pushing the boundaries of what seems possible. Within the lighting industry the GreenLight Alliance with their Life Cycle Assessment Incubator is a great example of lighting professionals who are passionate about sustainability, networking across the different sectors of lighting. I  am seeing more and more alternate materials and circular economy methods. This kind of cooperation and knowledge-sharing are absolutely vital. 

I do not have all the answers. No one does. But building on technological leaps, thousands of tiny actions, by everyone, will put us on the path to zero carbon. At this delicate moment in time, supported by like-minded individuals and leaders in our industry, we can all make decisions with care for our planet and all those living on it. How we design and model, communicate and issue our documents, build, and (most important) create environments that feel useful, memorable, and special… At the end of every day we can feel like we’ve done the right thing.

Raising the bar: right now!
In one of my favorite movies, The Day After Tomorrow, Dennis Quaid is modeling the oncoming ice age. He’s figuring out what can be done in the coming months to prepare, but is informed that there’s only a few weeks until the apocalypse! (Cue dramatic pause and crash of lightning). This is how I’m feeling now: suddenly, everything is happening impossibly fast.

I salute those designers (and the architects, engineers, and owners) that are embracing opportunities and setting the pace right now. Here are a few recognized by the Lumen Awards:

• 2023 Citation for Integration of Daylight & Electric Light, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego: Renfro Design Group
• 2023 Citation for Environmental Awareness Through Light, The Last Ocean: Jen Lewin Studio
• 2022 Citation for Sustainable Design, Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion: Buro Happold
• 2020 Citation for Environmental Awareness, Waterlicht:  Studio Roosegaarde
• 2020 Citation for Sustainable Daylighting, Mwabwindo School: Renfro Design Group, Inc.
• 2020 Citation for Daylighting Design, Glenstone: Arup