A circular economy for lighting has the potential to transform our working spaces for the better. Prioritising reparability, waste reduction and resource efficiency could drive a shift to higher-quality products and better, more people-centric design, says Andrew Bissell, Lighting Design Partner at Ridge.

What would a circular economy for lighting look like? How would it be different from today?

In an ideal circular economy world, you could buy a light fitting today and it would still be performing as a light fitting in 50 years. Spare parts would be easily sourced and upgrading the technology would be simple.

When products last longer, so a client may own them for two or three refurbishments or relocations, I envisage that lighting design and fitting selection will be more considered than it tends to be now. A longer-term mindset will be needed, and the focus will shift from lighting a space today in a cost- and energy-efficient way, to providing the light people need today and in the future. This will inevitably create spaces that look and perform a lot better than many currently do. Equally, the longer a client will own a product, the more care they will take in its specification and selection. The emphasis will be on flexibility of lighting spaces in the future, in addition to lighting spaces today.

 Would a circular economy for lighting be more expensive?

Circular economy-compatible fittings don’t have to cost any more, it’s just that somebody has thought about how they are assembled and disassembled. If you glue a module into the fitting, you can’t replace it. If you use screws, you can replace it. If you use a spring clip that doesn’t require any tools, you can replace it easily. The glue, screws and spring clip cost roughly the same.

The other point is that a circular economy light fitting would retain its value better, a bit like a good quality car – or a classic Anglepoise lamp, which both looks great and can still be maintained. So maybe clients would also be willing to invest more in their office lighting, because they could be sure of a future asset value.

How does the circular economy fit alongside other goals, like Net Zero?

I think that’s the real opportunity. In the lighting industry now, people are talking about a lot of different aims: Net Zero, equity, diversity and inclusion, energy savings, personal controls, health and wellbeing, visual quality, and getting people back to the office after working from home. When you add all those goals together, there is a strong case for changing the way we light workspaces.

That’s because for all those things, it’s the same solution: only put lights where people want them. When you work from home, you don’t sit under a big square light fitting. I did a survey of our people during lockdown, and most of them preferred variable natural daylight to a bright consistent light. So why do we put 200 light fittings across an office ceiling, no matter where people are sitting?

We need to put the people in the space and then give them the light they need.

The circular economy just adds another, very compelling, reason to push through the change we desperately need.

How different would offices look, if people could choose their lighting?

They would have what we call ‘localised lighting’. It’s anything that’s local to you, which you can control. It might be a table lamp, or a light above your desk. The closer the light is to the working surface, the less energy it needs to get there. Spaces look better because the light undulates just as it does naturally outside. In central Europe, there are often pendant light fittings above each desk, with a pull cord to dim them or turn them on or off. It’s simple and it works.

We’re all different and we all like to be able to adjust our own working environment.

What can specifiers or building owners do today to bring about a circular economy?

Specifiers can do a huge amount. We already have the Circular Economy Assessment Method, or CEAM, developed by the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE). CEAM-Make is a document that manufacturers can use to make their products compatible with a circular economy, and have them independently certified. CEAM-Specify is a simpler tool to help designers compare different products and choose the most circular for a particular space.

Both of these are based on Technical Memorandum 66 (TM66) published by CIBSE and the Society of Light and Lighting, which is a really useful introduction to the concept of the circular economy in lighting. Before TM66, only someone who was really keen would have made the effort to check out a product’s circular economy credentials. Having that independent certification is really useful for explaining to clients, without talking about nuts and bolts and glues.

At the moment, this is still led by lighting designers, rather than the market asking for it, so there does need to be a bit of an educational push. Clients currently ask for a WELL certification or BREEAM or SKA, and that’s where we need to get to with CEAM. But there are no barriers to implementing it – all end users have to do is ask.

As soon as people know about CEAM, more and more will insist on it.

Andrew Bissell is a Partner in the Lighting Design practice at Ridge, and Past President of the Society of Light and Lighting.

You can contact Andrew on Andrewbissell@ridge.co.uk and click here for more information about the Lighting Design team at Ridge.