Save EU Stage Lighting
The following is quoted from the April 20, 2018 issue of ESTA Standards Watch.
There is a proposal to adopt an EU Energy Directorate Eco-design Working Plan 2016-2019 that would effectively end stage lighting as we know it. Opposition to the plan has often been cast in the past as “Save Tungsten,” but the plan would effective eliminate almost all stage lighting technologies after 2020. Comments on the plan are due by May 7.
The plan imposes minimum efficacy requirements on sources and maximum stand-by power consumption limits in sources and luminaires. The minimum efficacy requirements certainly would have an impact on the use of incandescent lamps, which produce light with efficacies far below the proposed minimum; the plan would end their manufacturer or importation into the EU after 2020. However, additive color-mixing LED sources also cannot meet the proposed efficacy requirements. These sources produce light at the extreme red and blue ends of the spectrum, where, due to the relative insensitivity of the eyes to those colors, the lumens-per-watt produced is low. This low efficacy cannot be ameliorated by better light source technology; it is a function of the response of the human eye. Finally, the proposal mandates a maximum standby power consumption limit for sources and luminaires, and this is low enough that it cannot be met by virtually anything that has any electronic control circuitry or motors. If a product has a muffin fan and a DMX512 line terminating resistor, those two items alone will consume all the power that the proposal would allow.
There is an exemption in the plan for luminaires and sources that are used in image capture work (i.e., video), but none for live entertainment, although the same luminaires might be used in studios and on stage. One idea for fixing the plan and keeping theatres from starting to go dark after September 2020 would be to extend the exemption to those products and their light sources that are within the scope of EN IEC 60598-2-17, Luminaires. Particular requirements. Luminaires for stage lighting, television and film studios (outdoor and indoor). That would help keep people from attempting to skirt the energy-saving requirements by relabeling general-service lamps as “Professional Entertainment Lighting Equipment.”
Things you can do:
Sign and share the petition at https://www.change.org/p/the-eu-energy-directorate-keep-stage-lighting- exempt-from-proposed-legislation-changes? recruiter=860058798&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition
Fill out the EU public consultation form before end-of-day May 7 at https://ec.europa.eu/info/consultations/evaluation-and-review-ecodesign-and-energy-labelling-regulations- energy-labels_en
More information about the legislation can be found on the ALD’s website at https://www.ald.org.uk/resources/savestagelighting<