5.      Nonresidential Indoor Lighting    

This chapter covers the requirements for indoor lighting design and installation, including controls, for both conditioned and unconditioned nonresidential buildings. It is addressed primarily to lighting designers or electrical engineers and to enforcement agency personnel responsible for lighting and electrical plan checking and inspection. Chapter 6 addresses nonresidential outdoor lighting applications, and Chapter 7 addresses indoor and outdoor sign lighting.

Indoor lighting is one of the single largest consumers of energy (kilowatt-hours) in a commercial building, representing about a third of electricity use. The objective of the Standards is the effective reduction of this energy use, without compromising the quality of lighting or task work. The Standards are the result of the involvement of many representatives of the lighting design and manufacturing community, and of enforcement agencies across the state. A great deal of effort has been devoted to making the lighting requirements practical and realistic.

Figure 5-1 – Lighting Energy Use

Lighting accounts for about one third of commercial building electricity use in California. Source California Commercial End-Use Survey (CEUS), March 2006, California Energy Commission No. 400-2006-005