The Outdoor Lighting Standards conserve energy, reduce winter peak electric demand, and are technically feasible and cost effective. They set minimum control requirements, maximum allowable power levels, minimum efficacy requirements, and cutoff (uplight and glare) zonal lumen limits for large luminaires.
The lighting power allowances are based on current Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) recommendations for the quantity and design parameters of illumination, current industry practices, and efficient sources and equipment that are readily available. Data indicates that the IES recommendations provide more than adequate illumination, because a 2002 baseline survey of outdoor lighting practice in California showed that the majority of establishments are illuminated at substantially lower levels than IES recommendations.
Outdoor lighting is addressed in this chapter. Lighting in unconditioned buildings (including parking garages) is addressed in Chapter 5.
The Standards do not allow trade-offs between outdoor lighting power allowances and indoor lighting, sign lighting, HVAC, building envelope, or water heating [§140.7(a)].
Source: California Commercial End-Use Survey, March 2006
In response to the 2000 electricity crisis, the legislature charged the Energy Commission to develop Outdoor Lighting Standards that are technologically feasible and cost-effective. The intent of the legislature was that the Standards would provide ongoing reliability to the electricity system and reduce energy consumption.
Regulations for lighting have been on the books in California since 1977, but have only addressed indoor lighting through control requirements and maximum allowable lighting power. In 2005 Standards the scope was expanded to include outdoor lighting applications as well as indoor applications in unconditioned buildings.
The 2013 Outdoor Lighting Standards evolved over a three-year period through an, open, public process. The Energy Commission encouraged all interested persons to participate in a series of public hearings and workshops through which the Energy Commission gathered information and viewed presentations on energy efficiency possibilities from a variety of perspectives. The Energy Commission hired a consulting team that included a number of nationally recognized outdoor lighting experts to assist in the development of the Standards. The Energy Commission also solicited ideas, proposals, and comments from a number of interested parties.
The allowed lighting power densities for outdoor lighting are structured according to a “layered” approach. With the layered approach, the first layer of allowed lighting power is general hardscape for the entire site. After that layer of allowed lighting power has been determined, additional layers of lighting power are allowed for specific applications. For example, the total allowed power for a sales lot with frontage is determined by layering the hardscape, sales lot and sales frontage allowances, with certain restrictions associated with the location of the power used for frontage and sales lot lighting.
The outdoor lighting applications that are addressed by the Standards are shown in the first two columns of Table 6-2. The first column is general site illumination applications, which allow trade-offs within the outdoor portion only. The second column is specific outdoor lighting applications, which do not allow trade-offs, and are considered “use it or lose it”. The lighting applications in the third column are not regulated. The Standards include control requirements as well as limits on installed lighting power.
A. Trade-offs
The Standards do not allow trade-offs between outdoor lighting power allowances and indoor lighting, sign lighting, HVAC, building envelope, or water heating [(§140.7(a)].
Allowed lighting power determined according to §140.7(d) 1 for general hardscape lighting may be traded to specific applications in §140.7(d) 2, provided the luminaires used to determine the illuminated area are installed as designed. This means that if luminaires used to determine the total illuminated area are removed from the design, resulting in a smaller illuminated area, then the general hardscape lighting power allowance must also be reduced accordingly.
Allowed lighting power for specific applications shall not be traded between specific applications, or to hardscape lighting in §140.7(d) 1. This means that for each and every specific application, the allowed lighting power is the smaller of the allowed power determined for that specific application according to §140.7(d)2, or the actual installed lighting power that is used in that specific application. These additional power allowances are “use it or lose it” allowances.
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Lighting Applications Covered |
Lighting Applications (only as detailed in §140.7) | |
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General Hardscape |
Specific Applications | |
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The general hardscape area of a site shall include parking lot(s), roadway(s), driveway(s), sidewalk(s), walkway(s), bikeway(s), plaza(s), and other improved area(s) that are illuminated |
Canopies: Sales and Non-sales Drive-Up Windows Emergency Vehicle Facilities Entrances or Exits Facades Guard Stations Outdoor Dining Primary Entrances for Senior Care Facilities, Police Stations, Hospitals, Fire Stations, and Emergency Vehicle Facilities Sales Frontage and Lots Special Security Lighting for Retail Parking and Pedestrian Hardscape Student Pick-up/Drop-off zone Vehicle Service Station: Canopies, Hardscape, and Uncovered Fuel Dispenser |
Temporary Required & regulated by FAA Required & regulated by the Coast Guard. For public streets, roadways, highways, and traffic signage lighting, and occurring in the public right-of-way For sports and athletic fields, and children’s playground For industrial sites For ATM required by law For public monuments Signs regulated by §130.3 and §140.8 For tunnels, bridges, stairs, wheelchair elevator lifts For ramps that are other than parking garage ramps For themes and special effects For theatrical and other outdoor live performances For qualified historic buildings |
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Other outdoor lighting applications that are not included in Standards Tables 140.7-A or 140.7-B are assumed to be not regulated by these Standards. This includes decorative gas lighting and emergency lighting powered by an emergency source as defined by the California Electrical Code. The text in the above list of lighting applications that are not regulated has been shortened for brevity. Please see Section 6.1.2 B below for details about lighting applications not regulated. | ||
B. Outdoor Lighting Applications Not Regulated by §140.7
When a luminaire is installed only to illuminate one or more of the following applications, the lighting power for that luminaire shall be exempt from §140.7(a). The Standards clarify that at least 50 percent of the light from the luminaire must fall within an application to qualify as being installed for that application.
•Temporary outdoor lighting.
•Temporary Lighting is defined in §100.1 as a lighting installation with plug-in connections that does not persist beyond 60 consecutive days or more than 120 days per year.
•Lighting required and regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Coast Guard.
•Lighting for public streets, roadways, highways, and traffic signage lighting, including lighting for driveway entrances occurring in the public right-of-way.
•Lighting for sports and athletic fields, and children’s playground.
•Lighting for industrial sites, including but not limited to, rail yards, maritime shipyards and docks, piers and marinas, chemical and petroleum processing plants, and aviation facilities.
•Lighting specifically for Automated Teller Machines as required by California Financial Code Section 13040, or required by law through a local ordinance.
•Lighting of public monuments.
•Lighting of signs. Signs shall meet the requirements of §130.3 and 140.8.
•Lighting of tunnels, bridges, stairs, wheelchair elevator lifts for American with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance, and ramps that are other than parking garage ramps.
•Landscape lighting.
•Landscape lighting is defined in §100.1 as lighting that is recessed into or mounted on the ground, paving, or raised deck, which is mounted less than 42 inches above grade or mounted onto trees or trellises, and that is intended to be aimed only at landscape features. Lighting installed for a purpose other than landscape, such as walkway lighting, shall not be considered exempt landscape lighting if only incidental lighting from the walkway luminaires happens to spill onto the landscape.
•In theme parks: outdoor lighting only for themes and special effects. However, all non-theme lighting, such as area lighting for a parking lot, shall not be considered theme lighting, even if the area luminaires are mounted on the same poles as the theme lighting.
•Lighting for outdoor theatrical and other outdoor live performances, provided that these lighting systems are additions to area lighting systems and are controlled by a multi-scene or theatrical cross-fade control station accessible only to authorized operators.
•Outdoor lighting systems for qualified historic buildings, as defined in the California Historic Building Code (Title 24, Part 8), if they consist solely of historic lighting components or replicas of historic lighting components. If lighting systems for qualified historic buildings contain some historic lighting components or replicas of historic components, combined with other lighting components, only those historic or historic replica components are exempt. All other outdoor lighting systems for qualified historic buildings shall comply with §140.7.