NEMA Publishes Procedure for Efficacy Ratings for Commercial, Industrial, Residential Luminaires - NEMA LE 6-2008
September 11, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
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The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) published NEMA LE 6-2008 - Procedure for Determining Target Efficacy Ratings for Commercial, Industrial and Residential Luminaires, which was developed by the Luminaire Section, in close cooperation with the Lamp and Ballast Sections of the NEMA Lighting Systems Division.
This standards publication provides a procedure for the determination of the target efficacy rating (TER) for luminaires under laboratory test conditions and describes categories or types of products used in common indoor and outdoor lighting applications.
It does not apply to luminaires for specialized applications, such as products intended to be aimed, accent luminaires, rough or hazardous-use luminaires or emergency lighting.
It is recommended to be used only as a guide to help in the selection of luminaires since TER does not address application characteristics such as color, uniformity, glare or other important considerations, said NEMA.
By establishing a rating for lumens delivered to a task (or target), TER allows planners and designers to compare solutions in terms of their overall energy and lighting effectiveness.
TER is intended to be a metric, among many other considerations, to evaluate the energy effectiveness of a lighting installation. TER and NEMA LE 6-2008 offer a method to evaluate the effectiveness of light delivered to common visual task locations.
"This standard addresses the concern of balance between energy efficiency and lighting effectiveness in measurable terms," said Cheryl English, a member of the Luminaire Section. "Because the most efficient luminaire may not distribute the light in the most useful direction for the task, the new TER metric defined in NEMA LE-6 includes criteria related to the optical control."
"Using TER provides more useful information about the lumens delivered to a visual task for each watt consumed. The inclusion of optical control is a significant step forward in terms of evaluating the energy effectiveness of lighting equipment," said English.
NEMA LE 6-2008 supersedes the N EMA LE 5, NEMA LE 5A and NEMA LE 5B standards for Luminaire Efficacy Ratings (LER).
Source: National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA).