Australia is set to follow European directives around the use of fluorescent lighting. Sean Carroll finds out why and what it means for the Australian electrical industry.

From 1 September 2023, the EU will implement a law that condemns the use of T8 fluorescent tubes, adding to the ban on halogen lights a few years ago. Introduced in 2019/2020/EU Ecodesign requirements for light sources, Australia is likely to follow and the changes present a huge opportunity for electricians.

On top of this, there’s a second directive that aims to regulate the use of dangerous substances including the mercury found in some other lights, including various fluorescent tubes.

The fluorescent tube has been around for many decades, a staple lighting solution for residential, commercial and industrial installations that offered a cost-effective and efficient light source. But the not-so-new kid on the block, LED technology, is redefining what size and efficiency can mean today.

Explosive atmospheres like those in petrol, pharmaceutical or fertiliser plants are potentially dangerous if mixed with these substances and a prompt switch to LED technology has several benefits.

The Lighting Council of Australia (LCA) has outlined that high-pressure mercury vapour (HPMV) lamps are becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to source as many OECD countries have already ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury (Australia followed suit in early 2022).

“This has led to natural supply shortages. Low-cost, long-life, high-quality, high-efficiency LED products have been widely available in Australia since 2016,” LCA public affairs and environmental manager Brodie Easton says.

“This follows a period of significant market transformation during which large investments by the global lighting industry were made into the development of new technology LED products for all general lighting applications.”

He adds that there are approximately 500,000 HPMV streetlights installed across Australia, with a significant proportion in Queensland and Western Australia. The transition to LEDs in some areas is still in progress and is still underway by electricians across the country.

In light of these changes, Control Logic is stocking the R.STAHL range of industrial LED lighting solutions.

“We are all aware of the efficiency benefits and the long life of LED technology qualities. With this comes fewer maintenance intervals, which means fewer spares required on shelves with glass tubes and plastic starters,” Control Logic product manager Martin Daines says.

“But did you know LED lighting is ideal for use in extreme temperatures because it is characterised by a low heat build-up and can therefore still be used at temperatures from -60 °C to 70°C? LED technology is lighter and boasts a high vibration resistance, making it extremely easy to install because there’s no heavy metal transformer acting as a heater.”

To help with the transition, the Victorian government launched the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program, encouraging home owners to transition from older lighting products for free.

Expiring in late 2022, the program gives homes and businesses the ability to switch to LED lighting for zero cost. For commercial use, the VEU scheme encourages users to upgrade from T8 linear fluoro to T5 linear LED, halogen/fluro downlights to LED equivalent and halogen/metal halide HID/HPS high bays to LED high bay lights.

The range of LED industrial lights from R.STAHL comes in the same footprint to make the switch less labour intensive. Additionally, if a fluorescent R.STAHL light fitting already exists, the internal assembly can be changed over without much cost that upgrades existing installations to the newer LED technology in a matter of minutes.

“On top of the environmental changes, the switchover from fluro lighting means there are fewer maintenance intervals, which means fewer spares required on shelves with glass tubes and plastic starters,” Martin adds.

MineGlow is an Australian-based provider of LED light strip solutions that are purpose-built for mining, oil, gas and tunnelling environments. The company needed to replace a mine’s existing fluorescent lighting, which was creating dark spots throughout the site, as well as eliminate the risk of lighting flammable gases and coal dust that was present underground.

The x-Glo EXM range of LED strips from MineGlow remedied all these issues, eliminating any dark zones while also being cheaper for ongoing maintenance costs.

“There is a huge difference between fluorescent lighting and MineGlow’s LED strip lighting. We can now easily spot slip and trip hazards before they occur and identify any dust build-up which helps us improve safety,” a MineGlow electrical spokesperson explains.

To help with the disposal of these older lights, the LCA has established the FluoroCycle voluntary product stewardship scheme, aiming to increase the national recycling rate of waste mercury-containing lamps. By recycling these products, the council hopes to reduce the amount of mercury being sent to landfill.

In Australia, an estimated 90% of lamps that contain mercury end up in landfill each year. These products contribute the most to the country’s annual mercury emissions.

Through FluoroCycle, any Australian business with an ABN can apply as a signatory, committing to adhering to the guidelines. There is no fee to apply, and it’s aimed at commercial and public lighting projects which account for the majority of lighting waste.

FluoroCycle helps electricians and other companies dispose of mercury-containing fluorescent lights safely with the appropriate handling and management procedures. The criteria for accepting these lights are that they aren’t broken, they’re wrapped in paper and are separated from other waste streams.

On the residential side of the industry, the tunable LED luminaire market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14% by 2030 according to a report from Guidehouse Insights. With the growth in biophilia or human-centric lighting (Electrical Connection wrote about this topic in the Spring 2021 edition), there’s even more reason to specify LED lighting, namely tunable white LEDs which can mimic our natural lighting cycle.

“Whilst we’re beginning to see the phasing out of fluorescent lighting gain traction in some European markets, there’s not been a lot of talk about this yet in Australia,” NECA national technical director Paul Brownlee says.

He adds that NECA will continue to monitor this issue and advise the industry should any changes to current regulations be announced.

While the hook of this article is that the changes are coming, the benefits of other lighting solutions have been on the market for a few years now.

When and if fluorescent lighting eventually becomes banned in Australia, electricians across the country will have plenty of work replacing the older lighting solutions.

Health benefits of moving on from fluorescent lighting

Some fluorescent lighting could be causing eye strains and headaches among children in classrooms according to a study by the University of Essex.

The light in fluorescent bulbs is produced by a gas discharge, very similar to lightning, twice with each cycle of alternating current. The variation in colour from this lighting comes as ultraviolet light from the discharge is visible by a coating of phosphor on the inside of the lamp.

This slight variation in colour is too rapid to be seen by the eye but it causes an electric signal to be sent from the back of the eye, indicating that our cells are responding to the tiny variations.

The study has found that while it doesn’t affect everybody, these rapid variations can have serious effects on a few including seeing an increase in headaches and eye strain. One London office saw these reactions halved when the fluorescent flicker was removed.

One of the major takeaways was that schools and workplaces, the two main installers of this lighting technology, should replace old-fashioned fluorescent lighting with newer electronic circuitry (like LED lighting) that eliminates the 100-per-second variations. Additionally, the replacement would reduce running costs as they require less power.

Additionally, Australian lighting and technology company, Pierlite, has launched the Aether LED Troffer, a novel UV-C/HEPA air purifying luminaire proven to proactively inactivate and remove 99.995% of harmful pathogens from the air.

Engineered in Australia, the troffer luminaire is designed for easy installation in modular ceiling grids common in education, commercial, healthcare and hospitality environments.

Aether differs from conventional air purifiers in that it inactivates viruses and kills bacteria. As well as providing traditional lighting capabilities, Aether is equipped with a three-step ventilation system that actively circulates air and scrubs it of harmful pathogens in a concealed chamber using ultraviolet (UV-C) LED and HEPA disinfectant technology.

Using a quiet, long-lasting motor in Aether’s inlet grill, the fitting continuously draws in air from its surrounding environment. Once inside the concealed chamber, the air passes through ultraviolet (UV-C) radiation, damaging the DNA of harmful airborne pathogens and rendering them ineffective. The air then passes through a medical-grade HEPA H13 filter, emitting clean, safe air from its air outlet on the opposite side of the fitting.