LightingSolutions: International expert conference

The invention of light bulbs has completely changed the way people live in many ways. With the use of artificial lighting, some outdoor activities carried out in daylight were replaced by indoor activities. Different research reveal consequences that this change has brought for the health of an individual.

Since the technology development made it possible to recreate lighting having the sun-like radiation spectrum, the question of possible favourable impacts of the use of such bulbs in homes, public institutions and working places arises. This is of course to be aligned with economic and technological requirements.

This was the topic of the international conference entitled »Energy efficient lighting and the impact of lighting to health and the quality of living«, organized by the Municipality of Šempeter-Vrtojba on 27th June at the Intra Lighting HQ company in Šempeter pri Gorici. The event took place in the framework of the project Lighting Solutions – Innovative solutions for the energy efficient lighting of public buildings.

The first part of the event was dedicated to two projects related to smart lighting in schools in Croatia. The first presentation considered energy renovation of the Mato Lovrak Primary School, a school situated in Nova Gradiška, which was carried out by the electro design company H5. The second one focused on the building of American school in Zagreb. The main designer of this project was the Sangrad Architectural Studio and AVP. This presentation was followed by the ESCO partners describing the system of financing and the GOLEA Agency presenting a project dealing with the efficient use of energy.

In the second part featuring the lecture of Katja Malovrh Rebec, the participants got familiar with the impacts of light to health and the quality of living. Ms. Rebec, the lecturer at the Department of Building Physics of the National Builing and Civil Engineering Institute, graduated in architecture and received her PhD on imaging and non-imaging impacts of different spectrum lighting.

After passing the examination of professional competence at the Chamber of Architecture and Spatial Planning of Slovenia and several years of working in design, Ms. Rebec became a researcher and participates in different international and national projects, she lectures and writes a lot. In the framework  of the Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute, she covers the areas of lighting, environmental analysis (LCA) and information modeling (BIM). She is a member of various national and international associations and committees, besides she is also a Slovenian representative covering the field of photobiology at the International Committee for lighting (CIE).

The aim of the lecture was to show the importance of light for the users of spaces. Measurable impacts of light to health and quality of living have become more and more important for designing modern buildings and buildings of the future. We are entering the era, when it is not so much about answering to visual needs, but it is more about valuing light in a realistic and complex manner.

SUMMARY:

The international conference hosted 21 participants.

Simoultaneous translation was provided for all who needed it (Slo-Ita and vice-versa).

The conference started at 9:30 and together with breaks lasted until 12:00.

To remember

The LightingSolutions standard project is co-financed in the framework of the Cooperation Programme Interreg V-A Italy-Slovenia 2014–2020. The whole budget of the project is 1.251.573,92 EUR. The lead partner (Municipality of Šempeter-Vrtojba) and the project partners (Municipality of Tolmin, GOLEA – Local Energy Agency of Goriška, Nova Gorica, The Association of Slovenian organizations – Confederazione Organizzazioni Slovene, Municipality of Doberdò del Lago, Municipality of Medea) receive up to 1.123.469,27 EUR, of which 1.063.837,83 EUR (85 %) come from the ERDF funds and 59.631,44 EUR represent the Italian national funds.