Dulux Trade recently commissioned independent company Building Research
Establishment Limited to carry out strict testing to assess the impact of paint type on light levels in rooms, using 1:7.5 scale models of rooms decorated using different paint colours.
Four model rooms were tested, each one simulating a
small domestic room 4m x 3m x 2.45m high. The models
were illuminated either with simulated daylight (from an
artificial sky with cool white fluorescent lighting) passing
through a side window, or with tungsten lighting placed
centrally below the model’s ceiling.
Enlightening results
Overall the conclusion was that higher reflectance paints
DID give significantly increased illuminances inside the
model rooms. In reality the relative improvement from high
reflectance paint is likely to vary from room to room.
In rooms with down-lighting lower relative increases could
be expected, while in rooms with up-lighting, or indirect
lighting, higher increases could be obtained.
Light & Space gave the biggest relative improvements in
illuminance in the darker areas of the rooms, so it could
improve the feeling of space by making dingy corners less dark.
Energy savings can be expected
The findings show that using Light & Space
could result in lighting energy savings, for two reasons:
Firstly, it is possible that less electric lighting could be installed,
if the designer and the building manager agreed that high
reflectance paints would always be used in that room.
Secondly, the increased levels of daylight could mean that
electric lighting would be required less of the time, provided that
suitable controls were fitted to turn off the lighting when daylight
was sufficient.
|
