Lighting is widely used in everyday life. It is a significant factor contributing to our quality of life and productivity of our workforces. Artificial illumination extends the productive day, enabling people to work in homes, offices, buildings and factories. Lighting equipment, however, consumes resources. It does so in the manufacturing phase and, more importantly, when installed and operating (i.e. producing light). As our economies grow and populations expand, the global demand for lighting will increase. This period of technology transition from old to new products is an opportunity to governments. They can introduce cost-effective policy measures across all lighting applications yielding substantial savings and accelerating the adoption of LED-based lighting.
The guidance provided in this document is meant to be flexible, rather than prescriptive. It can be applied to a diverse range of lighting applications, including indoor lighting in public, commercial and residential buildings and outdoor lighting as in the case of urban and rural street lights and parking lots. The scope of this document encompasses all light sources, including incandescent, halogen, compact fluorescent, linear fluorescent, high-intensity discharge, and solid-state lighting. UN Environment encourages countries to follow a five-stage integrated policy approach for transforming their respective markets towards higher energy efficiency.