Category Archives: Lux Contour

Lux Contour Plan – Eire

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We have recently completed a Lux Contour Plan for a large industrial site in Eire (Republic of Ireland). The site extends to around 5 hectares, and contains hundreds of light fittings, some challenges on this job included:

  • Familiarize ourselves with a pre-existing and complicated lighting design.
  • Use a mixture of light fittings.
  • Learn how to use new modelling software.

All in all the work went well, with us delivering slightly ahead of schedule, even given a little extra work at the last minute.

 

Extract from Lux Contour Plan

The new modelling software was quite good in some respects, but not in others:

  • Good – The “print” function opens up a great print setup section which allows for ready scaled drawings split across as many sheets as possible. The plans are very clear.
  • Bad – Despite the print function being very good, there is no easy way to switch between lux contours and the point grid system. You can include both, but not the contours on their own.
  • Ugly – Rather then manually choosing when the model recalculates, the model recalculates every time you insert / edit a light fitting, or edit a calculation surface, this takes around 1 minute every time, so in a model containing 100’s of points this can be a bit annoying, and easily swallow up a few hours of the working day!

Any way compared to our normal software is was very good at printing out lux contour plans, and our current software is absolutely rubbish for this, unless you convert to DWG and print that way.

If you need a Lux Contour plan please contact us, we work for anyone, multi-nationals or joe bloggs, all very welcome.

Lux Contour Plan for Planning Application – Somerset (BS40)

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Lux Contour Plan for Planning Application – Somerset (BS40)

We’ve recently carried out a lighting assessment and lux contour plan for a site in North Somerset.

Lux Contour Plan

The development was for a single dwelling within a village and included various external light fittings it was thought that these may impact on bat habitat around the circumference of the site and as such the planning officer asked for a lighting assessment to be carried out part of the lighting assessment involves reduction of a 3D computer model which is necessary in order to create a Lux contour plan.

The level intensity of light at the edge of the site should be below 0.2 Lux and we’re happy to report that this was the case at this site with use of light fittings that do not create a large amount of spill.

If you need a lighting assessment or lux contour plan, please contact us.

What are the Different Types of Light Pollution?

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What are the Different Types of Light Pollution?

There are a number of different types of light pollution, each one is slightly different and in term sof the negative effect it has on the environment.:

1 – Light Spill

Light spill is quite a generic term, and is usually used in the context of artificial light that “spills” from a light source in to an area where it is not wanted.

This might include say a new flood light on the side of the building shining in to someone bedroom window.

Light spill can come from external lights, or it can been spilt out of windows.

Flood Light Mounted on a Brick Wall

2 – Glare

This is more to do with the intensity of the light source. Modern LED lights can give off a lot of glare, because the emitters are very small and very bright.

So for example, the glare from lights in a petrol filling station, if not designed correctly may emit a glare that is troublesome to nearby road users.

Glare can also be caused by reflected sunlight off a reflective build facade.

Glare from a street lamp

3 – Sky Glow (Dark Skies)

Light can spill upwards into the sky causing a phenomenon known as sky glow. This creates a glow in the sky, reducing the contrast between stars and the sky. In “dark sky areas” often there is a requirement for specific lighting design.

Flood Lights Facing Up Lots of Sky GLow Created

4 – Ecological

Light can influence the behaviour of insects. Other creatures feed on insects, and so there is an indirect impact. For example in areas where bats eat insects, lighting design should spill no more than 0.2 lux on to trees or the ground.

Insects are Attracted to Light, Modifying Behaviour of Predators

Services we Offer

We can provide:

  • Light Spill Assessment for Bats
  • Lighting Assessments for Adequate Lighting
  • Dark Skies Assessment
  • Sunlight & Daylight Assessments