The Future of Indoor Lighting is Now

As the lighting industry evolves, new technologies and Standards are shaping the way we design and use lighting in our indoor spaces. From smarter control options to new colour rendering metrics, let’s take a deep dive into the latest trends transforming indoor lighting solutions.

At enLighten Australia, we’re committed to keeping up with these industry changes, ensuring that our products meet the latest Standards and provide our clients with the most advanced lighting solutions available. We have detailed below some of these changes that will assist you when deciding on what type of lighting will help you create the most innovative, efficient, safe and comfortable spaces.

 

Is lighting science the new trend?

As consultants and designers seek tailored lighting solutions, the focus is shifting toward lighting that adapts to human needs. Innovations like Tunable White technology and spectrum-focused metrics are redefining illumination – not just as a function necessity but as a tool for enhancing comfort, performance, and overall wellbeing.

As our understanding of lighting’s impact deepens, it is becoming a key factor in optimising environments. Whether improving employee focus, enhancing retail experiences, ensuring safe egress, or fostering relaxation, lighting is being used in more sophisticated and purposeful ways than ever before. With all these changes, it’s clear that the science of lighting is more relevant than ever.

 

The shift to Tunable White lighting

Tunable White lighting is advanced technology that allows the Correlated Colour Temperature (CCT) of the light to be adjusted from warm white (2700K) to cool white (6500K), providing the flexibility to enhance comfort, focus, and productivity in various environments.

Whether it’s creating a relaxing atmosphere with a dim warm light or boosting concentration with bright cooler tones, Tunable White lighting coupled with seamless dimming brings a higher level of customisation to your indoor spaces.

Why does it matter? The flexibility to adjust light settings for different activities has proven benefits for human well-being. For example, warmer tones help to reduce stress, while cooler tones improve alertness. The ability to fine-tune this with smart controls makes it easier to meet the diverse needs of modern spaces.

 

A revolution in colour rendering: The transition from CRI to TM30

Colour rendering ability of a light source is a measure of how accurately the light source depicts the true colour of the objects/surfaces on which light is falling. 

The colour rendering metric is undergoing a major shift. The traditional Colour Rendering Index (CRI, last updated in 1995) has long been used to measure how accurately a light source shows colours. However, this metric has limitations, particularly in how it represents certain shades. This is where TM30 plays a key role.

TM30, first introduced in 2015 and revised as recently as 2024, goes beyond CRI by providing a much more vibrant and accurate colour palette, offering a clearer representation of how light interacts with surfaces. Two major differences between CRI & TM30 metric are as follows:

1. Sample Sets:
   • CRI method assesses colour quality/rendering across a limited set of 8 pastel colours only.
   • TM-30 uses 99 colour samples, having a much wider range of hue, saturation & lightness. Thereby facilitating a more comprehensive evaluation of colour reproduction.
2. Metric of Evaluation:
   • CRI method uses a single light fidelity metric only (Ra). Fidelity is the degree of similarity between colours rendered by the test source vs a standard illuminant.
   • TM30 method uses combination of six metrics and one colour vector graphic to provide a much-detailed evaluation of colour rendering.

Lighting controls: Not just a convenience, but a requirement

Lighting controls have shifted from a luxury to a necessity. The National Construction Code (NCC) requires all occupied buildings, be it office spaces, retail environments, industrial & storage facilities, undercover carparks and even schools/universities, having an area more than 250 sq.m. require 95% of the lighting to be controlled by some form of control system.

Gone are the days of basic on/off switches; smart, integrated control systems are now expected to optimise performance, energy efficiency, and comfort. Over & above the minimum requirements specified under the NCC, all Building Efficiency & Performance rating tools such as NABERS, Greenstar, WELLS, LEED etc. have various levels of ratings depending upon what degree of attention has been paid towards visual comfort & energy efficiency, which have a direct co-relation with level of controls integration. Higher energy ratings / lower carbon footprints, help building owners secure higher rent / sale value of the buildings as well.

These controls can automate lighting based on occupancy, time of day, and/or even ambient light levels, ensuring that artificial / electric lighting is only used when and where it's needed. With the advent of IoT, the possibilities of how lighting is controlled are now endless. Not only does this improve the user experience, but it also contributes significantly to energy savings.

 

Lighting Standards: What's changing in the industry?

The lighting industry is governed by evolving Standards that reflect both technological advancements and a deeper understanding of how light affects people. Below is a short summary of the peak bodies and the main Standards that set & regulate lighting around the globe and in particular Australia:

1. Australian Building Codes Board: Established by an Intergovernmental Agreement, ABCB is an agency within the Department of Industry, Science & Resources that publishes the National Construction Code also known as the Building Code of Australia. Its Section J7 (previously known as J6) covers Artificial / Electric Lighting & Section E4 covers Emergency/Exit Lighting. The current version is NCC 2022.
   
   The NCC is revised every 3 years, and the NCC 2025 will see significant changes to the overall building code, but not much change is expected in the J7 Artificial Lighting other than making the controls requirements less prescriptive.

2. Standards Australia: Is a non-governmental organisation that publishes various Standards which set out specifications, procedures, and guidelines that aim to ensure products, services & systems are safe, consistent & reliable. Key Standards that deal with lighting are:
   Design Based:
   • AS 1680 – Series of Standards governing Interior & Exterior Workplace Lighting. Last updated 2018 / 2020.
   • AS 1158 – Series of Standards governing Lighting for roads & public spaces. In 2020 & 2022, this series received a major update with simplified & re-defined lighting categories & new compliance requirements in line with the technological advancements from traditional gas-discharge to LED luminaires. Further updates to P Category lighting were published late 2024 across all lighting categories & more updates are expected on V Category Lighting soon.
   • AS 2560 – Series of Standards governing Interior & Exterior Sports Lighting. Last updated in 2021 wherein multiple individual sports standards were combined into a single standard making it easier to access. Another update to this series is expected soon with more types of sports being added to it, making it a much more comprehensive standard.
   • AS 2293 – Series of Standards governing Emergency/Exit Lighting. Last updated in 2019 & are presently under revision again. The 2019 update reduced the maximum allowable distance between emergency lights significantly, resulting in >1.5x times emergency lights being required in new developments.
   • AS 4282 – Standard Governing Obtrusive Lighting i.e. maximum allowable spill lighting into night sky & adjacent properties. This standard was first published in 1995, then revised in 1997, 2019 & last updated in 2023 to keep in line with technological advancements such as increasing brightness of LED chips that go in LED floodlights, illuminated signages & facades; introducing more clarity around how different environmental zones are classified for setting different limits of allowable spill light; adjustments to assessments of venues for televised sports; clarifications around placement of calculation planes; and greater consideration towards control of night time illumination of flora & fauna as well apart from humans which still remains main focus of the standard.

In addition to design-based Standards, there are a range of product-based Standards that cover Product Safety and EMC compliance.

 

3.  Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (local chapter IES Australia & New Zealand) s the recognised technical and educational authority on illumination. They publish a large number of Journals, Standards, Application & Design Guides & Technical Memorandums which are often referenced by Lighting Professionals, particularly in areas which are currently beyond the scope of Australian Standards. Australia & rest of the world relies on their suite of Standards that measure and test the performance of LED Chips & LED Luminaires. These include:

• LM-79 – Optical & Electrical Measurements for LED products. Last updated 2019.
• LM-80 & TM-21 – Measuring life / lumen maintenance of LED chips. Last updated 2021.
• LM-84 & TM-28 – Measuring life / lumen maintenance of LED luminaires. Last updated in 2020.
• LM-63 - Standard file format for preparing IES files (photometric files of luminaires used in lighting software for designs). Last updated in 2019.
• TM-30 – Evaluation of Light Source Colour Rendering. Last updated in 2024.

Other peak industry bodies include Lighting Council of Australia (LCA), International Commission on Illumination (CIE), Society of Light & Lighting (SLL), International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD), Dark Sky International, Australasian Dark Sky Alliance (ADSA) etc.

enLighten is committed to delivering quality lighting solutions to our clients and always keeps up to date with the latest developments around the lighting world to deliver developments around the lighting world. We are corporate members of the peak local lighting bodies i.e. LCA & IESANZ. enLighten’s staff also sits on the technical committees that develop Australian Standards.

Stay ahead of the curve by exploring our latest products on our website and reaching out to our technical sales team at sales@enlighten.com.au.