Regulatory harmonization in the illumination of sport facilities: a challenge for energy savings and users well-being

Abstract

This study is a comparative analysis of the main differences in the lighting requirements of sports facilities in different regulato ry frameworks. The target is to identify regulatory differences and common points in potential impact on financial profitability, visual comfort, people safety and environmental impact. It is also pretended to identify critical parameters that may help to avoid serious problems such as violence among spectators. The integral management of these facilities requires important con siderations on new technologies to provide good lighting for users (athletes and spectators), savings in the very high energy consumption and control the impact of lighting on some psycho logical and physiological aspects of users directly related to violence. In the European standard for sports lighting EN 12193:2007, for example, we see a great concern about the sustainability of installations. The update of the Brazilian stand ard NBR 8837 is also expected to give an important role to sustainability and quality of artificial lighting to provide services in the sports areas. However, remarkable differences among both regulatory frameworks still remain. Thus regulatory harmoniza tion in the lighting of sports facilities can be beneficial for both, sustainable management and profitable use of these installations.