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NC-v4 SSc6:Light pollution reduction

Lighting Zone classification for a mixed-use area

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Gino Liu
Sustainability Consultant
AECOM
LEEDuser Basic Member
2 thumbs up

Dear all,

Our project is in mainland China, so there is no given lighting zone from the government.  Within 1 kilometer, there are various propreties including art, commercial, retail, office and also international apartments. Therefore, I would say that our development could fall into Lighting Zone 2 or 3. How do we determine which Lighting Zone we’re in?  

Currently we prefer to classfy it as LZ-3, because our project site is much closer to those commercial developments, compared with the residential buildings.

Does the project team determine the appropriate Lighting Zone? It could make a difference in the exterior lighting design and fixtures we choose, so we want to confirm.

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Bill Swanson
Sr. Electrical Engineer
Integrated Design Solutions
LEEDuser Expert
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Fri, 09/03/2021 - 13:22

The project team determines the appropriate lighting zone.  My unofficial LZ descriptions:
LZ0 - undeveloped
LZ1 - rural
LZ2 - neighborhood
LZ3 - urban
LZ4 - major urban and tourist icon. Rare Unfortunately the offical definitions are loose.  The line between LZ2 and LZ3 is commonly asked.  What the project team picks is rarely challenged but you should do your best to pick the appropriate LZ and be able to defend that choice if a reviewer does challenge it.  LZ3 is anything that doesn't fit in the other LZs. https://www.usgbc.org/resources/lighting-zones-gibc17  

Fri, 09/03/2021 - 19:47

The link Bill provided references obsolete LZ defintions that were superceded by LEED 4.0 The LZ Defintions that must be used is stated right in the credit language:
"Classify the project under one lighting zone using the lighting zones definitions provided in the Illuminating Engineering Society and International Dark Sky Association (IES/IDA) Model Lighting Ordinance (MLO) User Guide." The MLO User Guide is available in the Reference tab for the credit where you will find this link: https://www.usgbc.org/resources/model-lighting-ordinance-users-guide The LZ defintions are on pages 6 and 7 (the blue text on the left side) But yes, even with the MLO user guide defintions it isn't always obvious which LZ you are in and you just have to make your best judgement

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