Safety testing and certification groups Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and Intertek both have introduced new certification categories for horticultural lighting. The groups pointed to a gap in safety and performance standards specific to horticultural lighting, which differs in important ways from general indoor and outdoor lighting.
Intertek now offers a Horticultural Lighting Certification Program to help manufacturers develop products that comply with the sector’s unique safety and performance requirements. Intertek’s announcement pointed to the rapid growth of indoor horticulture operations in the U.S. market, and it’s driving growth in the horticultural lighting sector, where it expects the global market for LED horticultural luminaires, or “grow lights” to grow more than 25% annually, reaching $1.9 billion by 2021.
“Unlike general lighting, which is tested to IES LM-79 for performance characteristics, horticultural luminaires require additional safety and performance assessments,” Intertek said in its announcement. “A typical permanent application luminaire is certified to ANSI/UL 1598, however horticultural luminaires must consider additional requirements from two standards: ANSI/UL 1598A and ANSI/UL 50E & IEC 60598-1.” The Intertek certification program tests to those standards.
Horticultural lighting must meet special requirements in areas including suitability for elevated ambient temperatures, corrosion and humidity requirements, ingress and ultraviolet (UV) protection requirements that are not covered by general illumination testing, Interek said.
UL likewise has established a new safety certification category for horticultural luminaires: IFAU. This new category offers manufacturers of horticultural lighting a way to distinguish their UL Listed specialty lighting equipment from certifications for lighting intended for general illumination of indoor and outdoor spaces. In addition to this new Certification category, UL developed construction, performance and marking requirements specific to horticultural lighting.
“We are collectively learning that not all of the current safety requirements that exist for general illumination lighting are appropriate for horticultural lighting. On the other hand, additional considerations are needed to address the different installation and wiring practices; severe environmental conditions such high humidity, dust, chemicals vapors and elevated ambient temperatures; and unique/tunable light output characteristics (intensity and wavelength) associated with horticultural lighting,” said UL’s announcement.
UL said it will leverage its Collaborative Standards Development System (CSDS) to publish an Outline of Investigation for horticultural lighting, then will work with members of the horticultural lighting industry to further develop the requirements into a UL Standard.
In addition to safety certification, UL also offers customized performance and photometric testing services for horticultural lighting equipment as well. “These services result in a test report targeted towards the horticultural lighting industry, including photon flux and spectrum details to allow growers to make the best decision on the wavelengths of light needed to optimize growth for their crops.”
