Decrees & BMS: What are the requirements for lighting?

The energy transition is accelerating day by day, due to the climate emergency, and in this continuity many regulations have appeared.

The TERTIARY decree:

Tertiary buildings of more than 1.000 m² are concerned, the objective is to reduce the energy consumption of French tertiary parks by at least -40% from 2030, -50% in 2040 and -60% in 2050 compared to a chosen reference year (between 2010 and 2019).

The BACS decree:

As a reminder, the BACS decree applies to owners or operators of existing commercial buildings. This decree applies to sites equipped with an air conditioning or heating system, alone or combined with a ventilation system, whose nominal power exceeds 290 kW on January 1, 2025, or 70 kW on January 1, 2027.

Since 2021, new buildings over 290 kW have been subject to this decree and, more recently, from April 4, 2024, new buildings over 70 kW will also be affected by this regulation.

What are the lighting requirements?

According to the BACS decree, it is necessary to implement sensors and automatons that allow this equipment to be managed in real time and according to the site's requirements.

Regarding lighting, the first requirement is simple remote ON/OFF control. However, the tertiary decree also requires consideration of presence detection to only turn on lights when necessary.

It is also crucial to install brightness sensors to adjust lighting according to natural light in a room exposed to natural light. These devices are also essential to achieve level A in building management (BMS) and to be eligible for energy saving certificates (ESC).

What's at stake?

First of all, it is essential to respect the expectations of the BACS decree & the tertiary decree, which aims to reduce the energy consumption of tertiary buildings by installing a BMS & management automation.

Indeed, adopting lighting management generally offers an additional reduction of 30 to 60% depending on the use of your site. (As a reminder, lighting represents on average 18% of the total electricity consumption of a commercial building.)

This also promotes increased comfort for users thanks to lighting adapted to the needs and life of the building.

In addition, there are many other benefits such as the enhancement of buildings and easier maintenance, for example.

How to answer it?

Firstly: to comply with the requirements of the BACS decree concerning lighting, a remote ON/OFF action must be put in place, a simple contactor on the electrical outlets, which allows an ON/OFF action.

The tertiary decree will require the installation of presence and light sensors. In addition, it will be essential to establish a connection from the building's technical management system (BMS).

Regarding the BMS link, there are different options for managing the lighting: BACnet, KNX, DALI, API, etc.

Tribune by Léo Perez, Energy Audit Specialist and Business Developer for Clareo Lighting (LinkedIn).