LED Technology: What is BUG Rating?
The abbreviation of BUG is backlight, uplight, and glare. BUG rating is important for outdoor fixtures like LED pole lights which provide uniform brightness in a given area and eliminates the chances for dark spots.
Backlight: Lighting directed on the back of the fixture. Backlight is an area not intended to be lit. To prevent them, reflectors are required to direct the light to the front of the fixture.
Uplight: Lighting directed upward of the fixture resulting in a spill of the illumination. It refers to the sky glow produced by the lighting fixture. To reduce it, options like baffle are introduced to direct the light downwards.
Glare: It is the amount of front light in the forward direction when it is too concentrated. It is a serious risk for both foot dwellers and vehicle drivers. High glare increases the risk of accidents. Reducing the brightness secures the spaces from unwanted mishaps.
The BUG rating method is provided by the United States Green Building Council which helps to calculate the efficiency of LED lighting. The rating was developed by Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) and the International Dark-Sky Association.
Why it is important?
It allows luminaires with photometric data to be measured. The lighting zones represent the possible degrees of ambient lighting. Here is a table representing the zones for ambient lighting.
LZ0: No ambient lighting
LZ1: Low ambient lighting
LZ2: Moderate ambient lighting
LZ3: Moderately high ambient lighting
LZ4: High ambient lights
Different outdoor fixtures have different BUG Ratings. It is an important determinant for both residential and commercial lighting purposes. It helps in reducing lighting trespass and bad lighting.
