ED panel lights meet the national Level 1 energy efficiency requirements.
In lighting projects for schools, hospitals, offices, administrative buildings and similar facilities, LED panel lights have become a widely used category of lighting products.
Especially in government procurement and school lighting projects, we often see an important technical requirement:
"LED panel lights meet the national Level 1 energy efficiency requirements."
So what exactly does Level 1 energy efficiency mean?
Does a lower lamp power always mean a higher energy efficiency grade?
For a 600mm×600mm panel light, is 30W necessarily more energy-efficient than 36W?
The answer is not that simple.
To judge whether an LED panel light is truly efficient, you cannot look only at "how many watts"; more importantly, you need to look at:
how much effective light this lamp can output for every 1W of electricity consumed, and whether that light can meet the requirements of the actual usage environment for health, comfort and visual quality.
This is the key to understanding the energy efficiency of LED panel lights.
I. Low power does not necessarily mean high energy efficiency
This is a very common misconception in actual procurement.
For example, two LED panel lights:
Product A has a power of 30W;
Product B has a power of 36W.
If we only look at power, 30W seems more energy-efficient.
But suppose:
Product A's luminous flux is only 3000lm;
Product B's luminous flux reaches 4680lm.
Then:
Product A's overall luminaire efficacy is:
3000 ÷ 30 = 100lm/W
Product B's overall luminaire efficacy is:
4680 ÷ 36 = 130lm/W
Although Product B's per-luminaire power is 6W higher, it produces more effective light for every 1W of electricity consumed.
Therefore:
Low power ≠ high energy efficiency.
One of the important indicators for truly evaluating the energy utilization efficiency of LED luminaires isoverall luminaire efficacy.
That is:
Luminaire efficacy = total luminaire luminous flux ÷ luminaire input power.
II. Why does the country establish energy efficiency grades for luminaires?
The reason is actually quite practical.
Saving a few watts of electricity per lamp per day may not feel noticeable.
But in schools, hospitals, office buildings, factories, and public buildings, a single building may have hundreds or even thousands of luminaires installed.
If you calculate:
Number of luminaires × daily operating hours × annual operating days × 5 or even 10 years
The energy consumption gap between different efficiency levels becomes very significant.
So the country uses energy efficiency standards to drive continuous improvement in the energy utilization efficiency of lighting products.
Simply put:
Use as little electricity as possible while meeting the same lighting needs.
III. What exactly are the advantages of Grade 1 energy efficiency?
Energy efficiency grades help buyers quickly assess a product's energy utilization level.
Generally speaking:
Grade 1 energy efficiency represents a relatively high level of energy utilization;
Level 2 energy efficiency comes next;
Level 3 energy efficiency corresponds to the requirements for the respective grade specified in the relevant standards.
However, in government procurement projects, one cannot simply see the words "Level 1 energy efficiency" in a manufacturer's promotional materials and directly conclude that the product meets the requirements.
A more professional review approach should further confirm:
What energy efficiency standard does the product comply with?
What is the specific product model?
What is the rated power?
What is the actual measured power?
What is the total luminous flux of the luminaire?
What is the overall luminous efficacy of the luminaire?
Are the test report and the actually supplied product consistent?
Only when all this information can be correlated does "Level 1 energy efficiency" truly carry practical significance.
IV. We are more concerned about one question: after high energy efficiency, is the light comfortable?
For general industrial lighting, improving luminous efficacy is very important.
However, for places where people stay for extended periods, such as schools, hospitals, and offices, pursuing lm/W alone is far from sufficient.
Especially schools.
Students may spend several hours a day studying under classroom lighting.
If a lamp has very high luminous efficacy, but:
it is very harsh to the eyes;
it has severe glare;
its color rendering performance is poor;
its blue light control is not ideal;
or the light makes people feel uncomfortable;
then no matter how impressive its lm/W figure is, it cannot be called a truly excellent eye-protection lighting product.
Therefore, when developing high-efficacy LED panel lights, our factory adheres to one basic principle:
High energy efficiency must not come at the expense of light quality.
We not only focus on "how much light is produced," but also pay more attention to:
the way this light ultimately enters people's eyes.
V. Our factory adopts prismatic optical materials and treats glare control as an important indicator of panel lights.
Traditional LED panel lights have a problem that is relatively easy to overlook:
A glare.
Some lamps appear very bright, but people feel dazzled when they look up.
This is especially true in classrooms and office environments, where people need to work and study under luminaires for long periods every day.
If the brightness distribution of a luminaire is unreasonable, or the light-emitting surface is poorly controlled, uncomfortable glare is easily produced.
Therefore, in the optical design of our panel lights, our factory adoptsprofessional prismatic optical materials and corresponding optical structures.
Its design approach is not entirely the same as that of ordinary diffuser plates.
Ordinary diffuser materials mainly solve the problem of "spreading the light out."
One of the more important functions of prismatic optical materials is:
more precise control of the direction in which light is emitted.
By redistributing and controlling light through prismatic microstructures, it is possible to reduce light in high-angle directions that easily enters the human eye and causes discomfort.
Simply put:
it is not about simply making the lamp dimmer, but about delivering light to the places that actually need illumination.
This is in fact a very important distinction.
Six, what does UGR<19 mean?
In professional lighting design, one metric is often seen:
UGR.
UGR stands for Unified Glare Rating, one of the important metrics for evaluating uncomfortable glare in indoor lighting environments.
A simple understanding:
The lower the value, the better the glare control is generally.
Our factory's related LED panel lights developed for schools, offices and other environments with prolonged visual tasks focus on glare control through prismatic optical materials, luminaire structure and light distribution design.The related design target is to control UGR below 19 (UGR<19, subject to the test report of the corresponding model and actual application conditions).98
Why do we attach particular importance to the number 19?
Because for spaces used for prolonged reading, writing, office work and study, anti-glare is a very important factor affecting visual comfort.
Especially in school classrooms.
Students do not always keep their heads down looking at textbooks.
They constantly:
look at the blackboard;
look at the teacher;
lower the head to write;
then raise the head again to look at the blackboard.
The line of sight keeps changing.
If the luminaire overhead has obvious glare, every time the head is raised, uncomfortable visual stimulation may occur.
So we believe:
An eye-protection luminaire should first of all not become a source of interference to the eyes.
Seven, prismatic optics is not simply adding a piece of material
Some people may ask:
Isn't adding a prismatic plate to a panel light enough?
In fact, it is not that simple.
The final anti-glare effect of a luminaire is the result of the joint action of the entire optical system.
It involves:
LED light source arrangement;
the distance between the light source and the optical material;
Crystal structure;
Diffuser structure;
Luminaire beam angle;
Luminous surface brightness;
Luminaire mounting height;
Space dimensions;
Luminaire layout, etc.
Therefore, a truly professional anti-glare panel light cannot be simply understood as:
An ordinary luminaire + a prismatic plate.
What we need to solve is:
While reducing glare, we must not lose a large amount of useful light.
If it is merely simple shielding, UGR may decrease, but the overall luminaire efficacy also drops significantly — that is not excellent optical design.
So what truly tests technical capability is:
Controlling glare while maintaining high optical efficiency, and at the same time ensuring lighting uniformity.
VIII. High energy efficiency and low glare are inherently a set of metrics that need to be balanced.
This is a very important issue in LED panel light design.
It is not difficult to make a light extremely bright.
It is also possible to make a light non-glaring through extensive shielding.
What is truly difficult is:
To be both bright and non-glaring; to control glare without wasting large amounts of light energy.
Because any diffusion, anti-glare and optical control structure may cause certain light loss.
Therefore, the purpose of our factory using prismatic optical materials is not simply to "block" light.
Instead, through more scientific light distribution, the limited luminous flux is delivered to the work surface as effectively as possible.
For schools, this means:
Delivering more effective light to student desks and areas requiring illumination, while reducing high-angle light that easily enters the human eye directly and causes uncomfortable glare.
This is the true meaning of efficient anti-glare.
Nine, we adopt eye-friendly light sources, and high color rendering is an important design direction.
In addition to glare, another key focus of our factory's panel lights is:
The light quality of the light source itself.
School lighting is not warehouse lighting.
What students face every day:
Textbooks;
Colorful pictures;
Maps;
Artworks;
Experimental materials;
The faces of teachers and classmates.
Therefore, whether a light source can restore object colors truly and naturally is very important.
This involves an important metric:
Color rendering performance.
Our factory's campus and health lighting products usehigh-color-rendering eye-protection LED light sources, and while improving energy efficiency, they emphasize control over color fidelity and visual comfort.
High-color-rendering light sources can make the text, pictures, and various object colors in textbooks look more natural.
For students, this difference may not be as intuitive as "whether the light is bright or not."
However, after prolonged daily use, good light quality can provide a more natural and comfortable visual environment.
Therefore, in our product design, we do not simply pursue:
"Pushing lm/W to the highest possible level."
What we value more is:
On the premise of high color rendering and high light quality, achieving higher energy efficiency.
10. Why does "high color rendering + high energy efficiency" place greater demands on LED technology?
This is because in LED lighting technology:
A technical balance must be struck between color rendering performance and luminous efficacy.
If a manufacturer only pursues a very impressive lm/W figure, technically they can adopt a solution that leans more toward high luminous efficacy.
But for school eye-protection lighting, merely pursuing the highest luminous efficacy is not our goal.
We would rather achieve:
High color rendering + high luminous efficacy + low glare + low blue light.
Doing all these indicators well simultaneously is far more difficult than pushing a single indicator to a very high level.
This is also a very important difference between professional lighting and ordinary low-priced lighting products.
11. Adopting a low blue light design to control unnecessary short-wavelength blue light output
In addition to high color rendering, our factory's eye-friendly LED light sources also place special emphasis on:
Low blue light design.
Here, the concept of "low blue light" needs to be clearly explained.
LED lighting does not mean that "blue light must be absent."
The formation of normal white light itself includes visible light of different wavelength bands.
What truly needs attention is:
Whether the spectral composition is reasonable, and whether high-energy short-wavelength blue light is scientifically controlled.
Therefore, when we speak of low blue light, it does not simply mean making the light yellow, nor does it mean removing all blue light.
Rather, while ensuring normal white light, color rendering performance, and lighting effects, we reasonably control unnecessary short-wavelength blue light energy through LED spectral design.
This is especially important for classroom lighting that students use for long periods every day.
Therefore, in selecting light sources for eye-friendly panel lights, our factory does not simply compare:
"Which LED chip is the brightest."
We simultaneously consider:
Luminous efficacy;
Color rendering performance;
spectral distribution;
blue light control;
color temperature;
color tolerance;
long-term lumen depreciation;
thermal stability and multiple other indicators.
Twelve, truly eye-friendly lighting is a complete technical system
Nowadays, the market frequently sees:
"eye-friendly lamps."
But from a professional lighting perspective, "eye-friendly" absolutely cannot be proven by just one parameter.
Low blue light does not necessarily mean eye-friendly;
High color rendering does not necessarily mean eye-friendly;
The absence of obvious flicker does not necessarily mean eye-friendly;
Nor does UGR<19 mean all problems are solved.
Lighting products truly suitable for long-term use in schools should form a complete system:
High color rendering light source
Low blue light design
Low flicker control
UGR<19 anti-glare design
Scientific light distribution
Reasonable color temperature
Good illuminance uniformity
High energy efficiency
Long-term stability
Only when these indicators are combined do they constitute truly high-quality healthy lighting.
13. Grade 1 energy efficiency must not come at the expense of students' visual comfort
This is also the principle we have always adhered to in the design of panel light products.
Suppose there are two products:
The first product has particularly high whole-lamp luminous efficacy, but obvious glare and average color rendering;
The second product, while maintaining high energy efficiency, adopts a high-color-rendering low-blue-light light source and effectively controls glare through a prismatic optical system.
For ordinary warehouses, the two may differ only in luminous efficacy figures.
But for schools, we believe the second technical route is more reasonable.
Because students need to spend long hours in this lighting environment every day.
So what we pursue is not:
"the highest luminous efficacy figure in the laboratory."
Instead:
while meeting Level 1 energy efficiency requirements, we do a good job on glare, color rendering, blue light, flicker and lighting comfort together.
Fourteen, from a single panel light, one can see a company's technical route
The structure of an LED panel light does not look complicated.
A lamp body;
A driver;
A set of LED light sources;
A set of optical systems.
But the final results of products made by different companies may be completely different.
A truly professional panel light needs to solve several seemingly contradictory problems at the same time:
High luminous efficacy is required;
Yet high color rendering is also needed;
Glare must be reduced;
Without causing significant light loss due to shielding;
Blue light must be controlled;
While ensuring natural white light and color performance;
Power must be reduced;
Without sacrificing actual illuminance;
Heat dissipation, driver lifespan, and long-term lumen depreciation must also be considered.
Therefore, we believe:
Truly high-quality LED panel lights are essentially products of integrated optical, electrical, thermal, and structural design.
Fifteen, for government procurement of panel lights, it is recommended not to compare only "how many watts, how much money"
In government procurement projects, if only comparing:
36W or 40W;
How much does one light cost;
It is easy to turn professional lighting products into simple price competition.
A more scientific procurement approach should compare at the same time:
Applicable standards;
Energy efficiency grade;
Luminaire efficacy;
Luminous flux;
UGR glare control;
Color rendering performance;
Blue light hazard related indicators;
Flicker related indicators;
Color temperature and color tolerance;
CCC certification;
Driver quality;
Lumen depreciation and lifetime;
Product warranty period.
If used in schools, the final classroom lighting environment must also be comprehensively evaluated in accordance with the relevant requirements of **GB 7793—2025 "Hygienic Standard for Day Lighting and Artificial Lighting for Primary and Secondary Schools."**
The ultimate goal of school procurement is not to buy a batch of lamps with "impressive specifications."
It is to build:
A healthy lighting environment that students can use continuously every day over the long term.
XVI. Our factory's technical approach to panel lights: not competition on individual parameters, but a balance of overall performance
Therefore, in the development of panel light products, our factory does not take maximizing any single parameter as the sole objective.
Our technical approach is clearer:
On the basis of meeting the relevant requirements for national Grade 1 energy efficiency, we aim to achieve both energy efficiency and healthy light quality.
In terms of optics:
We adoptprismatic optical materials and professional light distribution design, with a focus on controlling high-angle glare; the relevant products are designed with a target ofUGR<19.
In terms of light source:
AdoptedEye-friendly high-CRI LED light source, improving color rendering capability so that the colors of textbooks, pictures and objects seen by students are more natural.
In terms of spectrum:
Adoptedlow blue light design concept, while ensuring normal lighting and color rendering performance, reasonably controlling unnecessary short-wavelength blue light energy.
In terms of energy efficiency:
Through high-efficiency LED light sources, high-efficiency drivers and high-transmittance optical systems, the energy utilization efficiency of the entire luminaire is improved, enabling related products to meetnational Grade 1 energy efficiency requirements.
The final result is:
Grade 1 energy efficiency + UGR<19 + prismatic anti-glare + high CRI + low blue light + low flicker + scientific light distribution.
This is also our understanding of high-quality LED panel lights.
Seventeen, the ultimate goal of energy saving is not to use a few fewer watts, but to obtain better light with less energy
Back to the energy efficiency standards themselves.
Why does the country keep raising energy efficiency requirements for lighting products?
Essentially, the goal is:
To accomplish the same or even higher quality lighting tasks with less energy.
So a truly advanced LED panel light should not simply change 40W to 36W, or 36W to 30W.
More importantly:
How much effective light does 30W output?
Is this light uniform?
Is it comfortable?
How is the glare control?
How is the color rendering performance?
How is the blue light control?
Is it suitable for students to use for several hours every day?
Can the luminaire still maintain stability after several years?
Only after all these questions are clearly answered can the technical level of a panel light be truly judged.
18. High energy efficiency is the foundation, but healthy light quality is the true development direction of panel lights
As national building energy-saving standards, lighting energy efficiency standards, andGB 7793—2025new campus lighting standards such as these continue to upgrade, the future development direction of LED panel lights has become increasingly clear.
Relying solely on:
"brighter"
or:
"cheaper"
is already difficult to meet the requirements of high-quality public buildings and school lighting.
Truly competitive products in the future need to simultaneously achieve:
greater energy savings, greater comfort, greater health, and greater stability.
This is also the product technology roadmap that our factory adheres to.
We use high-efficiency LEDs and drive systems to improve energy utilization efficiency;
we adoptprismatic optical materials and professional light distribution design to achieve a glare control target of UGR<19 for related products;
Adopthigh color rendering eye-friendly light sourceto improve visual authenticity and comfort;
adoptlow blue light designto optimize the spectrum;
while also balancing flicker control, lighting uniformity, long-term lumen depreciation and product reliability.
We believe:
Level 1 energy efficiency addresses "whether electricity is used efficiently";
UGR<19 addresses "whether the light is glaring";
high color rendering addresses "whether the colors seen are true and natural";
low blue light addresses "whether the spectrum is more suitable for long-term visual environments";
and doing all these indicators well at the same time addresses:
"Is this a truly high-quality panel light suitable for schools, hospitals, offices and other places with long-term use?"
Therefore, when evaluating a panel light, the ultimate question should not be only:
"How many watts is it?"
Instead, you should ask:
"How much electricity does it use, how much useful light does it produce, and what kind of visual environment does that light ultimately create for the user?"
This is the truly professional way to understand the energy efficiency and healthy lighting of panel lights.