As sustainability continues to shape the construction and lighting industries, it is crucial for electrical contractors to understand key environmental assessment methodologies. Two important technical memorandums – TM65 and TM66, play a significant role in evaluating the environmental impact of lighting products. However, they serve distinct purposes.
What are the differences between TM65 and TM66, their relevance to emergency lighting, and how do they compare to Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)?
TM65 is a method for calculating the embodied carbon of building services products, including luminaires, heating systems, and other mechanical and electrical components. It provides an estimate of a productβs carbon footprint when a full Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is not available.
For emergency lighting manufacturers like Ventilux, TM65 is particularly relevant because their customers, including electrical contractors and consultants, often require embodied carbon calculations to assess the sustainability of projects. The TM65 framework considers the materials used in the productβs construction, the manufacturing processes and energy consumption, the transportation from production to the point of use, and the installation impacts on-site.
TM66 is different, it is a lighting-specific framework designed to promote a circular economy in the lighting industry. Unlike TM65, which quantifies embodied carbon, TM66 provides guidance and an assessment methodology to evaluate how well lighting products align with circular economy principles.
TM66 focuses on design for circularity, ensuring products are easy to disassemble and repurpose. It also emphasises remanufacturing potential to extend product life cycles and recycling efficiency by using sustainable materials. Additionally, TM66 promotes effective end-of-life management, aiming to reduce landfill waste. While TM66 does not provide direct data for embodied carbon calculations, it demonstrates a companyβs commitment to sustainability and responsible product design. Overall, while TM65 is valuable for project specifications, TM66 highlights a company’s broader, long-term commitment to environmental responsibility.
An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a comprehensive third-party-verified document that provides a full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a product, covering its entire environmental impact from raw material extraction to disposal.
What many people donβt realise is that the third-party verification process that ensures accuracy, can differ with each different program operator who then oversees their registration and publication β often meaning different or conflicting calculations. While TM65 and TM66 provide valuable insights, they are not full LCAs like EPDs. However, when used together, TM65 and TM66 data can give a detailed picture of a productβs sustainability, making them a useful alternative when an EPD is not available.
Ventilux are committed to providing reliable TM65 data to assist their customers with embodied carbon calculations. Additionally, they support TM66 principles as part of their mission to drive sustainability within the emergency lighting sector.
Ian Murphy, R&D Manager at Ventilux Ltd, emphasises the companyβs dedication to environmental responsibility: βAt Ventilux, sustainability is embedded in everything we do, so much so weβve made efforts to remove all non-essential plastic from our packaging. We also take proactive steps to reduce embodied carbon using TM65 and champion a circular economy with TM66. We believe that by embracing both, we are setting standards in the emergency lighting industry and helping our clients make more responsible choices.β
By understanding these frameworks clients and contractors can make more informed choices when selecting products, ensuring compliance with sustainability goals and regulatory requirements.
For more information on how Ventilux integrates TM65 and TM66 principles into their emergency lighting solutions, contact their team today > UK sales@ventilux.co.uk
For more information, visit www.ventilux.com
Find more industry features here
