New NEMA White Paper On The History, Proper & Inproper Uses of UGR

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) published NEMA LS 20001-2021, White Paper on Unified Glare Rating (UGR). This new white paper explains the original intent of UGR, its proper uses, and common misuses.

UGR is one of the few lighting metrics that practitioners use to model and design appropriate lighting to meet application and task visual needs. In the hands of a competent lighting designer, it can provide insight into visual comfort expectations when included as part of a complete lighting design because it incorporates room layout, luminaire layout, the task being performed, and surface reflectances.

However, improper use of the UGR approach can result in poor lighting design, poor luminaire design, and unintended glare. The NEMA white paper aims to prevent such misuse through education on the context of UGR and by demonstrating how erroneous use as a luminaire-specific qualification metric can lead to glare inaccuracies for lighting designs.

The audience for this paper includes lighting designers, luminaire manufacturers, and luminaire specifiers. NEMA LS 20001-2021 is available for download at no cost on the NEMA website.

David Shiller

David Shiller is the Publisher of LightNOW, and Senior Business Development Consultant at Capacity Consulting, a North American consulting firm providing business development services to advanced lighting manufacturers. The ALA awarded David the Pillar of the Industry Award. David has been co-chair of the ALA’s Engineering Committee since 2010. David established MaxLite’s OEM component sales into a multi-million dollar division. He invented GU24 lamps while leading ENERGY STAR lighting programs for the US EPA. David has been published in leading lighting publications, including LD+A, enLIGHTenment Magazine, LEDs Magazine, and more.

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