The Top Lighting Certifications You Should Know Before Buying

When purchasing lighting products, it is important to be as informed as you possible. Knowing that your light is properly certified will instill confidence when making your purchase. When revamping your lighting design, a top priority is to ensure that your new lights are certified safe and reliable, but also that they are certified to do what they say they are going to do. A main attraction to LED lighting is that they are energy efficient, but it’s important to ensure not only that this has been tested and approved to be considered energy efficient, but also that they are compliant with all building codes and electrical safety.

Guidelines in electrical safety and performance standards put in place by the industry’s regulatory bodies focus on certifications for lighting products. They ensure not only that businesses and brands produce quality products according to their industry standards, but also that businesses install only certified products or otherwise face penalties. When buying lights for your next home project, you can feel confident that your certified lights are approved by trusted and recognized industry regulatory bodies such as these ones below.

Parmida LED lights all have the certifications they need, assuring that your lights are safe, high-quality, and are proven to be energy-efficient.

UL-Listed

UL-Listed stands for Underwriters Laboratories. Underwriters Laboratories focuses on approving the safety of the lighting product. They are a non-profit organization who test products to ensure that they are both physically and environmentally safe. They are an objective and unbiased third-party that focuses solely on maintaining the correct safety standards for products, and will continue to re-test over time to ensure the same standards are upheld. With a UL Listing, you can be sure that the product meets all necessary safety requirements.

ETL-Listed

An ETL Certification (Electrical Testing Labs) is similar to a UL Listing in that they also focus on electrical safety. ETL works to test products in the same way that Underwriters Laboratories does; a product can either be ETL listed or UL listed. In both cases, their respective stamps will signify and verify a safe product.

DLC Certified

A DLC Certification is given when the Design Lights Consortium (DLC) approves the energy efficiency of commercial-grade LED lighting. This non-profit organization works to ensure that LED lighting is high performing and high quality in elements such as color, distribution, and longevity. A DLC listing confirms that the product performs as promised after extensive testing. They also approve the warranty standards of the lighting product.

FCC Certified

The Federal Communications Commision (FCC) focuses radio frequency energy. In order to be marketed and sold in the U.S., products with the capacity to emit radio frequency energy, like those with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi capabilities, must be tested and certified. The FCC ensure that the product does not cause interference and that it meets telecommunications requirements.

Energy Star

Energy Star tests several categories of products, and awards certification through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). For lighting, Energy Star focuses on ensuring the energy-efficiency of a product. Their extensive testing focuses on specific qualifications pertaining to light brightness and distribution, longevity of light output, color quality and consistency, and energy-efficiency. Energy Star certifications are more focused on residential lighting rather than commercial.

Title 24 – JA8

Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations contains the regulations that govern the construction of buildings in California. A JA8-Title 24 certification confirms that the lighting product qualifies as high efficacy, and that it meets the standards relating to performance and lighting quality, as well as efficacy in power factor, and dimming and flicker requirements. The JA8 Title 24 certifies that the lighting product meets energy efficiency requirements; the updated regulations in the Buidling Energy Efficiency Standards require new construction homes to use high efficacy lighting, in order to improve energy efficiency.

CE Marking

A CE marking on a product is the symbol for European conformity. This CE marking means that the product has been approved to be sold and distributed within the European Union and the European Economic Area. It certifies that the product has met health, safety, and environmental standards and requirements according to the EU.

Making an Informed Purchase

When purchasing your lights, focusing on these markings that make a product safe is the primary concern. Having confidence that your lights are fully certified for safety and performance is most important, and Parmida LED is committed to bringing you high-quality lighting products that are safe, reliable, and industry approved.