{"id":778,"date":"2017-10-23T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=778"},"modified":"2017-10-21T15:00:43","modified_gmt":"2017-10-21T19:00:43","slug":"whos-afraid-of-tm-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=778","title":{"rendered":"Who&#8217;s Afraid of TM-30?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the Co-Chair of the IES Color Committee, I have seen too many statements that full-scale adoption of TM-30 is too difficult and will create confusion in the market.\u00a0 Often, these assertions come from major manufacturers who want to control market disruption, not be disrupted.\u00a0 In my professional lifetime there have been, and continue to be, significant changes in the lighting marketplace.\u00a0 When new products are introduced, designers are told about the wonderful benefits of using them.\u00a0 There has never been a time when large manufacturers or organizations with loud voices have said the market could not accept about a new product because doing so was too burdensome.\u00a0 For example,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The introduction and transition to electronic ballasts and transformers meant that we had to learn about reverse phase dimming and control protocols.<\/li>\n<li>The T5 lamp meant we had to change our layout patterns to accommodate lamps that weren\u2019t standard 2\u2019, 4\u2019, and 8\u2019 lengths.<\/li>\n<li>Metal Halide lamps, especially PARS, meant that in exchange for energy savings we had to learn about the color rendering of a new type of lamp, and give up dimming.<\/li>\n<li>Daylight harvesting and daylight responsive designs meant we had to learn about daylight zones, photosensors, and daylight harvesting control systems.<\/li>\n<li>White LEDs meant we had to learn about another light source and its specific pros and cons, including different color rendering properties due to its SPD.<\/li>\n<li>Circadian lighting means we are all in the process of learning how and when to apply the most current scientific evidence to certain project types.\u00a0 Since the science is constantly advancing on this topic, we must be aware and continue to educate ourselves.<\/li>\n<li>Regularly updated energy conservation codes mean that as we begin to memorize the lower LPDs and changes to control and daylighting requirements, we have to relearn that information because it changes every three years.<\/li>\n<li>Most recently, we\u2019re supposed to enthusiastically embrace IoT, adding huge complexity to our lighting control systems and opening them up to hacking.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But, I keep hearing that industry adoption of TM-30, allowing specifiers to have a much clearer idea of the color rendering properties of their light sources, is <em>tooo haaaaard<\/em>!\u00a0 This is especially maddening when so many professions, including lighting design if you have an LC or LEED credential, require continuing education that is supposed to be more than halfway paying attention to a webinar.<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturers love introducing and promoting new products and technologies that will expand profits, and specifiers get the hard sell all the time.\u00a0 But some manufacturers don\u2019t want to consider TM-30 for several reasons.\u00a0 First, there\u2019s the fear that the <em>R<\/em><sub>f<\/sub> value, which is analogous to CRI <em>R<\/em><sub>a<\/sub>, will be lower than the <em>R<\/em><sub>a<\/sub> value.\u00a0 Even though it\u2019s a different, and tougher, test they fear loss of sales if numbers change.\u00a0 I suspect the manufacturers who fear this the most are those who have most engineered their spectra to score well on <em>R<\/em><sub>a<\/sub>, but know that <em>R<\/em><sub>f<\/sub> can\u2019t be gamed in the same way.\u00a0 Second, as one manufacturer flat out told me, they\u2019d rather put their money into IoT (and other new and profitable products) instead of updating cut sheets and web pages.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the thing &#8211; as a designer and specifier I have no interest in being stuck in 1965 (the year CRI was unveiled) or even 1995 (the most recent update to CRI).\u00a0 We know that CRI is flawed, we know what the flaws are, and we know that the CIE has been unable to come to consensus on fixing the flaws.\u00a0 The IES has done a great job of developing a new, accurate, modern tool that gives us so much more information than CRI ever could.\u00a0 My design decisions, and my ability to learn about my profession so I can be better at it, are not driven by manufacturer profit masquerading as manufacturers worrying about specifier or consumer confusion.\u00a0 Research over the past two years has shown TM-30 to be more accurate, and we continue to learn more about how to effectively use it. \u00a0Lighting specifiers should begin the transition to TM-30 by insisting that manufacturers provide them with <em>R<\/em><sub>f<\/sub>, <em>R<\/em><sub>g<\/sub>, and color vector graphics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the Co-Chair of the IES Color Committee, I have seen too many statements that full-scale adoption of TM-30 is too difficult and will create confusion in the market.\u00a0 Often, these assertions come from major manufacturers who want to control market disruption, not be disrupted.\u00a0 In my professional lifetime there have been, and continue to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=778\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Who&#8217;s Afraid of TM-30?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,18,13,17,19],"tags":[27,68],"class_list":["post-778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-color","category-design","category-lamps","category-light","category-lighting-profession","tag-color-rendering","tag-tm-30"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4gZSw-cy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1815,"url":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=1815","url_meta":{"origin":778,"position":0},"title":"New TM-30 Tutorial Available","author":"Jason Livingston","date":"July 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Many of us on the IES Color Committee, myself included, have written and spoken about TM-30 and how to use it. I've written posts on this blog (click on the color rendering tag to see them all), authored articles, spoken at IES Annual Conferences, given webinars to architects and lighting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Color&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Color","link":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3424,"url":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=3424","url_meta":{"origin":778,"position":1},"title":"TM-30 Update: Challenges and strategies for working with SSL manufacturers &#8211; LD+A","author":"Jason Livingston","date":"August 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I have written a lot about TM-30 from the specifier's viewpoint - how TM-30 is better than CRI, explanations of the various TM-30 measures. why TM-30 data and reports are so important, how to get TM-30 data or reports, how to use TM-30, etc. This month's LD+A has a great\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Color&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Color","link":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1264,"url":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=1264","url_meta":{"origin":778,"position":2},"title":"Standard 189.1 Now Includes TM-30 Requirements","author":"Jason Livingston","date":"August 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday an addendum to ANSI\/ASHRAE\/ICC\/USGBC\/IES Standard 189.1-2017 Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings was published. The addendum makes changes to Section 8.3.5, which covers lighting. One of the biggest changes is to add TM-30 color rendition criteria to the section on Indoor Lighting Quality. Here's the relevant text:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Codes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Codes","link":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2447,"url":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=2447","url_meta":{"origin":778,"position":3},"title":"Manufacturers Don&#8217;t Understand Color Rendering","author":"Jason Livingston","date":"March 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I attended LEDucation in New York City this week. \u00a0While there I spoke to over two dozen manufacturers, none of whom understood color rendering beyond the (partially accurate) belief that higher CRI is better. \u00a0My conversations when like this. Lighting Salesperson: \"Our color rendering is great. \u00a0Our CRI is over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Color&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Color","link":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5135,"url":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=5135","url_meta":{"origin":778,"position":4},"title":"TM-30 and LP-30 at Lightovation","author":"Jason Livingston","date":"December 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The IES is about to publish ANSI\/IES LP-30 Lighting Practice:\u00a0 A Comprehensive Guide to Specifying Color Rendition \u2013\u00a0 Concepts, Criteria, and Implementation, which is essentially a user's guide to TM-30. \u00a0The IES Color Committee worked on it for over two years to create an easy to read, comprehensive, phase-by-phase guide\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Color&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Color","link":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lightovations 2026 Logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/designinglight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image002.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/designinglight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image002.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/designinglight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image002.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":567,"url":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=567","url_meta":{"origin":778,"position":5},"title":"NEMA Misrepresents IES TM-30","author":"Jason Livingston","date":"December 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"On November 12 the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) published a position paper on IES TM-30-15. The document is here. It seems to be a willful misunderstanding and misrepresentation of TM-30. Here\u2019s how\u2026 The paper opens with NEMA\u2019s support of an improved color metric but then goes on to say\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Color&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Color","link":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":779,"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778\/revisions\/779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}