Articles & Interviews

Circadian-Friendly Light Emitters: From CCT-Tuning to Blue-Free Technology

Common levels of blue radiation are sufficient to disrupt the circadian cycle, calling for blue-depleted emitters in the evening. Most current solutions employ low-CCT and suffer from poor light quality. Aurelien David, chief scientist at Soraa explains the melanopic lumen and its possible sources of inaccuracy related to the uncertainty in assessing the circadian action spectrum. In addition, he also discusses the concept of a blue-free emitter with minimal melanopic lumen at very low CCT and how such a spectrum providing a good light quality can be optimized. Read more »

First LightingEurope Summit – An Outstanding Figure in the Lighting Branch, Hands Over His Responsibilities

Diederik de Stoppelaar, one of the most influential and esteemed personalities in the lighting branch, has retired and passed over his responsibilities to Ourania Georgoutsakou. One of his last activities was initiating the first LightingEurope Summit, a one-day program, where a number of respected and eloquent lecturers were invited to speak. The venue, The Steigenberg Wiltcher's, in Brussels, was a good choice for this first of its kind event. About 150 lighting specialists, friends, and colleagues of Diederik de Stoppelaar attended the conference and farewell event. Read more »

Healthy Light - LED Technology for Health and Care Applications

The right light, at any time during the day or night, is absolutely essential for health and well-being especially in health and care applications. Peter Haumer, Head of Technical Sales at Lumitech/Kiteo reveals why, besides full spectrum and high color rendering, mimicking real daylight conditions with extended daylight curves, a direct and an indirect component (CCT 1.800–16.000 K), are essential. The article discusses the benefits that can be derived from special colors for medical staff, patients and residents. Read more »

A Near Infrared Enhanced LED Lighting Approach

With the evolution of LED lighting, one topic has come more and more in the focus of the lighting industry: Human Centric Lighting (HCL). While HCL is not clearly defined, a common understanding is that this is light and lighting that supports health and the well-being of humans. Some new proposals are going beyond the approach of providing just visible light in adequate quality, but also to providing invisible radiation, UV and/or NIR that support health and well-being. Some research and the evolution of humans show clear evidence for positive effects of this kind of illumination. Scott Zimmerman, CEO at Silas, presents a new approach that adds NIR radiation to LED illumination. He explains the background of this idea, how it also improves the quality of visible light and discusses the health benefits. Read more »

Implications for Human-Centric Lighting Design in Tropical Nursing Homes: A Pilot Study

Light synchronizes our physiological and psychological rhythms to the 24-hour rhythm of the ambient changes. For the elderly, adequate environments to compensate for increasing frailty and sensory loss are crucial. Dr. Szu-Cheng Chien, Assistant Professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology reports from a pilot study that aimed to explore HCL design strategies in nursing homes in Singapore. Pre-/post implementation user surveys and quantitative evaluations were conducted. Read more »

Lighting and Emergency Dept. Clinician Wellness and Performance Improvement

LpR 70 Article, page 38: Short wavelength ("blue") light is known for its strong impact on humans covering "visual" function, wellness and performance of humans. Lighting has been recognized to have an effect on clinician wellness and performance as well as the occurence of medical errors. In a pilot study, Octavio L. Perez, Ph.D, WELL Accredited Professional and Adjunct Researcher at the Department of Population Health Science and Policy, and his team of scientists and physicians, Christopher Strother, Richard Vincent, Barbara Rabin and Harold S. Kaplan, from the Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, systematically investigated if and how a radically new lighting concept could improve wellness and performance in an emergency department. Read more »

Melanopic Green - The Other Side of Blue

LpR 71 Article - page 74: For years now, there has been a controversial discussion about the amount of blue light in LEDs. Medical studies have shown that, depending on the amount, blue light at night disrupts the circadian rhythm. As a result, warm white (<3000 K) light sources are often touted as a solution for street lighting as well. Ian Ashdown, P. Eng. (Ret.), FIES Senior Scientist at SunTracker Technologies discusses whether or not it is sufficient to only look at the CDT or if other wavelengths and aspects should be considered. Numerous medical studies have shown that exposure to blue light at night suppresses the production of melatonin by the pineal gland in our brains and so disrupts our circadian rhythms. As a result, we may have difficulty sleeping. It is therefore only common sense that we should specify warm white (3000 K) light sources wherever possible, especially for street lighting. - True or false? Read more »

Swiss Photonics Workshop on Intelligent Efficient Solid State Lighting

Swiss Photonics held their Swiss Solid State Lighting Workshop in the Pantheon at Muttenz near Basel on December 12th of last year. The ambience of the automobile museum was perfect! The program covered a broad range of topics including Human Centric Lighting, Internet of Things and the results of the LASSIE project (Large Area Solid State Lighting Intelligent Efficient: A 7th Framework Program for Research and Technological Development). In the following article, Arno Grabher-Meyer, Editor-in-Chief at LED professional, summarizes the highlights. Read more »

Tech-Talks BREGENZ - Dr. Wilfried Pohl, Research Director, Bartenbach GmbH

Bartenbach is one of the pioneers in light planning and lighting research. Since Christian Bartenbach Senior founded the engineering office in 1976, the company has been dedicated to light and visual perception. Several lighting inventions made over the years, can be attributed to Bartenbach. Dr. Wilfried Pohl, as a member of the Managing Board and Director of Research at Bartenbach GmbH, has played a substantial role in many developments. LED professional talked with him about Bartenbach’s history, education in the lighting business, the lighting parameters he deems very important, the quality of light, "Human Centric Lighting" and "Biodynamic Lighting“, and how LEDs have changed the light planning and lighting research company, in general. Read more »

Tech-Talks Bregenz | Lp Article | Human Centric Lighting | Apr 22, 2018

Tech-Talks BREGENZ - Fred Maxik, Founder & CTO, Lighting Science Group

LED light in combination with advanced controls, and here especially IoT capabilities, opened several new options in lighting. In this context, the term Human Centric Lighting, and more recently, the term Biologically Active Light have become trendy. Fred Maxik, founder and CTO of the Lighting Science Group, who held the keynote speech at LpS 2017, recognized these opportunities in a very early stage when most other manufacturers were still struggling with the challenges of the new technology. In the interview he explains what his perception of light is and its importance in our lives. He gives insights into his philosophy and ideas on which criteria artificial lighting has to fulfill in order to live up to the promising terms „Human Centric Lighting“ and „Biologically Active Light“. Read more »