Electric.ie Magazine Nov/Dec 2016

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• The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • 41
Glamox
What is Human Centric Lighting?
back pains, general tiredness and
fatigue in the eye muscles.
What are the positive non-visual
‡ơ‡ –• ™Š‡ –Š‡ Ž‹‰Š–‹‰ ‹•
correct?
Short-term bursts of cool white and
intensive light may increase your
concentration, without you knowing
it. Or make you feel sleepier at
night because you have shifted your
daily rhythm a bit. Both are positive
‡ơ‡ –• –Šƒ– ›‘— ’‡”Šƒ’• †‘ ‘–
notice immediately, or at all.
Is HCL a new invention?
‘ǡ ™‡ Šƒ˜‡ ”‡•‡ƒ” Š‡† –Š‡ ‡ơ‡ –
of light on people for decades, if
not centuries. What is new is that
™‡ Šƒ˜‡ ƒ ‡™ǡ ‘•–Ǧ‡ƥ ‹‡– ƒ†
ƪ‡š‹„Ž‡ Ž‹‰Š– •‘—” ‡ Ȃ • Ȃ –Šƒ–
makes implementing Human
Centric Lighting solutions easier
and better. Still we need to do more
research to learn about the optimal
use of HCL.
‘ǡ ™Š‘ ƒ „‡‡Ƥ– ˆ”‘ ǫ
Everyone that spends the whole
day, or parts of it, indoors. School
Š‹Ž†”‡ǡ ‘ƥ ‡ ™‘”‡”•ǡ ‡Ž†‡”Ž› ™‹–Š
dementia, shift workers etc.
But I have people at my
workplace with all kinds of
†‹ơ‡”‡– –ƒ•• ƒ† ™‘”‹‰
hours, it will surely be impossible
to accommodate them all with
one particular light setting?
True, people also have various
chronotypes, some are night owls
whereas others are morning larks.
To both, the timing of the light
‡š’‘•—”‡ ƒ––‡”• ƒ† ƒ ‘‡ •‹œ‡ Ƥ–•
all approach may not be the best
way. It would be better to allow for
individual settings of intensity and
colour temperature (the whiteness
‘ˆ –Š‡ Ž‹‰Š–Ȍ ƒ– ‡ƒ Š ™‘” •–ƒ–‹‘Ǥ
This seems to me like it might be
hard to achieve in a classroom,
for instance?
‡•ǡ ˆ‘” Žƒ••”‘‘• ™‡ –Š‹ –Šƒ–
designing the lighting installation
to accommodate the sleepyheads
may be the solution. For example,
postpone the circadian phase-
shifting, or activating light in the
morning to when they are most
receptive to it.
How is all this knowledge
ƒ„‘—– Š‘™ Ž‹‰Š–‹‰ ƒơ‡ –• ‘—”
bodies transformed to lighting
solutions?
The knowledge is the basis for the
development of luminaires that
mix light from cool and warm
white diodes. So it’s kind of two
‹ ‘‡ •‘Ž—–‹‘ –Šƒ– ‘ơ‡”• „‘–Š
the activating non activating light.
‡ ƒŽ•‘ ‘ơ‡” ƒ ‹–‡ŽŽ‹‰‡– ‘–”‘Ž
system that makes this tunability
possible. These installations are
currently more expensive than
ordinary LED installations, but
™‡ ‡š’‡ – –Š‡ ’”‹ ‡ †‹ơ‡”‡ ‡ –‘
decrease in the future.
But is Human Centric Lighting
worth the investment today?
‡•ǡ ™‡ –Š‹ •‘ ƒŽ–Š‘—‰Š –Š‡
payback time is hard to calculate
because the ROI has all to do with
the overall wellbeing of the end
users. Higher motivation, increased
productivity and an improved
sense of wellbeing are some of the
†‘ —‡–‡† ‡ơ‡ –• ‘ˆ —ƒ
Centric Lighting.
H uman Centric Lighting (HCL) is the new buzzword in the professional lighting
industry. The research it is based upon is extensive and maybe not what you
would consider light reading. We’ve asked our expert Lars-Fredrik Forberg to bring
you up to speed.
Lars-Fredrik Forberg, a civil engineer and responsible for HCL within Glamox, has
been developing Human Centric Lighting solutions for the past 3 years.
What is Human Centric Lighting?
Human Centric Lighting puts focus
on both the visual and non-visual
‡ơ‡ –• ‘ˆ Ž‹‰Š–‹‰Ǥ ‡‘’Ž‡ ‡‡† ‘–
only light to perform visual tasks,
but light is also an important “time-
reference” for our internal clock.
‘™ ‡šƒ –Ž› †‘‡• Ž‹‰Š– ƒơ‡ – ›
brain?
Š‡ „”ƒ‹ ‹• ƒơ‡ –‡† „› Ž‹‰Š– ‹ –™‘
ways. First we have the visual path
which is connected to the brain’s
interpretation of visual images.
Then we have the circadian path
where photoreceptors in the retina,
ƒŽŽ‡† ‰ƒ‰Ž‹‘ ‡ŽŽ•ǡ ƒ”‡ ƒơ‡ –‡†
by the amount of blue light they’re
exposed to. These cells set the
biological clock that synchronizes
our bodies with the external cycle
of day and night. A major output
of the biological clock system is
the production of the hormone
melatonin – a “sleep hormone”.
This production in the pineal
gland varies with the time of day.
Melatonin is secreted at night and
has minimal levels during daytime.
ƒ ƒ”–‹Ƥ ‹ƒŽ Ž‹‰Š–‹‰ ”‡ƒŽŽ› „‡
that important? I rarely hear
anyone complain about the light
in their workplace?
‡‘’Ž‡ †‘ ‘– ‘’Žƒ‹ ƒ„‘—– –Š‡
lighting as long as you have enough
of it, with a decent quality. But when
the light levels are low or when the
light source causes discomfort glare,
people will complain – or their
bodies will.
What kind of bodily discomfort
can wrong lighting lead to?
Discomfort glare and a low lighting
level may cause headaches, neck or