Light + Health

AlconLighting.com recently published an interview with the California Lighting Technology Center’s Talieh Ghane about the interaction between light and human health.

Hospital-acquired infections are one of the top preventable illnesses in medical facilities, and a special type of LED lighting can act as a continuous disinfectant and reduce the opportunity for these infections. This new National Lighting Bureau video features a discussion between the NLB’s Randy Reid and Colleen Costello of Vital Vio and Deb Zawodny of New Star Lighting about how a portion of the white-light spectrum is being used as a disinfection tool in hospitals.

The Illuminating Engineering Society has issued a position statement, PS-12-19, responding to UL RP 24480 regarding circadian lighting.

In this week’s featured episode of the Get a Grip on Lighting podcast, hosts Greg Ehrich, LC, former President of NAILD and owner of Premier Lighting, and Michael Colligan, an entrepreneur and inventor, talk to Adam Lilien, Lighting Business Development Manager for UL, about UL’s initiative to develop a new recommended best practice for circadian lighting.

The International Commission on Illumination (CIE) has issued a new position statement that puts into context the use of the term “blue light hazard” in line with the CIE’s current position on this term. It provides reassurance that people are normally not at risk of exceeding the internationally agreed blue light hazard exposure limits from white light sources used for illumination.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Mark D’Ambrosio, Senior Project Engineer – New Technology Strategy, Focal Point on the topic of how lighting fits into the WELL Building Standard. The interview informed an article I wrote for tED Magazine’s September 2019 issue. Here’s the transcript.

While the international lighting community does not yet know enough to prescribe a certain type of electric lighting to meet the specific needs of specific individuals, enough has been learned in the past few years “to make a difference in people’s lives,” the Lighting Research Center’s Dr. Mariana G. Figueiro said at the “Prescription Lighting” discussion panel convened at the National Lighting Bureau’s 7th Annual Lighting Forum.

Morgan Pattison, principal of SSLS, Inc., senior technical advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solid-State Lighting Program, and lead author of DOE’s Solid State Lighting R&D Plan, recently contributed an article to LD+A Magazine stating the majority of lighting/health research has been in laboratory conditions. For real progress to be made in developing best practices, more field research is needed.

Acuity Brands, Inc. has announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with CIRCADIAN ZircLight, Inc. The new business partnership includes licensing of CIRCADIAN ZircLight intellectual property, and a collaboration intended to accelerate commercialization within North America of CIRCADIAN’s Zirc branded technology through Acuity Brands’ portfolio of indoor luminaires.