Thoughts on Human-Centric Lighting

Numerous notions in the SSL realm have left me scoffing or dishing criticism, with reason. But one that I want to talk up is human-centric lighting.

The idea of making lighting work with a person's circadian rhythms and preferences is the way to do lighting circa 2014. HCL arranges a match in a lighting system's hues, intensity levels, and timing to produce the best illuminance for the present circumstances. It's about personalization of the medium of light, in which we do our living and working. Ideally HCL will optimize, manage, and remember preferred personal lighting settings.

It serves folks well when building managers or administrators use this approach, especially so when paired with lighting controls as a fiduciary motivator. Adding a biological enhancement feature to lighting controls enhances the value in the lighting as a property asset.

Personally

I use HCL as an enhancer by, among other methods, use of the F-lux utility software. It modifies the normal high-CCT display output of my laptop to a more appropriate CCT level depending on the current time of day. I know that I sleep better at night from using just this one aspect of HCL. HCL is backed by more than just anecdotes such as this one. It is being vetted, but the research is still in the earliest stages. (Note that there's no endorsement for financial gain here, just my experience. F.lux is patent-pending and is free for personal use.)

Suitable to the task

Most of us have instinctive or culturally primed lighting preferences, so we can validate HCL in a holistic way. For example, imagine a funeral home using 5000K CCT lighting. That's rarely if ever seen, and the reason is based on human psychology and economics and an awareness of what "fits." Conversely, how about a surgical theatre using a battery of evocative 2200K CCT spot lights over the operating table? It doesn't make sense.

Lighting ought to match the environment and the tasks being done there. As adult lighting pros we do get this. HCL entails harmonization of both lighting attributes and how these products can come together. Human-centric lighting is used to optimize what or how spaces and vignettes are lit.

Enabled by SSL

Matching lighting to the user's wants and absolute needs is getting easier in the era of LED lighting, thanks to ever-improving SSL wares such as CCT-tunable lights. So savvy lighting designers, photonic engineers, and industry gadflies are all buying in to the HCL sensibility. Better SSL is leading to more HCL advocates saying we can do this now!

Beyond aiding the physical aspects like heightened or suppressed melatonin levels, there are purely psychological elements involved here: the hues that make us happiest, the light levels where each of us feel best. These are all available to be called up at will.

Ask yourself, how much difference exists between a recorded tune after it's digitized, and a digitized lighting vignette with its own distinct hue and brilliance? Imagine software like an MP4 player that allows us input on our illumination levels in this on-demand world.

Since the world is going to adopt LEDs almost universally over the old gas and glass wares, we should maximize the benefits -- the use of human-centric lighting will help the transition along. It's a win/win situation.

To learn more, visit the Human-Centric Lighting Committee's website. There is a summary of the latest news on application cases and insights from wise folks regarding early HCL successes.