More SSL makers and vendors are embracing the tenets of human-centric lighting (HCL). As you walk the floor of LFI you will see more functional SSL wares, including many that are CCT-tunable.
The basic rationale of HCL is two-fold. Its proponents assert that lighting should assist rather than work against our endocrine systems. A corollary is a desire to meet people's preferences for hue, intensity, and time of use in their lighting systems.
The bulk of the publicity that HCL has garnered has been about the first point -- artificial light's chromatic attributes changing our circadian rhythms. However, the deeper aspect of HCL goes to a trait most people share: We like choices. Now, wanting choice in our lighting is not new. The desire has been present over hundreds of years of our lighting evolution.
A well-designed SSL lighting system can offer multiple, simultaneous benefits. Whereas the sensible use of energy may prompt SSL's growing adoption, improved radiometric considerations can be addressed at the same time. Some newer wares have advanced chromatic (photometric) attributes that produce great color rendering, and also allow the lighting to match or improve the physiological condition and needs of the people working and living under those lights.
Besides these chromatic elements, HCL also has something to say about how our lights are controlled. Our 2020-era lights may respond to gesture controls or a spoken command. The approach of HCL has an element of adaptability.
A scene from the 1990 Tom Hanks movie Joe Versus the Volcano exemplifies what the proponents of HCL profess: that lighting ought to be effective and pleasing. Hanks's character is frustrated with flickering fluorescent troffers overhead and is seen pulling out his more visually attractive desk lamp. (It features an aesthetically pleasing glow with its volcanic island imagery.) The scene foreshadows the movie's locale, but it also addresses how this lamp with its pleasing illuminance was the antidote for the flickering T-12s, which the protagonist claimed made his skin look blotchy and numbed his soul.
For HCL to play a greater role, some aspects will need to be refined, improved, and evolved. Acceptance is at its early stages -- the current solutions exemplified by Juno Lighting's WarmDim and Philips Hue are examples of CCT-variable goods not yet widespread in the market. I am promoting the idea of expecting more from the products and using the tenets of HCL to maximize the intrinsic value of our modern-era lighting systems.
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