Matt Waring

In Search for Answers: Light4Health Online Course of Health Research for Interior Lighting Design

Asst. Prof. Dr. Karolina M. Zielinska-Dabkowska IALD, IES, CIE, MSLL, RIBA, presents the work of Light4Health Consortium. She explains how the dialogue that was initiated by this project will continue to share research knowledge and exchange best practices across the lighting community.

Three years ago, when I wrote an article in arc called: Human Centric Lighting - The New X Factor? (arc no. 108 Feb/Mar 2019), my intention was to raise questions in relation to the new topic and to find solid, research-based answers in the years to come. Today, I am happy to report that the lighting community, with the Light4Health Online Course of Health Research for Interior Lighting Design, has a useful tool, and consortium members have managed to close the gap between research and practice/application, and translate complex research into an ‘easy to digest’ format for end users. In

What assured me about the quality of the content, is the fact that scientists such as Dr George Brainard and his Lighting Research Lab team, have joined this project as worldwide experts to advise about the physiological aspects of light and lighting. They also provide guidance on the use of appropriate lighting matrices. This includes tutorials on the use of CIEαα-opic Toolbox. Thanks to this knowledge, I’m hopeful lighting professionals will be confident enough in using circadian protocols. The course content is open access and free to use by either lighting students or practitioners through self-study. This includes the syllabus and materials for Higher Education providers and external designers to use in whole, or in part, within their designs or lecturing. 

Course Description and Goals

‘Light4Health’ (L4H) was a three-year Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership Project, which investigated the impact of light on health, wellbeing, and the indoor environments we live in. A novel cross-disciplinary course was developed, intersecting lighting design and health research via the selection of the most relevant health research methods, tools, and findings in Neurology, Photobiology, Neuroendocrinology, Neurobehavioral Studies, and Psychophysiology of Perception, as well as Behavioural, Cognitive and Environmental Psychology. This knowledge was then introduced into lighting design curricula that higher education institutions can adopt. The project involved experts from Neurology, Light and Health Research, Lighting Design, Architecture, and the Built Environment. Underpinned by scientific research, the light4Health project, supports richer understanding about informed lighting designs for domestic, educational, healthcare and other types of premises. The project’s inclusion of work by TJU for NASA, ensures that lighting design and performance will now be optimised for human health and wellbeing.

Course Content

The online course includes five educational modules. It presents different available tools, concepts, and research findings to inform lighting design. This is achieved in two distinct ways: (1) by exposing students to knowledge and examples of lighting-related health research in different fields of psychology and physiology; and (2) by guiding students to learn how to conduct their own evaluation and data collection: by identifying what can be measured, and how measurements are interpreted.

Course Modules

Module 1: Introduction to health-related research for lighting design

Provides participants with a short history about light and health, and why we need to consider health as part of lighting design. The effects of light on the human body are also covered with an introduction to aspects of the physics of light and the physiology of vision.

Module 2: Review on lighting basics and health and wellbeing research topics

Provides a review of lighting basics and lighting-related aspects of health. Included is daylight in architecture, daylight’s impact on health, and, in general, the neuroendocrine, neurobehavioral, and circadian effects of light on the human body. The psychology of light is also introduced; more specifically, how light is used as a visual trigger for psychological and behavioural impact. In addition, the topics of glare and flicker are discussed.

Module 3: Software, measuring devices and evaluation tools

This module investigates software, measuring devices, and evaluation tools. Metrics are presented which can be used to assess the potential for the physiological impact of lighting, and different software and measurement tools are discussed. In addition, some assessment techniques for subjective impressions of a space are presented. Finally, a tour is given of the Jefferson Lighting Research Lab.

Module 4: Standards and best practices

Provides an overview of standards and good practices. Metrics for daylight evaluations are presented, and the “Manchester Recommendations” for healthy daytime, evening, and nighttime indoor light exposure are introduced. Moreover, design integrations are discussed. This involves employing measurements and design criteria for physiological impact and visual perception.

Module 5: Application and examples from research and practice

Provides application examples and case studies from research and practice. In this context, several examples of light and health research are presented. This includes project examples from workspaces, and educational and healthcare environments. Specialty applications (e.g., space travel, users with autism), and concepts of spectral modelling for light and health considerations, double dynamic lighting, biophilia and information on therapeutic lighting applications are also included.

Who is behind the course?

The Light4Health consortium partners consisted of six universities, University of Wolverhampton (UK), Thomas Jefferson University (USA), KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (Sweden), Hochschule Wismar, University of Applied Sciences: Technology, Business and Design (Germany), Aalborg University in Copenhagen (Denmark), and ITMO University in Saint Petersburg (Russia). 

Each partner was selected according to their contributions to the project topics. All of them have a vast and fruitful experience of higher education transdisciplinary curriculum innovation development with international partners, using digital educational platforms. All participating personnel members have research expertise in fields related to lighting and design, including some EU-funded projects. Four out of six partner organisations have strong Master’s study programmes in Lighting Design. UoW and TJU have no Lighting Design Master’s study programme as yet, however, TJU’s concentration in Lighting Design addresses developments in multidisciplinary approaches for lighting with a hands-on curriculum with students from a range of academic programmes. Spearheaded by Jefferson’s Industrial Design Department, this Lighting Design Education curriculum applies cross-discipline education to Lighting Design across 10 departments, including Industrial Design, Architecture, Interior Design, Engineering, Animation, and Medicine.

The following individuals were involved in the preparation of the course contents that were created and piloted during the summer schools:

Thomas Jefferson University

• Lyn Godley, Professor

• George C. Brainard, PhD, Professor

• John P. Hanifin, PhD, Assistant Professor

• Ben Warfield, Operations Support Specialist

KTH Royal Institute of Technology

• Ute C. Besenecker, PhD, Associate Professor

• Foteini Kyriakidou, Lecturer

• Iris Molendijk, Research Engineer,

• Federico Favero, PhD Candidate, Lecturer

Hochschule Wismar

• Karolina M. Zielińska-Dąbkowska, PhD, Assistant Professor

• Michael F. Rohde, Professor

• Bipin Rao, Research Associate

Aalborg University (AAU)

• Georgios Triantafyllidis, Associate Professor

• Ellen K. Hansen, Associate Professor

• George Palamas, Assistant Professor

• Emmanouil Xylakis, Research Assistant

University of Wolverhampton

•  Ezekiel Chinyio, Senior Lecturer

•  Paul Hampton, Head of Department

ITMO University

• Natalia Bystriantseva, Associate Professor

• Dmitrii Ingi, Research Assistant

• Valeriia Lukinskaya, Research Assistant

There are also 10 associated partners who supported the project with various expertise, equipment, and feedback: VIA-Verlag company/DE, (until January 2020), Università Iuav di Venezia/IT, Vicenza Institute of Architecture/IT, Roma Tre University/IT, Tallinn University/EE, Janowicz Architekci/PL, eldoLED/NL, Seoul Semiconductor/EU, QLAB Laboratory of Light/PL, Solemma/US, GL Optic/PL.

This course has been extensively reviewed by design practitioners e.g. architects and lighting designers, academics in the fields of lighting and health research, and students. The course was launched in August 2021 and it received a very positive response. As the online course becomes embedded in higher education curricula, it will continue to inform designers and young practitioners to develop innovative ideas to improve building performance and improve environments that support light for health. 

Several of the partner universities are already using Light4Health resources in their teaching, and indications are that it will be more widely incorporated (e.g. 73% of academic reviews indicated they are likely/highly likely to incorporate the materials in their teaching). Architects, lighting manufacturers, and lighting practitioners that attended launch and dissemination events, or reviewed the materials, expressed a strong interest in using the materials to inform their activities.

The L4H consortium partners acknowledge that the content, while extensive, does not encompass the full extent of the work undertaken in health-related lighting design research. The current course content is subject to refinements, updates, and additions in the future. Comments and suggestions are still welcome.

www.light4health.net 

The course is accessible from a Moodle learning management system online at https://course.light4health.net

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by Matt Waring

GreenLight Alliance: The Next Step

Bob Bohannon and Kristina Allison give us an insight into the newly published CIBSE SLL Technical Memorandum, TM66, which offers advice and guidance on how to create a circular economy in the lighting industry.

The life expectancy of some commercial buildings is just 30-40 years. Whisper it quietly, but Bob is not a huge fan of some Victorian architecture, but driving past Hampton Water Pumping station the other day, he realised that this glorious building appears to have beautifully performed its function for some 150 years. Alarmingly, building and demolishing a series of 40-year buildings, rather than a single 150 year one, often yields a higher GDP figure. We don’t measure the environmental impact.

We have to make better use of the resources embodied in our lighting equipment, an unthinking linear economy of Take (resources from the environment), Make (products in factories), Waste (dispose of products into the natural environment) is increasingly no longer acceptable. Product durability and adopting the Circular Economy is the part of the solution to maximising resource usage, keeping (in our case) lighting assets at their highest value, i.e., as an effective luminaire for as long as possible. 

A team of us got together and we started listening, consulting, learning, engaging and what is soon to come out of that process is a document and a suite of three tools. The objective being to give information to all, not to tell people they are doing it wrong, but to show how they can do it better. We wanted to enable supply push by creating a nuts-and-bolts tool for manufacturers and to stimulate demand pull by giving specifiers and clients the questions they need to ask.

The document is CIBSE SLL Technical Memorandum TM66 on Creating a Circular Economy in the Lighting industry, to be published October 2021. It describes the background to the Circular Economy in general, including the drivers behind its adoption, but most importantly it gives guidance on how the circular economy affects each sector of the industry, what opportunities it may bring them and what to do next.

At the same time comes the publication of SLL’s Circular Economy Assessment Method for Manufacturing (CEAM-Make) which allows manufacturers (or specifiers if they so wish) to assess the performance of their luminaire and its supporting ecosystem in terms of its Circular Economy performance. The tool accepts the complexity that sustainability questions bring, but converts that to a simple, easy to understand star rating. The objective is to move as many products and manufacturers from zero to hero (4) as quickly as possible by giving them the detailed issues to consider. The assessment method is weighted to cover differing products, comprehensive and covers product design, manufacturing, materials and supporting ecosystem.

The CEAM-Make may be a little too in depth for a busy specifier to use every time they need to choose between luminaires, or in the transition period where manufacturers have not yet fully completed their CEAM-Make assessments. Therefore, we created CEAM-Design, being a specifier support tool. You could almost think of it as a triage tool, being essentially the most important questions to ask a manufacturer.

All the tools in the suite have been created in full consultation with people knowledgeable in the field, from manufacturers to product designers, lighting designers and end users. The tools will be updated, but the hope is that they will deliver the practical know-how, understanding, and a level playing field for claims that make an already green industry in terms of its product’s in-use energy performance, truly sustainable.

Roger Sexton, Stoane Lighting

For Stoane Lighting, TM66 couldn’t have been more welcome.

We needed a metric on the Circular Economy to be certain there weren’t holes in our approach and to market our luminaire designs mapped on a neutral foundation. We had carried out embodied carbon analyses on certain luminaires with CIBSE’s TM65 and, at a whole company level, had accreditations from B Lab and EcoVadis. It’s the specific Circular Economy assessment on our products that we lacked. 

Honoured to test drive TM66, we put part of our ZTA range through the CEAM process. It took considerable time to compile our ‘book of evidence’ for the four blocks of questions. Skimming from the 66 number of questions, below we just highlight one per section to give a flavour of the topics covered.

Design

Repairability and upgradeability are focused on. ZTA design permits easy access to (no glue) and replacement of light sources, optics and drivers with common tools and without damaging the luminaire (as also called for in Article 4 of Eco Design Regulation 2019/2020). The ZTA range has extra fixing holes to facilitate subsequent use of different component types due to discontinuation of originals, to harness improved technologies (e.g., LED modules becoming more efficient, or gear losses decrease) or to cater for a changed need at the installation. For the same reason there is also some leeway mechanically and thermally.

Manufacturing

Localisation sliders, e.g. ‘Geographical Distance from Final Assembly to Site’ needed some thought. For our submission we assumed Edinburgh to London, but we think this question leads the way to a ‘CEAM Project’. We scored well with the ‘Average Supply Chain Partner geographical distance from final assembly location’ question. With Stoane Lighting, all of our parts are designed and made in-house or we use local specialist machinists, paint shops and anodisers, etc. Only the optic, driver and LED module come from overseas. 

Materials

Recycling is questioned here. The main material used in the ZTA luminaire is aluminium, which is infinitely recyclable. The aluminium we buy (from Derbyshire) has a recycled content of 65-85%. Recycling components comes down to modular design. If components are common across the ranges, or even indeed across multiple ranges, then the likelihood of being able to reuse components increases. 

Ecosystem

The norm for remanufacturing involves a factory return – but what if this isn’t possible? Say a building is in constant usage. This section therefore questions related services that are available. Stoane Lighting can drive a mobile workshop to installation to carry out repairs or upgrades. 

We appreciated the thoroughness of the TM66 review and scored well. But we can see where we must make improvements – we did not score high marks everywhere. We do not use, other than for making prototype parts, 3D printing (we are not convinced yet by 3D printing of aluminium but watching progress in that industry). In terms of recycling our own waste we are making our very first steps with melting down machine room offcuts and using gravity die casting to make 100% recycled aluminium pendants. 

I will be interested to see how generally the industry and standardisation bodies evolve in the context of the Circular Economy. The market reaction to our uptake of TM66 has been positive. We are being asked for TM66 assessments of our luminaires before the guide’s publication. One such request came from Buro Happold who want to use our Tadpole luminaires for an installation connected with COP26 this year in Glasgow which will be covered in a future article in this series.

www.greenlight-alliance.com
www.sll.org.uk
www.thelia.org.uk 
www.stoanelighting.com

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by Matt Waring

To LED or not to LED: The Global Opportunity to Remove Toxic Mercury from Lighting

The Clean Lighting Coalition explains the issues surrounding the disposal of toxic mercury from old lighting fixtures, and what we can do to help.

"Good for public health, the environment, energy saving, carbon saving and the climate crisis… so why is there any resistance?”

Most professionals in the lighting design community reading this are likely already only specifying LED lamps in their designs, without context for global issues surrounding the continued use of so-called legacy technologies. As developed and industrialised markets increase efforts and regulations to limit the manufacture, sale, distribution and installation of mercury-containing fluorescent lamps, under-regulated markets must not become dumping grounds for outdated, environmentally damaging lighting products. In emerging economies, fluorescent lamps are still one of the market leaders, often having a greater market share than the more efficient LEDs. Professionals influence policy makers; this article is a global call to action to stop environmental dumping of legacy, toxic technologies in emerging markets.  

Until a decade ago, fluorescent lights were viewed as the energy-efficient alternative to less-efficient incandescent and halogen lights. Fluorescent lighting however contains mercury, a known neurotoxin that is extremely hazardous to people and the environment. Mercury is on the World Health Organisation’s top 10 most dangerous chemicals to public health. Mercury exposure can affect the nervous, digestive and immune systems, as well as the lungs, kidney, skin and eyes. While the risks associated with mercury in fluorescents were tolerated as a necessary trade-off for the efficiency benefits, this is no longer necessary given the widespread availability of LED alternatives.

Typically, less than 10% of mercury [in fluorescents] is recovered. A 2016 report by the Danish Environment Protection Agency found that Denmark had achieved an overall lamp collection rate of only 36%. Note that Denmark has one of the highest collection rates in the EU. In the United States, recycling rates have been reported at 29% for industry recycled fluorescent lamps and CFLs, and at only 2% for consumers. The case is similar in other wealthy countries that have systems in place for electrical and electronic waste management; recycling is still limited as the small size and weight of lamps makes them easier for consumers to dispose of in general waste. When it comes to emerging markets, there is hardly any infrastructure to deal with any mercury hazardous waste and most of it ends up in the environment.

Availability of Mercury-Free Direct Retrofits

Today, thanks to major advances in LED technology, there are mercury-free LED replacement lamps available to replace all types of fluorescent lamps – different sizes, lengths, ballast types (i.e., magnetic/starter and high frequency electronic), colour temperatures, and regular, high output and ultra-high light output levels. Lamps are also available that are “universal” and can operate on a variety of ballasts and input power configurations. This approach to the design and marketing of the products removes barriers to upgrading to mercury-free LED lamps by enabling the end-users to continue to use the same luminaires, and simply change the lamp.

A Global Ban on Toxic Lighting

This year, global lighting markets have a unique opportunity to say farewell to outdated, inefficient fluorescent technologies and accelerate the transition to an LED future. LED companies and stakeholders can support this transition by endorsing a global campaign to remove exemptions for mercury in lighting under the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

In May 2021, the 36 parties (countries) representing the African region to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, proposed an Amendment to eliminate special exemptions for mercury in general illumination lighting products. The Convention, named after the city of Minamata, Japan, which experienced widespread mercury poisoning after wastewater from a nearby chemical plant was discharged into the sea, was launched in 2013 with the goal to “Make Mercury History” by eliminating the use of mercury in products and processes worldwide. The Convention, now made up of 134 parties, entered into force in 2017 and has been successful in the phase out, phase down and regulation of the use of mercury in a number of products and processes e.g. dental amalgams, mercury mines, and control of emissions to the environment. 

Despite this progress, the Convention includes special exemptions for mercury-based fluorescent lighting products, citing insufficient cost-effective alternatives across global markets. However, the rapid development and increasing accessibility and affordability of mercury-free LED lighting makes the exemption unnecessary.

An Equitable Transition to Clean Lighting

In Europe, policymakers have been actively working to remove inefficient, toxic mercury-containing fluorescent lighting from the market. On 1 September, 2021, the revised lighting regulations under the EU Ecodesign Directive went into force banning retrofit CFL.i and T12 fluorescent lamps. The EU also recently published draft revisions to the regulations on hazardous substances that will ban the sale of virtually all fluorescent lamps in the EU in 12-18 months. However, in contrast to their ambitions at home, the EU also proposed an amendment to the Minamata Convention that would continue to allow the sale and export of banned mercury-containing fluorescent lamps to other parts of the world.

As wealthy countries and developed economies like North America and Europe lead the transition to LEDs, the rest of the world must not be treated as a dumping ground for outdated, mercury-laden fluorescents. In unregulated markets, particularly in emerging economies, fluorescent lamps are still market leaders. Without intervention, a global transition to clean super-efficient LED lighting may take years due to lobbying efforts of fluorescent lamp suppliers.

The Clean Lighting Coalition Leads the Global Lighting Transition

The Clean Lighting Coalition (CLiC) is an independent campaign aiming to leverage expert knowledge and clean lighting stakeholders to transition global markets to safe, cost-effective, and energy-saving LED lighting by removing the exemption for fluorescents in the Minamata Convention. The Coalition brings together LED companies, associations and stakeholders to prove market readiness for this global transition. If the African Lighting Amendment (ALA) is adopted at the upcoming Convention of Parties (COP4), it would lead to a global phase out of toxic, mercury-laden fluorescents by 2025.

LED Companies Signal Environmental Responsibility & Commitment to Equity

By joining CLiC and supporting the phase-out of fluorescents, LED companies can affirm their commitment to environmental protection. Recent national disasters ravaging the globe – heat waves, hurricanes, storms, wildfires, are showing that action on mitigating carbon is not misplaced.  In the lead up to the upcoming 2021 Climate Change Conference (COP26), the latest Energy Transitions report recommends six actions that, if agreed upon and implemented during the 2020s, will make it possible to deliver the Paris agreement and limit global warming to 1.5C. Action #6 is reinvigorating energy and resource efficiency. Eliminating exemptions for fluorescents under the Minamata Convention will remove 232 tonnes of mercury pollution from the environment, both from the lamps themselves and from avoiding burning of coal in power plants. It will also save 3.5 gigatonnes of CO2 emissions from power plants (cumulatively between 2025-2050).

Supporting the ALA is a low-hanging fruit on climate action, a sentiment well echoed by lighting designers Perkins&Will: “To reduce carbon at the earliest stage of the design has the potential for the largest reduction of carbon.”

www.cleanlightingcoalition.org

To support the global transition to clean, energy-efficient LED lighting, sign the CLiC Industry Pledge or reach out to the CLiC Industry Engagement Lead Nyamolo Abagi at nabagi@cleanlightingcoalition.org. 

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by Matt Waring