Yesterday Glamox held a workshop on Human Centric Lighting in Krakow, Poland, with Dr. Shelley James leading the event. Mariusz Stepniewski from EC System/Glamox welcomed the attendees. The event provided an excellent platform for collaboration with Dr. James, especially in preparation for the upcoming Happy Circadian Hour in London on 20 November, which is expected to attract 100 lighting designers. If successful, the Happy Circadian Hour could be coming to US cities in 2024.
The event was sold out with mainly architects and engineers in attendance. Interestingly, no lighting designers were present, which is attributed to the fact that there is only one independent lighting designer in Poland. Companies like Glamox typically provide their own design services free of charge.
Dr. James initiated the workshop by posing four key questions about Human Centric Lighting:
What is Human Centric Lighting?
How do you measure it?
Does it really work?
What is the business case?
She explained concepts like Equivalent Melanopic Lux (EML) Photopic Illuminance and its replacement by Melanopic Equivalent Daylight Illuminance (MelEDI or MEDI). She also performed a few calculations using Mel-DER with a Daylight Efficacy Ratio and 6500K as the source.
Dr. James presented various benefits of circadian lighting citing relevant studies for each fact. Some of the benefits included a 43% reduction in falls at an assisted living home, improved sleep quality by 7% leading to decreased use of sleep medication, and a 27% reduction in absenteeism in the medical profession through dynamic lighting with zoning.
She also discussed the Cost of Light, suggesting that a 10% saving on utilities could result in savings of about 30 cent per square foot per year. A 10% saving on rent could save about 3 pounds per square foot per year. However, if productivity could be improved by 10%, it would result in savings of 30 pounds per square foot per year.
Dr. James referenced a survey indicating that employee health and well-being are significant factors for company loyalty and engagement. She noted that good lighting often comes up when people discuss what they value in their workplace. Those who rate their lighting as good also tend to find their work environment more attractive and satisfying.
She briefly touched upon the WELL Building standard but skipped over it due to apparent lack of usage among the attendees.
The workshop concluded with a comparison of costs between standard and HCL luminaires in an office setting. Dr. James suggested that even a small improvement in productivity and reduction in turnover could result in a payback period of just over two and a half years for the additional cost of Human Centric Lighting.
Our upcoming event, Happy Circadian Hour will be held by Atrium Ltd in London on 20 NOV. Limited tickets are still available at https://circadianlight.eventbrite.com/.