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LpS Digital is the brand new, unique, and first, digital lighting conference and exhibition 24/7 available to viewers. Due to environmental issues and travel restrictions, the acclaimed LpS Symposium +Expo and Trends in Lighting Forum &Show held in Bregenz, Austria, has been remodeled into the LpS Digital. Jan Denneman has been one of the first presenters to record a presentation for LpS Digital about the importance of Good Light indoors. Summary Our world would not exist without the light and energy of the sun. Homo sapiens has evolved under this sun and therefore it is logical that we still need a lot of daylight to function optimally. Many thousands of years mankind indeed lived outside, but the modern human being spends most of its life indoors. In offices, schools, factories, hospitals, care homes, nursery homes, shops, private homes, trains, cars etc. In those places, light is usually good enough to see, but biologically it is darkness. Our body and brain need much higher lighting levels during daytime to steer important biological processes in the body like for instance the biological clock. Around the turn of the century, important discoveries were done that explain the mechanisms behind the effects of light on people. In 2002, the 3rd photoreceptor in the human eye has been discovered. The Nobel Prize for medicine and physiology in 2017 went to the scientists carried out breakthrough work in the field of chronobiology, the knowledge about 24 hour rhythms and sleep in our body. Irrespective the progress made in these scientific fields, it is currently still not reflected in how we design and light up our indoor spaces. Consequently, mankind still lives in biological darkness. The chronic light shortage has all kinds of bad consequences. People are less concentrated, alert, creative and their cognitive abilities are reduced. The quality of sleep is worse and people develop feelings of depression. Because most people do not have an outdoor job and as a result spend most of their lives indoors, we need to drastically improve the way we design our indoor spaces. Much more daylight needs to enter buildings and the electric lighting needs to compensate for the lack of natural daylight. The LED technology makes this possible in a sustainable way. The future of light is not any longer in energy efficiency alone. The energy efficiency with smart LED systems is already extremely high, and the lighting sector has been one of the highest contributors to energy efficiency and sustainability. The difference in energy efficiency and related cost savings between the lighting companies is small, and does not create a competitive edge. The attempts to change business models towards data and connectivity are only partly successful. The future of lighting is to focus on the real added value of good light. Good light will contribute to the well-being of the billions of people with an indoor job. If these users of indoor light would know and understand how important lighting is for their well-being, they will demand better lighting from building owners, facility managers, etc. This will create a pull for good light. This requires value-added selling capabilities, and communication to a wide public about the benefits of good light indoors. And it also creates an enormous opportunity for new innovations and for companies to create a competitive edge with their solution for Good Light.

Good Light indoors has spectral characteristics that vary according to time of day, personal needs, and specific tasks. In the morning and during daytime, the light spectrum should include a reasonable portion of short wavelengths to support the energizing and revitalizing effects of light. In the evening and at night, the amount of short wavelengths should be diminished to support winding down, a good night of sleep and to prevent disruptions of the day-night rhythm. To create a good lighting design, you need to be able to calculate the ‘melanopic EDI’ vertically at eye level. This parameter is introduced in the international standard CIE S 026:2018 CIE System for Metrology of Optical Radiation for ipRGC-Influenced Responses to Light. The CIE has recently launched a free of charge S 026 Toolbox and S 026 User Guide to support the use of this international standard. A short video has been prepared to give some background information on the Toolbox and some brief instructions on how to use it.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a serious health threat to the world population. In response, governments are implementing a variety of new policies including self-quarantine, self-isolation and social distancing. While medically necessary to limit spread, these new social policies can disrupt many of the stabilizing factors in our lives which support mental health. In close collaboration, the International Society of Bipolar Disorders (ISBD https://www.isbd.org/) Task Force on Chronobiology and Chronotherapy and the Society for Light Treatment and Biologic Rhythms (SLTBR, https://sltbr.org/) developed a list of recommendations to help your body clock to stay on track to help you feel better.

The policies to limit spreading of COVID-19 is ‘stay home’ and ‘work from home’. The consequence is that most people see very little daylight. While it is very important to stay home as much as possible and keep ‘social distance’ all the time, in the Netherlands it is not forbidden to go outside. The Dutch online news site ‘Dokters van Morgen’ published an article to emphasize the importance of getting enough daytime light exposure to keep the biological clock on track, for good sleep quality at night, and better mood. Read the tips (in Dutch) how to see enough Good Light while at the same time stick to the guidelines of the government to limit spreading COVID-19. For more information see https://zorgnu.avrotros.nl/hulp/hulpartikelen/item/werk-je-thuis-voldoende-daglicht-krijgen-is-belangrijk/

In his article (below) in the Dutch magazine “Endocrinology” (credits to tijdschrift Endocrinologie, https://endocrinologie.nl), dr. Aart Mudde sketches the underestimated attention for the epiphysic-hypothalamic system in medical practice. This system is influenced by light and for some critical health aspects high intensities are needed like from sun light, which is missing indoors. The epiphysic-hypothalamic system plays a role in melatonin production and disturbances in melatonin production probably links with diseases like hypertension, diabetes and Alzheimer. Because most of us spend our lives in biological darkness, our inner “Zeitgeber” the SCN which encodes for the circadian rhythm is chronically ‘ill’. There is a relative simple solution: more light indoors during daytime, exactly what the Good Light Group is promoting.

The annual Lighting conference of LED professionals in Bregenz, LpS2020, has been cancelled because of COVID-19. But LpS goes Digital! On September 22nd, 2020 the first digital lighting conference and exhibition will be organized. For more information go to https://www.led-professional-symposium.com/. Or join the conference and/or the exhibition on https://lnkd.in/gkX9zdW. The Good Light Group has been invited to organize one of the digital lectures.

On February 19th, an interesting article was published in the Dutch newspaper NRC with Marijke Gordijn, Board member of the Good Light Group. It describes the importance of good light in office environments. Lighting is often treated as of low importance in offices, but good light can have an enormous influence on sleep quality, alertness during daytime and mood. It is a big contributor to well-being of people. To avoid biological darkness indoors during the day, the lighting levels need to be at least five times higher than the current practice in indoor lighting. This is estimated to be 1000 lux vertical at the level of the eye. For a link to this Dutch article see: https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/02/19/goed-licht-daar-word-je-beter-van-a3991039 #goodlightgroup #goodlight #lightforwellbeing #biologicaldarkness #humancentriclighting.

Today, we welcomed the Eindhoven University of Technology, TU/e, as Participant of the Good Light Group. We are very proud that the TU/e’s Intelligent Lighting Institute (ILI) supports our foundation. The Intelligent Lighting Institute is one of the important knowledge centres in the world on all aspects of light. ILI’s mission is to search for revolutionary lighting solutions. To get an impression of the wide range of research in the Intelligent Lighting Institute, you can have a look at: https://www.tue.nl/en/research/research-institutes/top-research-groups/intelligent-lighting-institute/research/sound-lighting/ At the campus of the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Board members Jan Denneman and Bruno Smets met with Jos Hermus, the managing director of ILI, to sign the Participants Agreement. We are looking forward to a productive cooperation!

On January 29th, 2020 the board of the Good Light Group and the participants met in person for the first Participant Council meeting. Representatives of Seaborough, Signify and Sparckel were present. Claude Gronfier from Inserm, Roelof Hut from the University of Groningen, and representatives from Toshiba Material were unfortunately absent, all with good reasons. Nevertheless the first meeting was a great success. The board presented an overview of the activities since founding in May 2019 and the strategic plans for the future. Detailed ideas for the year 2020 were explained and discussed. The participants present supported the installation of a first chair of the council, who needs to be confirmed by the participants who were absent, to reach a majority voting. In addition, the idea to create two working groups, one to develop a communication plan and one to create guidelines and functional descriptions of Good Light based on scientific data, were supported and several participants already agreed to take a role. At the end of the meeting, everybody left with a very enthusiastic and positive feeling, convinced of the fact that there is work to be done!

A short video on the non-visual effects of light, explained by our president Jan Denneman. The Austrian online television channel A1now has issued a series about light: “let there be light”. The first episode explains the importance of good light for human well-being and health. This series is made by Stefan Yazzie Herbert.

Een groot deel van de Nederlanders zit te veel in het duister. Ze krijgen te weinig daglicht en het licht binnen is niet sterk genoeg. Helemaal nu de wintertijd voor de deur staat en de dagen korter worden. Een gebrek aan licht heeft invloed op ons humeur en onze slaap en kan daardoor allerlei gezondheidsklachten veroorzaken. Daarom moet er volgens deskundigen veel meer aandacht komen voor het effect van licht op onze gezondheid. Dagje buitenlucht Chronobiologe Marijke Gordijn, oprichter van Chrono@Work en gastmedewerker van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, verdiept zich in de afstelling en werking van de menselijke biologische klok. Licht is daar een essentieel onderdeel van. Als je overdag meer daglicht tot je neemt, slaap je 's avonds beter. "Zoals mensen vaak lekker slapen na een dagje in de buitenlucht", zegt Gordijn tegen RTL Nieuws. "Het gaat niet zozeer om langer slapen, maar om de kwaliteit van de slaap", zegt Gordijn. "Hoe snel je in slaap valt, hoe vaak je tijdens de nacht wakker wordt en hoe diep je slaapt; de kwaliteit van je slaap heeft een enorm effect op je lichaam." "Als je slecht slaapt verandert bijvoorbeeld je hormoonhuishouding, waardoor je meer risico loopt op obesitas", legt ze uit. "En er zijn directe verbindingen tussen je ogen en het hersengebied dat je stemming regelt. Onvoldoende licht beïnvloedt je stemming negatief en kan zelfs tot depressies leiden." Wat kun je zelf doen? Chronobiologe Marijke Gordijn heeft een paar praktische adviezen om meer licht tot je te nemen en de kans op een winterdip te verkleinen: Ga elke ochtend tussen 08.00 en 09.00 uur een half uurtje naar buiten Ga met de lunch naar buiten Werk je binnen, ga dan zo dicht mogelijk bij het raam zitten De verlichting thuis kan je sterker maken, maar dan heb je wel speciale lampen nodig die niet in de supermarkt te vinden zijn Het werkt om in de winter een paar dagen naar een zonnige bestemming te gaan Blijf niet elke avond binnen om onder een deken tv te kijken; doe ook activiteiten buitenshuis en trotseer de kou Zorg dat je voldoende slaap krijgt. Gordijn en haar collega's hebben hun bevindingen al met drie verschillende studies vastgesteld. "We weten ook dat de werknemers van kantoren waar met kunstlicht daglicht wordt nagebootst, beter slapen", zegt ze. Mensen die in beter licht werken, zijn fitter en alerter en hun stemming is beter. Op kantoren moet de lichtsterkte op je bureaublad volgens de Arbowet 500 lux zijn. Maar dat is veel te weinig, volgens Gordijn. "We moeten richting een lichtsterkte van 1000 lux op het oog om profijt te hebben van licht." 1000 lux? Lux is de eenheid voor lichtsterkte, waarbij 1000 lux gelijk staat aan wat er op je oog komt op een heel donkere winterdag. Bewolkte nacht zonder maan: 0,0001 lux Volle maan: 0,1 lux Schemering: 10 lux In huis op een erg donkere dag: 100 lux Kantoor: 300 tot 500 lux Bewolkte dag: 4000 lux Indirect zonlicht overdag: 10.000 tot 20.000 lux Direct zonlicht overdag: 100.000 tot 130.000 lux Er moet dus meer aandacht komen voor licht. "Je moet of het daglicht beter naar binnen brengen, of de verlichting naar een hogere intensiteit brengen", aldus Gordijn. En dat laatste kan tegenwoordig met speciale lampen. Het Eindhovense bedrijf Sparckel maakt naar eigen zeggen het eerste 'vrijstaande biodynamische lichtsysteem ter wereld met technologie die de kracht van natuurlijk daglicht evenaart'. Schijf van vijf Directeur en oprichter Maarten Voorhuis gaat zelfs zover dat licht bij de schijf van vijf zou moeten horen. "We weten niet hoe goed we ons eigenlijk kunnen voelen." "Biodynamisch betekent dat het licht zich aanpast aan het moment van de dag", legt Voorhuis uit. Dat betekent dat je door de ingebouwde tijdsklok van het lichtsysteem 's ochtends meer blauw en 's avonds meer rood licht krijgt. Op die manier krijg je het juiste licht op het juiste moment en slaap je beter. Onprettig fel Voorhuis vervolgt: "Ik ben eerst samen met wetenschappers de formule van gezond licht gaan ontrafelen. Daar kwam uit dat mensen 1000 lux op het oog nodig hebben. Wij zijn vervolgens gaan kijken hoe we dat konden bereiken, zonder dat mensen in onprettig fel licht komen te zitten." Voorhuis en chronobiologe Gordijn zijn niet de enigen die vinden dat er meer aandacht moet komen voor het belang van licht. Jan Denneman, die meer dan 40 jaar bij Philips Lighting werkte, richtte onlangs de Good Light Group op, een non-profitstichting die het belang van daglicht wil benadrukken. "In de Good Light Group zitten wetenschappers, chronobiologen, architecten en bedrijven", zegt Denneman. "Er zijn ongeveer 1000 deskundigen op het gebied van licht en gezondheid in de wereld. Er wordt onderling veel over gesproken op congressen. Maar het wordt nu tijd dat deze informatie ook naar het grote publiek gaat." 'Tuinman worden' "Iedereen weet dat je niet moet roken, dat schone lucht belangrijk is en ga zo maar door. Maar hoe belangrijk licht is, dat weet niemand", zegt Denneman. De Good Light Group moet dat gaan veranderen. Omdat we volgens Denneman tegenwoordig 90 procent van onze tijd binnen doorbrengen, krijgt bijna niemand genoeg licht. "Eigenlijk kun je het beste tuinman worden", zegt hij. "Maar dat kunnen we nu eenmaal niet allemaal worden." Bron: https://www.rtlz.nl/life/lifestyle/artikel/4889306/licht-daglicht-winterdepressie-kantoor-slaap-stemming-concentratie

Trends in Lighting asks 20 Questions to inspirational lighting industry minds to mark the end of the decade Name: Marijke C.M. Gordijn Job Title: Member and co-founder of the Good Light Group, director of Chrono@Work Where will you spend the holidays? Quietly at home with my family at some time and visiting family members and friends to celebrate together at other times What is your favourite Christmas food? A delicious surprise dinner at my sister’s home, looking forward to this year again! What are you most excited about for 2020? To see the message of Good Light really reach people all over the world. And to see Europe taking the wise decision that each country should adopt permanent standard time in accordance with their time zone to support our health. What do you most want to see from lighting manufacturers in 2020? Lighting manufacturers should really learn about the right light at the right time: Good Light. They need to understand that for non-visual effects, color temperature is not the correct measure, it does not tell you anything about the spectral composition of the light source and in that sense is irrelevant for the non-visual effects. Based on correct principles they need to develop lighting systems of high quality for homes and offices that are easy to use to really improve the life of people: make them sleep better at night and live better and healthier during the day. Have you already booked your summer vacation? Oh no! During working days and working weeks your days are often completely organized: meetings, tasks, travel, timetables, sport, social agenda. Summer vacation is a time to relax without schedules and without hurry. I like to go with the flow during days off, no time schedule, no alarm clock, no obligations. We will see what summer 2020 will bring us and where we go. Who is your industry inspiration? All those companies that try to implement Good Light into their systems, based on scientific evidence. They are not with so many at the moment, but they are early adopters, trying to really change things. It is a difficult job. Which product has inspired you in 2019? A light cafe opened in the Netherlands where depressed people are treated with light; it lowers the threshold to get a proper treatment. Which project are you most proud of? We are currently working on a concept to improve the live and hopefully health of shift workers. Not only with respect to light, but also to other lifestyle aspects we think we can make a difference. Working at night is against our biological clock and is unhealthy. We need to work on healthy concepts now that we know more about the mechanisms behind the health risks. Can you name another reindeer besides Rudolph? No, but I think of the paper published in 2005 just before Christmas. In that paper our colleagues show the arrhythmic behavior of reindeer during the long winter-months without light. It clearly shows the important role of a regular natural light-dark cycle to keep our rhythms in synch. Do you own a Christmas jumper? In the Netherlands, I don’t think many people have a Christmas jumper, but some are wearing a ‘foute trui’, you can search for ‘foute kersttrui’, to see what I mean. I don’t have one! How is sustainability changing your job? Good Light means higher intensities of indoor light needed during daytime. I am nota technician, but I do understand that if you add more electrical light this is not really sustainable. But I do think we can come up with other alternatives as well: develop ways to bring more outdoor light into homes and offices, and…we need less light in the evenings and at night, so reduce light there which is both better for our ecological footprint and for our health. What is your most listened to track this year? Father and friend from Alain Clark. What was the last good film you watched? It is a long time ago that I watched a good film, cannot come up with a name right now. But I am currently watching the third season of The Crown, a nice insight in the life of the royal family of the United Kingdom led by queen Elizabeth for already 67 years. Have you already booked your flights to Trends in Lighting 22-24 September 2020? No need to fly, Bregenz is not that far. And yes, I will be there again! We are discussing to organize an interesting program with several practical talks and experiences with Good Light! Where was the most interesting place your job took you this year? Bregenz of course…. 😉, but the meeting of the SLTBR in Chicago was great too. Will Brexit happen? I don’t know and I stopped following this soap. What is your favourite Christmas song? White Christmas from Bill Cosby. It is so sweet, but it reminds me of old days with my parents. We do not have so many white Christmases in the Netherlands anymore, but I had a very nice one in Bavaria, a long time ago How do you say Merry Christmas in another language? Gelukkig Kerstfeest in Dutch Do you prefer LED Christmas lights or the traditional incandescent bulbs? Very tiny, small, warm white LED Christmas lights in a green tree. I got used to it. Originally real candles were of course the best. Can you remember the job/course you were you doing 20 years ago? Oh yes, that was a beautiful and power-woman year for me, 1999. I gave birth to my twins, less than 3 months after defending my thesis on the role of the biological clock and sleep in depression at the Medical Faculty of the University of Groningen and I just started to head the human chronobiological facility at the Biology department. Chrono@Work is still collaborating with the scientists from the Chronobiology department of the University of Groningen. I am really looking forward to translate all the scientific knowledge we collect about what Good Light is and how we should implement it in the upcoming years. Bron: https://www.trends.lighting/20trendsinlightingqs2020