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Around the year 2010 LEDs became the lighting industry’s main light source. The trigger for this transition was energy saving. Their introduction was one of many enormous contributions from the lighting industry to fight global warming. Lighting systems became an integral part of smart buildings and sometimes even the backbone. This enabled several additional features like connectivity, LiFi, presence detection, indoor positioning, asset tracking and management, information about the use of buildings or streets, etc. This is the first LED revolution and it’s in full swing. Illustrations by Anne Vermeltfoort The second LED revolution is the introduction of ‘good light’. This will be even more impactful because it affects the billions of people that have to live and work inside. We spend more than 90% of our lives indoors where we are to a large extent deprived of natural daylight. Science is very clear about this: we need daylight to synchronise our biological clock. Lack of exposure to daylight causes poor quality sleep which can make us unfit and subject to mood swings. The second LED revolution is focussed on health and wellbeing. People need daylight. The lack of natural daylight in buildings can be compensated with Personal Good Light. This will make the lives of billions of people healthier. It will bring them better sleep, more energy during the day and an improved mood. Upgrading the current ambient lighting systems and adding Personal Good Light is an obvious way to go to improve the life quality of billions! Join the movement of Good Light. Here you can read the full article And here you can read the full magazine

Mr. C. Ticleanu recently published an interesting overview article about the research of the impacts of home lighting on human health. A combination of bright light and night-time darkness is essential for our circadian rhythm and maintenance of a regular daily sleep-wake cycle. Home lighting is mainly developed for our vision, to enable safe movement between spaces, a sense of aesthetics and energy efficiency but how it affects our health has not received similar consideration. Photo by Josh Hemsley on Unsplash His conclusions are in line with the Good Light Guide which has recently been published by our Group. Some of his recommendations to maximise health benefits are: Spend as much time outdoors as possible. When indoors, occupy rooms that have outside views and receive daylight. When necessary, supplement insufficient daylight with electric lighting to achieve adequate light levels on the task areas and at the eyes. When using electric lighting, ensure it is brighter and has a cooler white colour appearance from mid-morning until early afternoon, towards the end of the day dim it down and set it to warmer white colour. After sunset do not use blue or near blue colours. Reduce the use of display screen equipment after sunset. At bedtime, switch off all light sources and close blinds to avoid any light ingress from outside. C. Ticleanu worked ten years in lighting design and research. Now he leads the Lighting Fundamentals module at The Barlett and works as a Principal Consultant in Lighting for BRE, where he leads and undertakes consultancy and research projects for public and private sector customers into all aspects of electric lighting and daylighting. His areas of expertise include: energy efficient lighting; lighting impacts on well-being and performance; lighting surveys and optimisation; POE studies; light pollution; computer modelling of daylight and electric light; and delivering presentations and training on lighting. Read the article here

We need time to indicate when we need to get up, go to work or to an appointment. This is our social time, the time you see on your watch or clock. We can adjust this social time easily to the time we want it to be, but that doesn’t affect our bodies, for example when we feel tired or energized. Our bodies have an internal clock, a biological clock, to indicate the time of the day. This clock needs light to synchronize with the natural light-dark cycle. The sun is at it’s highest at 12.00, this is the time you feel most energized and around twilight hours you begin to feel more tired, this is because your internal clock signals to your body it’s going to be dark soon and needs to produce the sleeping hormone melatonin. This is the function of our biological clock, to anticipate the predictive 24-hour pattern of our environment. Photo by Wonderlane on Unsplash What if there is no light? This is the situation when you are inside all day. The light levels indoors are too low during daytime and too high in the evening to set our biological clock effectively. Your sleep/wake cycle would go from 24 hours to a 24 hours and about 15 minutes cycle. Your body can’t synchronize with the environment; the timing of when you are actually ready for sleep shifts day by day. Scientists compare this with living with a permanent jetlag and you could risk depression and insomnia.

Back in 2016 the community of Würlingen, Switzerland detected the need for additional classrooms. The number of children was expected to rise significantly. So they wanted to build four additional primary school departments, two kindergarten departments and one double gymnasium. The architects who created this building collected all information regarding solar position and designed the classrooms in a way they don’t block daylight impact unlike most classrooms. They managed to create a feeling of openness and closeness at the same time, they play with daylight and artificial light in such a way you think there is only daylight coming in. For more information watch the presentation of Julia Hartmann, Dipl.-Ing.(FH) Interior Design, IALD, CLD CEO and Creative Director at lightsphere, Switzerland Watch here

Our board member Marijke Gordijn was a late night guest in the Dutch NPO radio 1 show ‘de Slapelozen’ translated ‘the Insomniacs’. The theme of this night was ‘rhythm’. Together with the host ‘Frits Spits’ and photographer ‘Mischa Keijser’, she talked about light, darkness, melatonin, sleep-wake rhythms, light pollution at night, photography, music, art and the silence of the night. The radio show is especially created for everyone who can’t or doesn’t not want to sleep during the night and is broadcasted for five nights in a row from 02.00 till 04.00 a.m. In a season of five episodes a sleep expert, behavioural therapist or psychologist is a guest in this show, people can call the show to talk about their sleep problems and can ask for advice. The radio program will be followed by a television program in November 2021. Listen to the broadcast: First hour Second hour

We created a project page, here you can find places where they have installed Good Light. You can read about experiences, where to visit these places and about the supplier. For example the Good Light Project: NatureConnect by Signify. The NatureConnect lighting innovation by Signify is built on the visual, biological and emotional benefits of natural light to reconnect us to the outside world. It mimics the natural patterns of daylight indoors to create rich and meaningful lighting solutions for comfortable, engaging and attractive indoor environments that support wellbeing. The NatureConnect system contains different lighting elements that all have their own role to collectively create natural lighting experience. It provides the right light at the right moment during the day by automatically following the rhythm of the sun. With the intuitive wireless user interface, the end-user can switch from the circadian rhythm to a lighting scene best suited for the activity in the space. The project page will be regularly updated with all kinds of new projects, so stay tuned and visit the page often. Visit our projectpage

You can experience good light now at Martinspark hotel. The M HAUS in the video is the first one built providing a light package which can be equipped with a “light shower” which is 1840 MEDI lux at the eye. Xchange designed it to have a positive effect on the biological clock, as for they do not know any other product in this category that offers more lux or a better solution. Watch the video: The light package was developed with Bartenbach, a company which is known for their expertise. There are different scenarios programmed in M HAUS that can run fully automatic in which it can be tailored to meet the specific needs of the user, or the user can control the colour and light intensity him/herself. Their message: wake up work relax be happy! More info: Good Light Experience Martinspark

The amazing Katia is a lighting designer who puts her heart and soul into her job. She is the founder of ‘the lighting police’ and curator of ‘woman in lighting’. She started the Good Light experience on July 13th, so she is on to her second week now. “Goes very smoothly so far. Eye adaptability is much better since day 1” according to Katia. She received the light ‘Alven’ from BrainLit. It has a personal connected, dynamic and free-standing LED luminaire-powered BioCentric Lighting™ system. It instantly alters the emotional character of its environment and delivers a more natural light to its user. Alven helps synchronize with daylight and supports beneficial health outcomes. Visit and follow her Instagram for an update of her experience. Katia Kolovea

We´ve been invited to talk in the podcast ´Get A Grip On Lighting´ to argue about the subject quality darkness is essential to good sleep. We contend that good light during the day is also essential to our circadian rhythm for a good night’s sleep. Get A Grip On Lighting is hosted by Michael Colligan and Greg Ehrich, who have over 30 years of combined experience in the lighting industry. The podcasts feature deep conversations with many industry experts to highlight some of the more pressing questions of today. We discussed that the lighting industry focused too much on energy savings and that they should focus more on providing ´good´ light during daytime which means healthy light, light that mimics the sun, and provide darkness during night-time. But also, what light does to our circadian system, since we are the only species that live inside and the kind of health issues we suffer from because of this. There was even a bet for a beer, Michael claims: ´Withing 10 years there will be scientific proof that sunglasses cause major health issues in humans´. Listen to the podcast here

It’s important to have good light (sunlight or light that mimics sunlight) during the day and darkness during the night, so your brain can sync with the day/night cycle. If it’s too light at night or too dark during the day our brain has trouble syncing with this cycle, this affects your mental and physical health. Photo by Holly Mandarich on Unsplash Not only light pollution at night has an impact on your biological clock, a room which is insufficiently lit during the day or the use of your tablet or phone in the evening too. The BioClock research consortium studies a healthy day and night rhythm for young and old people, people who work nightshifts, in healthcare and the impact on nature. The University of Groningen plays a major role with among others our board member Marijke Gordijn. The Good Light Group is part of the BioClock Consortium. The wrong kind of light doesn’t only have an effect on us, but on nature and our new-borns too. Read all about it in the Dutch newspaper Trouw.

Part of the Good Light guide is now translated into Greek. You can read it on page 42 of the Electrologos magazine. Photo by Leon on Unsplash This magazine is especially created for the electrical and lighting industry, with all sorts of content for contractors, mechanical engineers, architects, designers, decorators, importers and traders of electronic equipment. For the Greek translation (page 42): electrologos.gr/#No-338-1

Reliable Lighting Solutions recently became our new partner, opening our first Working Group in North America. Located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, they are not so much about lighting products as lighting productivity. They joined us to bring our philosophy of creating better lighting environments to more people in North America. Photo by Raj Rana on Unsplash Reliable Lighting Solutions believes: The more people understand how lighting innovation can improve their lives - at home and at work - the healthier we’ll be. The use of Good Light is not about profit or market share, it’s about improving people’s health & wellness. Business leaders need to understand the importance of our relationship to light and its impact on the emotional and biological health of their employees. As the Canadian distributor for BrainLit and BioCentric Lighting lines, they’re passionate about creating lighting solutions that positively impact human development. They have spent the last several years retrofitting buildings to improve their clients’ lighting experience. For more information: linkedin.com/in/corytretiak/