Going beyond colour rendering
The paper proposes the “Human Centric Lighting” terminology for a lighting system that positively impacts on people’s wellbeing and performance, a lighting system that integrates excellent visual, biological and emotional effects in its design.
Since many people are spending more than 90% of their life indoor, it would be desirable for artificial light to mirror the intensity, timing, colour and dynamics of natural light. Human Centric Lighting should supplement natural daylight and avoid clashing with our circadian cycle. In fact, the paper takes daylight as the reference for good light quality and as the basis for Human Centric Lighting (with appropriate colour quality and comfort, no flicker, glare etc…)
Human Centric Lighting aims at providing the right light for our activities at the right place at the right time. Users, whether they are patients, residents, and staff in hospitals and nursing homes, students and teachers in schools, employees in offices and manufacturing sites and residents in private homes, can all benefit from adequate lighting as per the new terminology.
The paper cites visual benefits including good visibility, visual comfort, safety and orientation; biological benefits including alertness, concentration, cognitive performance and stable sleep-wake cycle; and emotional benefits including improved mood, relaxation and impulse control.
Technical enablers that could support Human Centric Lighting include intelligent lighting (with sensors and controls to support the dynamics of such a system), tuneable white (at least in light intensity and colour) and personal control. Content enablers listed by LightingEurope for Human Centric Lighting include circadian light (following specific dynamics or a 24hr light-dark pattern of natural light), activity support (lighting pre-sets supporting typical activities in that application) and natural light (directional and natural effects linking to the unconscious effects on people).
In order to promote an appropriate use of the term Human Central Lighting, LightingEurope recommends that the claimed benefits be backed by scientific user-based evidence relevant to the specific context in which the lighting application would operate, following a dedicated design process.
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