Lighting and Health

This is a broad topic, and I'll go so far as to say the lighting industry hasn't scratched the surface, and the medical community seems to have just started. I was poking around related to Irlen's Syndrome that I heard about at ArchLED, and found an interesting snippet on Wikipedia http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_sensitivity

There are a lot of health issue possibilities there and really we only hear about supressed melatonin caused by light exposure at night (ditched that blue or green alarm clock yet) and the effect that might have on cancer rates.

As we design lighting, how are the criteria sorted? Cost is always number one, but what about the costs of the other items? You can get lowest installed cost, put a bunch of people in the office sace, and then folks have decreased production, be it from real illnesses or simply not being able to do their task at peak efficiency because the just can't see.

Food for thought.

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"Green"?

You might think I search out these articles proving that 90% of the sustainable world is bunk. Well, they just flow right in on the Twitter. TreeHugger is all about being sustainable. They have more than once touted things I think are bogus. This time I can't add or subtract from anything I read in what is proposed by our illustrious homebuilders (backed by continued BS from DOE and LEED) as the gold 9or should I say "platinum"?) standard in house. As a fan of M*A*S*H, I will quote Colonel Potter: "HORSE HOCKEY!"

No matter what your stance, go read this and apply it to what you do with lighting: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/01/builder-concept-home-2011.php

Bravo for trying to make an impact, but can't we all agree that lip service to sustainability is not as good as ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING!?

Food for Thought on Retrofits

From Seventh Generation: http://www.seventhgeneration.com/learn/ask-science-man/question-rdemore

They make great products BTW.

I think the best idea is to PROPERLY clean and keep the carpet you have if it isnt old and goopy.

Same goes for lighting. There are whole bunch of nice retrofit options from Lithonia where you can take 3 and 4 lamp T8 and T12 and go to T5, T5HO, or HPT8 and get reasonable payback. http://www.lithonia.com/Relight/index.html

My two-bit opinion is that throwing out carpet (old troffer) to buy new bamboo (LED troffer) is not really sustainable. Please argue the point; that's why this is here.

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