Factors to Consider in a Lighting Plan - Part 1

There are many factors to consider when designing lighting for an architectural space. One of the most important factors is ease of seeing. Ease of seeing varies greatly, but generally speaking older people need more light to see the same details than younger people can see with less light. Eyes over 40 years old are older eyes for this this discussion. People who wear eyeglasses are also susceptible to having issues as well. Age effects vision in a number of ways including depth perception, peripheral vision, glare, and visual acuity.

The photo at the left shows a room that has a lot of daylight as well as artificial light from many sources. It is a comfortable, inviting space with a relaxing color pallet. The lighting in this large room is one of the most important factors in how the room feels and how easy it is to navigate through the space. Furthermore there is adequate light for the tasks that are performed there. This room is comfortable for both young and old eyes. There is no glare, there is plenty of light and the walls are well defined. The lighting designer provided many layers of light without overpowering the space. A great balance.

Please be sure to visit FoggLighting.com and contact us with your questions and to help with your lighting needs. Our staff is trained in lighting design and can help with all your lighting questions.

The Psychology of Lighting Design

It is crucial for a lighting designer to know how humans react to different colors of light and to the contrast between light and dark. This knowledge combined with knowing what tasks are performed enable the designer to effectively illuminate an interior space.

The eye functions almost like a camera sending images to the brain. Cones in the eye provide color vision in bright environments and rods in the eye provide shades of gray in dark environments. Brightness defines luminance which is the intensity of light entering the eye. Light meters measure this as lumens. The variations in the brightness of objects is defined as contrast. Colors in the middle of the visible spectrum appear brighter than colors at outside edges of the spectrum.

People react differently to different colors and have likes and dislikes for colors. Light and color influence our mood and feeling and affect our biorhythm and circadian rhythm. Red light is psychologically stimulating and can even raise blood pressure and heart rates. Red objects appear closer that they actually are. Blue is the opposite of red. It has a calming effect and appears further away that it is. Green is the most restful color for human vision.

In addition to color the amount of contrast determines how one perceives an architectural space. Environments that are complex, asymmetrical, unfamiliar or unorganized cause a sensory overload. In such situations complex tasks are avoided because people are distracted, annoyed or frustrated. Therefore attention to color, contrast and the activities that occur will enable a lighting designer to match the lighting to the tasks and create an inviting space.  

Be sure to visit FoggLighting.com and like us on FaceBook. We have trained personnel to help you with lighting design and fixture selection.

   

Home Theater Lighting

In today's upscale homes an home theater is becoming more and more common all the time. Why go out when you can have all the benefits of the big screen in the comfort of your home! Of course lighting a home theater must be executed correctly to fully enjoy the viewing experience.

Front view of a beautiful home theater.

In the photo to the left you will see an example of an amazing home theater. Notice all the layers of light. That is what differentiates an ordinary room from a spectacular room (not just a home theater room, but any room). The lighting in this room combines LED and halogen. (The room was build several years ago before reliable LED tape light products were available).

Another crucial element in home theater lighting is the lighting control package. You want to be able to dim the lights and control all the circuits from the comfort of you seat. This sophistication is expensive and requires an experienced lighting controls expert to execute, but it makes all the difference in the world.

Rear view of the home theater.

I am proud to say that the lighting in this room was provided by Fogg Lighting Please visit us at FoggLighting.com and call and email with any questions or requests. And remember when you build your next house include a home theater. It doesn't need to be this elegant, but it will still be fun. Remember....layers of light!!

A Maine Historical Society Exhibit

Wired: How Electricity Came to Maine

Exhibit Dates: June 22, 2012 – May 26, 2013

Carbon filament bulb with evacuation tip, ca. 1900, photo by Peter Macomber

Wired! explores the electrification of Maine during the 20th century, and how a rural state became modern. Told primarily through material from the Central Maine Power collection, it explores the landscape, mechanics, economics, politics, and culture of electricity.
The story begins with efforts to harness the energy of Maine's rivers to power small mills. It spreads as entrepreneurs, tinkerers, and investors sought to transmit that energy further and further, and to sell it to businesses and homeowners. Finally, the story is about the grid, and what it took to get it built.
The exhibit explores how Mainers were shaped by power: engineers and linemen who figured out how to deliver electricity to the masses, and people everywhere who overcame initial fears to embrace and rely on it for almost every aspect of their daily lives. As we continue to look for affordable, clean energy, this is a story that joins Maine's past, present, and future.

Please take time to visit this fascinating exhibit at The Maine Historical Society, 489 Congress Street, Portland, ME. You can check their website, http://www.mainehistory.org/, for hours. And please visit www.FoggLighting.com for all your lighting needs.

What Is Light and Why It Is Important

Vision provides us with most of the information that we rely on to survive, and vision would not be possible without light. Light is the stimulus for vision. The receptors in the eye only respond to electromagnetic energy between 380 nanometers (nm) and 760 nanometers (nm). The difference between x-rays, radio waves, UV, IR and visible light is their wavelength. When light travels through a prism the speed at which it travels slows down and the light waves are bent and refracted at different angles so the light emerges as a fan of different colors. What we see as colors are the colors in the light. A blue wall is blue because the light source contains wave lengths in the blue part of the spectrum.


Since light is such an important factor in all our lives it is essential that the environments that are created by lighting designers must allow the eyes to function at optimum levels for the psychological and general well being of the inhabitants. That is the reason you must take control of your lighting. Learn as much as you can about proper lighting so that you will be able to direct the installation of that lighting. But if you do not want to take the time to do that, hire a trained lighting professional to represent your interests. Get the lighting you want and need. The difference between good and bad lighting is huge and will impact your life for years. Budgets are tight, but do not skimp on the lighting...it is what enables you to enjoy everything else in your house. 

Please visit FoggLighting.com and like us on Facebook.

The American Lighting Association

I belong to the America Lighting Association as do many other lighting showrooms, lighting manufacturers and lighting representatives throughout North America. I think this association is really worthwhile. They run an annual conference and provide training for lighting designers and showroom employees throughout the year. And they maintain a web site loaded with information for consumers. If you want some ideas about how to light your home, I urge you to visit www.americanlightingassoc.com to take advantage of all the useful information presented there.

I became a Certified Lighting Consultant, the highest certification bestowed by the ALA, because I feel it is necessary to be as helpful as possible to my clients. (There are fewer than 1,000 CLC's throughout North America and only two in Maine). Other degrees offered are: Lighting Associate, Lighting Specialist, Certificate Specialist and Certified Lighting Manufacturers Representative. Fogg Lighting has sent all our employees to training programs and I am proud to say we have several Lighting Specialists on our staff. When you see the American Lighting Association logo on a lighting showroom's door you can be fairly certain that that showroom is a reputable organization.

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New York Times Article About the Future of Lighting

The following is a re-print of an article thta appeared in the New York Times yesterday. It illustrates how the dramatic changes that lighting will undergo in the near future.

 

April 24, 2013

New Technology Inspires a Rethinking of Light

By FELICITY BARRINGER

AFTER the joy of the birth itself, parenthood sometimes brings the unwelcome news that a newborn has jaundice and must wear goggles and be placed under special lights. Imagine how different this experience might be if there were no goggles, just a warm blanket covering the tiny body, a healing frequency of blue light emanating from its folds.

That comforting scene, already a reality in some hospitals, is evidence of the fundamental rethinking of lighting now under way in research labs, executive offices and investor conferences. Digital revolutionaries have Edison’s 130-year-old industry, and its $100 billion in worldwide revenue, in their sights. Color, control and function are all being reassessed, and new players have emerged like a wave of Silicon Valley start-ups.

“This is the move from the last industrial-age analog technology to a digital technology,” said Fred Maxik, the chief technology officer with the Lighting Science Group Corporation, one of many newer players in the field.

The efforts start with energy efficiency and cost savings but go far beyond replacing inefficient incandescent bulbs. Light’s potential to heal, soothe, invigorate or safeguard people is being exploited to introduce products like the blanket, versions of which are offered by General Electric and in development at Philips, the Dutch electronics giant.

Innovations on the horizon range from smart lampposts that can sense gas hazards to lights harnessed for office productivity or even to cure jet lag. Digital lighting based on light-emitting diodes — LEDs — offers the opportunity to flit beams delicately across stages like the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge — creating a light sculpture more elegant than the garish marketers’ light shows on display in Times Square, Piccadilly Circus and the Shibuya district in Tokyo.

“Up till now we only thought — do I have enough light to see, to clean my room, to cut a diamond?” said Ed Crawford, a senior vice president of Philips Lighting Americas. “Now it impacts what I do, how I feel, in emotional ways.”

In the United States, lighting consumes more than 20 percent of electric power generated each year; the Energy Department says LEDs can cut consumption by up to 80 percent. LEDs — also called solid-state lighting — are already a $12.5 billion business worldwide, according to analysts at the research firm Strategies Unlimited in Mountain View, Calif.  A 2012 McKinsey report estimates LEDs will be an $84 billion business by 2020.

But there is an obstacle or two facing the LED revolutionaries. One is existing modes of lighting: Edison’s screw-based socket, the office’s fluorescent ceiling tubes, and metal halide or sodium lights in parking lots are not going away anytime soon.

Another hurdle is public wariness after the environmental exhortations of the 2000s, which led to much-disputed federal legislation to phase out the old incandescents, often in favor of compact fluorescent bulbs. In pursuing their goals, advocates played down problems like the harshness of fluorescent light, and difficulties with dimming the bulbs and dealing with the toxic mercury they contain. Now, some lighting scientists say, both consumers and investors are leery of buying into something they suspect might be substandard.

Another powerful force for continuity is the psychological legacy of light as we know it — from sun to candle to bulb. Isn’t the cartoon shorthand for a new idea a glowing bulb over the thinker’s head?

So some companies are selling the new digital lighting in forms that will fit into the prerevolutionary world, with its sockets and streetlamps — including familiar bulb shapes.

Philips is producing a bulb called Hue that fits into the old sockets and not only dims and brightens, but also changes colors on command. Mr. Crawford said that in his lamps division, 25 percent of sales income now comes from LEDs; he expects it to increase to 50 percent in two years. In 2008, that number was close to zero.

One reason adoption will speed up, Mr. Crawford believes, is that in recent years, consumers have been asked to compromise on quality to get energy savings. With the latest generation of LEDs, he said, “the consumer gets the energy savings without compromise.”

The cost barrier is getting lower. Until recently, it typically cost $30 to buy an LED that could replace a 60-watt glass incandescent bulb bought for less than a dollar. Now Cree, a semiconductor manufacturer, has 40-watt and 60-watt LED equivalents for $10 and $14.

James Highgate, an expert on the new technology who runs an annual LED industry conference, sees a transition period ahead “for the next three to five years, until the eight billion sockets in the U.S. get filled” with LEDs. “Some people will never change,” he added. “They’ll be in the alleys buying 100-watt incandescents.”

But a new poll done by the lighting company Osram Sylvania showed that fewer consumers were listing “burned out or broken” as the main reason for switching bulb formats. According to a company news release, “68 percent of Americans say they have switched lighting for increased energy efficiency.”

Energy efficiency is only the beginning, according to experts on the lighting innovations. Take communication between lights. At the University of California, Davis, a bike path illuminated at night with a “just in time” system has one light node alerting another and another down the line as a bicycle goes by, progressively lighting the rider’s way, then dimming back into an energy-saving mode.

Michael Siminovitch, director of the California Lighting Technology Center at the university, said that with the new technology “we’re going to be able to create a variety of control features in terms of how we introduce points of light in space, but we’re also going to be able to do it with planes and areas of light.” For example, he said, there could be light-generating ceilings or walls.

Engineers like Mr. Maxik at Lighting Science are now imagining cities that light their streets as needed, without benefit of lampposts. He has created a fixture that could replace the reflective medians in highways south of the snow belt. Once installed along the road’s centerline, they provide as much illumination as streetlamps. The metal and wiring that go into the streetlamp would be unnecessary.

Lighting Science has teamed up with Google to develop a light bulb — soon to be available — that is controllable with an Android phone app.

But just as it will take consumers a while to give up familiar light sockets for lights embedded in walls or ceilings, it is likely to take cities and their public works departments some time to give up their lampposts.

Recognizing this, other companies, like the newly renamed Sensity Systems (formerly Xeralux) are reimagining lampposts as nodes in a smart network that illuminate spaces, visually monitor them, sense heat and communicate with other nodes and human monitors.

In addition to such functions — which could raise privacy concerns, though perhaps less so after the Boston Marathon bombings — the new systems could sharply cut the cost of street lighting. The data could be sold to app developers who could create, say, an app to help find parking.

The idea, said the company’s chief executive, Hugh Martin, is “wherever there’s a light, there’s data being generated.”

Mr. Maxik said: “It’s the convergence of the light source, the novel controls we can apply to it and the ability to program it which makes solid-state lighting as a category unique. That becomes the enabler of the new forms and new functions.”

Many of the elements of the nascent revolution seem in place. A host of relatively new entrants — Lighting Science, Eye Lighting, Ohm Lighting and TerraLUX among them — are moving into what had been a market dominated by large, established companies like General Electric, Philips and Osram Sylvania.

In both the newer and older camps, researchers are trying to reimagine uses for light and ways of controlling it. What kinds of controls? Adjusting the intensity of a light between dim and bright, of course, has been done for decades — but not often in outdoor settings. Other options, indoors and out, include changing the frequency and color of the light, or having it pulsate — think of the multicolor displays atop the Empire State Building.

This color-changing capability has applications far beyond the theatrical. Consider sea turtle hatchlings leaving nests along the Florida coast that are led astray by bright white lights, luring them inland when they should head seaward. Lighting Science is one of several companies that offer a solution; its $29.99 amber “turtle lights” are on sale in Satellite Beach, Fla., near the most active turtle nesting area.

For the workplace, Osram Sylvania’s researchers are looking to control light to improve office productivity. As Lori Brock, director of research and innovation at the company’s technology lab in Massachusetts, said: “It optimizes the illumination for the task you’re doing. If you sat at your desk to use the computer, maybe the overhead light would dim, increasing the contrast so you could see better. Other lights could go to an energy-saving hue.” Ideally, productivity increases while energy costs decrease.

As for health applications, the Lighting Research Center of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has focused its research on the physiological and psychological impacts of light. This might lead to light fixtures in hotel rooms and elsewhere that enhance sleep or restore the circadian rhythms of jet-lagged travelers.

Philips’s lighting division is working on a product that allows people with psoriasis to have light treatments at home, not in the hospital. It has also introduced a blue-light-emitting poultice to relieve muscle pain by releasing the nitric oxide in the patient’s system, stimulating blood flow.

“This is where the promise is,” said Dr. Siminovitch of the U.C. Davis center. “The promise is going to be on well-being, wellness, biology — lighting starts doing something for us that is inherently different.”

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