Light + Health

Here is a summary of the WELL Building Standard Version 2.0 Lighting Requirements: Feature L01: Light Exposure – Provide indoor light exposure through daylight and electric light strategies. Option 1: Daylight simulation The project demonstrates, through computer simulations, that one of the following conditions are achievedOption 2: Interior layout One of the following requirements is [...]

    A small town in the Netherlands, Zuidhoek-Nieuwkoop, has become the first town in the world to install red street lights. The primary motivation was to protect local, rare bat populations. The red light isn’t perceived by the bats but allows humans to see at night. The red street lights are manufactured by the [...]

  CES 2024 concluded last week, in Las Vegas, NV. While every imaginable type of tech was there, there were some lighting product releases. Here are two of them: NanoLeaf released its Sky Expansion Pack. See first two images. This NanoLeaf Skylight is designed to look and feel like a skylight. By replicating a dynamic [...]

  During the Summer of 2023 back-to-school season, Walmart piloted sensory-friendly store hours, each Saturday from 8am-10am. During these hours, Walmart stores turned down the lights where possible, put a static image on the TV walls, and turned off the radio. Walmart received overwhelmingly positive responses. As a result, Walmart has now designated 8am-10am every [...]

  I researched for hours trying to get a complete picture of the origins, drivers, products, and claims around “less than 2% blue light.” As long as 6 years ago, Circadian Zirclight claimed their office products switched from conventional blue pump white LEDs during the day, to violet pump white LEDs in the evening for [...]

  In the absence of Federal government action, lawmakers in 28 states have proposed legislation to end seasonal time changes each Fall and Spring. In March, 2022, The U.S. Senate passed a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent. The bill went nowhere in the House, and has made no apparent progress in the past [...]

  I’m pleased to share my first article published in the October issue of Lighting Design + Application (LD+A), the magazine of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES). Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, the only dedicated children’s hospital in Nebraska, had outgrown its facility in Omaha and was on the verge of turning away patients in [...]

Last week, the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) unveiled the Works with WELL Program, a new product licensing opportunity designed to help product manufacturers validate and showcase how their products align with the WELL Building Standard, based on IWBI licensing criteria. Nearly 40 early-adopting companies have enrolled more than 1,000 products in the new program. To earn [...]

  The largest peer-reviewed study to date links WELL Certification with improved worker productivity, health, and creativity. Earlier this month, the study was published in Building & Environment and found that WELL Certified building occupants reported higher performing workplaces compared with non-certified building occupant responses. The researchers found that employee satisfaction across various building aspects [...]