Quiet hour is a strategy aimed at making retail spaces more inclusive for people who struggle with sensory overload, but they’re not the only ones who welcome a pause in the assault on their senses.
The lighting of the National Menorah in Washington, D.C. in 2012.
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Museum lighting standards assume galleries are still using incandescent bulbs or fluorescent lights. But LEDs offer more for both audiences and conservation.
Germany’s Osram dominates the market in automotive LEDs.
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The relevance of lighting at schools may seem easy to overlook, but both insufficient exposure to daylight and high visual demand on the eyes can adversely impact children.
Bright light does not necessarily make a space feel safer, as seen here where there’s a sharp drop-off into dark shadows at the edge of the path.
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Bright lighting alone does not make a space feel safe. It can blind and disorientate and create dark shadows at the edges. Tellingly, ‘unsafe’ places had much higher illuminance than ‘safe’ places.
While networked entertainment systems, automated security, mood lights and voice-controlled thermostats make homes more secure and productive, they’re also just good fun.
Innovation in small-scale solar systems and mobile money systems is giving people in sub-Saharan Africa access to electricity at a lower cost than diesel or kerosene.
Urban greening programs need to consider the harmful impacts of artificial lighting on ecosystems. Fortunately, we can do a lot to create more biosensitive lighting.
New LED-based streetlights are whiter than traditional ones and contain more blue light, which can disrupt people’s circadian rhythms.
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The American Medical Association (AMA) issued guidelines for communities to reduce harmful effects of LED streetlights. A medical researcher explains what can go wrong.
There are plenty of ways to cut energy use, especially in old houses.
AAP Image/Paul Miller