What is good, and what is bad light?
Many schools, day care institutions and offices suffer from poor lighting.
Poor lighting includes:
- Not enough light. Possible reasons:
- Lighting not properly designed for the intended use.
- Fittings are dirty, so less light is emitted.
- Fluorescent tubes are worn out. - Lights dazzle: Possible reasons:
- Lighting not properly designed for the intended use.
- Layout of rooms has changed since lighting was designed. - Flickering, flashing and noisy. Possible reasons:
- Fluorescent tubes and ballast units are old types, and are worn out. - Excessive electricity consumption.
Poor lighting is a common problem
The Trust’s survey of 28 schools showed that 50–55% of all the lighting equipment was over 30 years old, with 65% over 25 years old.
Much of the equipment was installed in the 1970s, a period when many new schools were built or refurbished. The normal lifespan for lighting equipment is 30 years, so a significant amount of equipment is now completely worn out.
The situation in day care institutions and offices is possibly slightly better, but in most places the quality of light and lighting systems is less than the level recommended by the Trust, and electricity consumption is far higher than that which can be achieved by efficient systems.
Poor lighting affects us all
We are all affected by the climate indoors, whether as a child in a nursery school, a pupil in a school or as someone employed in an office. If the quality of light and air is not good enough, the results can be headache, tiredness, irritability, loss of concentration etc.
Ultimately this can affect learning capacity and productivity and lead to extra days off sick.
Good light
Good light is:
- the right number of working lamps and light in a room
- no flickering
- no dazzling
- good colour and contrast rendition of details
- no irritating noise or heat from the lighting.
There is a Danish standard that documents the way lighting should be in work rooms: DS 700 on artificial lighting in work rooms. Implementing these requirements is a good starting point for good light.
Page last updated 06.10.2008