Around the world different people are talking about how they use full-spectrum lighting in their day-to-day lives.  We feature some of the best here.

HOME DECORATING
Decorating a Dorm Room with Lights
If there is no window, choose a full spectrum light bulb that mimics natural sunlight. Take down outdated curtains or window coverings. If they belong to the dorm owner (usually the college or house parents), return them or keep them

Derek Loves Shopping » Tips on how to survive in a small home
Use full spectrum light bulbs to energize and enliven your home. Have lots of dinner parties. People actually socialize better in small spaces. And, as an added bonus, apartment dwellers who entertain take better care of their homes.

About Desk and Study Lamps | Need Landscaping Ideas?
If you like a really bright light when you study but don’t like halogen bulbs, you can also try using a full spectrum of light bulb in your desk or study lamp. That way you get the brightness of daylight without the headaches that can …

BIRD CARE
The Basics of Pet Bird Care
Since most pet birds are kept indoors, some owners and aviaries install full-spectrum lighting. Full- spectrum fluorescent lighting simulates natural sunlight. Birds have keen eyesight and need the variations of light only found in …

PLANT CARE
Common Mistakes Of The New Gardener | Top LED Grow Lights
If you are starting out with grow lights I would suggest a full spectrum type of light preferably a LED light as they are easy to manage and require no extra accessories to work correctly. HID or fluorescent work equally as well if you …

Good grow light for an avocado tree?
I sprouted my avocado seedling about 7 months ago and it was doing so well while it was warm outside. It is now a bit cooler and it pretty much spends it’s.

MISCELLANEOUS
To be considered full spectrum light desires to register ninety or …
There has been lots of talk in recent years about full range light bulbs. These are light bulbs which cover the entire light wavelength from infrared to near-ultraviolet.

Related posts:

1. Who’s talking about full-spectrum lighting – issue 2
2. Who’s talking about full-spectrum lighting – issue 5
3. Who’s talking about full-spectrum lighting – issue 4

“This study was designed and executed by an advocate, not a neutral party, and the advocate failed to properly disclose that she is not a neutral party,” said Joseph Levy, vice president of International Smart Tan Network, the educational institute for the North American indoor tanning community. “That conflict of interest clouds some of the irregularities reported in the paper.”

Dr. DeAnn Lazovich, lead author of “Indoor Tanning and Risk of Melanoma: A Case-Control Study in a Highly Exposed Population,” set for publication in the June issue of American Association for Cancer Research, failed to disclose in the paper that she is part of a University of Minnesota group that initiated programs to discourage indoor tanning use three years before designing and engaging in data collection for this study. Those interactions may themselves have tainted subjects and controls used in the study. (http://www.cancer.umn.edu/research/profiles/lazovich.html)

The International Smart Tan Network has revealed that The University of Minnesota group engaged in deceptive practices in 2001 when, using a National Cancer Institute grant, it developed a bogus indoor tanning training program in order to obtain data from indoor tanning facilities for future studies. According to reports, the Minnesota group told salons they were attempting to help operators lower their risks, but the University of Minnesota refers to the same grant on its web site as an effort to reduce indoor tanning usage.
http://www.cancer.umn.edu/research/profiles/lazovich.html

Tanning advocates in New Zealand also see serious flaws in the study. Tiffany Brown of local sunbed business Get Brown Tanning said today, “There is a clear failure here to disclose a major conflict of interest. This really is quite deceptive research. Once again relative risk factors are used instead of absolute risk- a typical scare-mongering technique of the anti-tanning brigade.

‘In suggesting tanners double their risk of melanoma, the authors ignore the more telling figure that the absolute risk of melanoma is quite low for both tanners and non-tanners. The largest study to date shows that both indoor tanners and non-tanners have less than a 0.3 percent risk of contracting melanoma and most studies show no statistically significant difference between the two groups.”

The nature of “relative risk” figures in melanoma data was the topic of an article published by The Association of Health Care Journalists May 7 by Dr. Ivan Oransky, a Reuters Health editor.
http://www.healthjournalism.org/blog/2010/05/tanning-beds-what-do-the-numbers-really-mean/

Oransky quotes Dr. Lisa Schwartz, a general internist at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction, Vt., and co-author of “Know Your Chances,” a book that explains health statistics to consumers.

“Melanoma is pretty rare and almost all the time, the way to make it look scarier is to present the relative change, the 75 percent increase, rather than to point out that it is still really rare,” Schwartz told The Wilmington News Journal’s Hiran Ratnayake, who interviewed Schwartz in a recent story on melanoma and indoor tanning.

On reading the study through, Brown found intriguing the authors’ continual mention of previous evidence of the relationship between melanoma skin cancer and sunbed use as being “weak” and inconsistent. “Why then did reputable scientists and researchers previously report there were strong associations in the research? Particularly, this new study does not confirm the often-commented conclusion made by the IARC report that risk of melanoma sky-rockets when tanning beds are first used under the age of 35.” The authors of the study state “With at least 29 reports to date, past history of indoor tanning has been only weakly associated with melanoma.”

“In fact,” says Brown, “18 of 22 previous studies show no statistically significant association. This new study simply adds to inconsistencies in the total dataset available about any relationship between sunbed use and melanoma skin cancer.”

The International Smart Tan Network point out the study showed individuals who had the most outdoor sun exposure in their lives had a 15 percent lower risk of melanoma when compared to those who had less sun. The paper is actually the latest in a line of studies showing that people who get the most UV exposure outdoors are less likely to contract the disease.

“Despite what the authors in this paper set out to prove, the fact remains that whatever relationship UV exposure has with melanoma is still not understood because paper after paper, including this one, continue to show that people who get more sun exposure have fewer melanomas,” said Dr. William Grant, founder of the independent Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center (SUNARC). Grant, an independent advocate for UV exposure as the natural and intended source of vitamin D, published a peer-reviewed meta-analysis this year showing that indoor tanning is not a risk factor for melanoma in individuals with skin that can tan, with UV-related risk isolated only in the fairest-skinned “Skin Type I” subjects.
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/New-Study-by-SUNARC-Shows-Tanning-and-Melanoma-Link-Scientifically-Flawed-1131725.htm

Brown believes tanning operators with excellent standards of care are uniquely positioned to educate the public about all aspects of ultraviolet light exposure as it relates to skin in a practical way. “We teach the basics of how the skin tans and burns to help our sun-loving clients understand why a ‘less is more’ approach is best. We’ve proven that education with regard to possible benefits of moderate UV exposure within the limits of risk-minimizing tanning behaviour actually serves to reduce the incidence of over-exposure and/or erythema (sunburn). And as this new study proves, that is a positive step in improving public health outcomes.”

Speaking for International Smart Tan Network Joe Levy said, “We think the promotion of this study has more to do with justifying a dinosaur mentality about UV light in an era when vitamin D research is proving that decades of overzealous sun avoidance may have skyrocketed SPF sales, but has caused epidemic-level vitamin D deficiency and great confusion in the world’s population.”

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From time to time we are checking the internet for what people say about Viva-Lite. That way we can learn a lot how our customers perceive our brand, products and services.

For example see this feedback on namahatta.org and how well Viva-Lite worked for growing Tulsi:

“We planted Tulasi at home last summer. When she was very little we bought her a 26 W Viva-lite full-spectrum bulb. She was doing well with it. She grew very strong stalk and large, green leaves. Recently we felt she needs more light. We arranged two 36 W fluorescent Viva-lite tubes for her. In Scandinavia there is hardly any natural light at this time of the year!

As far as I’ve understood, plants benefit mostly from certain wavelengths of light. In order to grow nicely, they need more cool or blue light. When they are blooming, they require some red wavelengths, too. Visual color temperature is measured by the degree of Kelvin. That’s what you have to pay attention to when choosing light for Tulasi.

Full-spectrum lights are as close as it artificially gets to a natural mid-day sun during the late summer. Viva-lite bulbs/tubes have 5500 K which resembles normal daylight. They imitate all wavelengths of light to some degree. Because they have a very high color rendering index (CRI), they don’t distort the actual color impression around them. Lights that have low CRI make everything look weird, either yellow or strangely blue.

The standard incandescent or halogen lamps have around 2500-3000 K, which is not useful for plants. They also emanate a lot of heat and waste energy.”

We couldn’t agree more. Visit namahatta.org to read the full article.

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Participants carried out four everyday tasks, each at three illuminances: 50 lux, 200 lux, and 800 lux. Both objective performance and subjective preference were recorded. Subjects tend to perform better under brighter conditions, but the average results masked large individual variations. Indeed, most participants showed a large effect of lighting on performance in at least one task, but the optimal light level varied idiosyncratically from one subject to another. The best approach to provide optimal lighting for older people with low vision may be to individually assess their preference and performance at different light levels.

BJW Evans, BSc PhD FCOptom FAAO – Neville Chappell Research Clinic, Institute of Optometry, 56-62 Newington Causeway London, SE1 6DS, UK, Department of Optometry & Visual Science, City University, Northampton Square London, EC1 0HB, UK

H. Sawyerr – Neville Chappell Research Clinic, Institute of Optometry, 56-62 Newington Causeway London, SE1 6DS, UK

Z. Jessa, BSc MCOptom – Neville Chappell Research Clinic, Institute of Optometry, 56-62 Newington Causeway London, SE1 6DS, UK, Department of Optometry & Visual Science, City University, Northampton Square London, EC1 0HB, UK

S. Brodrick, IEng ACIBSE MSLL – Lighting Solutions, 5 The Croft, Marsh Baldon, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX44 9LN, UK

AI Slater, BSc MPhil FSLL CEng MCIBSE – Thomas Pocklington Trust, 5 Castle Row, Horticultural Place, Chiswick, London, W4 4JQ, UK

Found in: Lighting Research and Technology, Vol. 42, No. 1, 103-119 (2010)

Related posts:

1. Conflict Of Interest In Melanoma Study

Image via Wikipedia

This paper reviews developments in hybrid light guidance systems.

In these daylight and electric light are simultaneously delivered into a building where they are combined and distributed via luminaires. The technology used in hybrid systems, both conceptual and realised, is discussed. The review speculates as to their likely performance in terms of daylight delivery; capital and running costs; user reaction to the systems; potential impact of the systems on the building which they light; and suitable design methods. It is noted that a substantial amount of work remains before the potential of hybrid systems may be realised, notably on their long-term economics and feasibility in different geographic locations.

MS Mayhoub, BArch MA – School of Architecture, University of Liverpool, Leverhulme Building, Abercromby Square, Liverpool L69 7ZN, UK, on leave from Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

DJ Carter, PhD – School of Architecture, University of Liverpool, Leverhulme Building, Abercromby Square, Liverpool L69 7ZN, UK, eb09@liverpool.ac.uk

Found in: Lighting Research and Technology, Vol. 42, No. 1, 51-71 (2010)

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1. Study of lighting and low vision in older people
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What does Wikipedia have to say about the CRI: “The color rendering index (CRI) (sometimes called color rendition index), is a quantitative measure of the ability of a light source to reproduce the colors of various objects faithfully in comparison with an ideal or natural light source. Light sources with a high CRI are desirable in color-critical applications such as photography and cinematography. It is defined by the International Commission on Illumination as follows: ‘Color rendering: Effect of an illuminant on the color appearance of objects by conscious or subconscious comparison with their color appearance under a reference illuminant’.”

As this sounds a wee bit complicated, we’ve prepared an article which (hopefully) explains a bit mor simple what the CRI is and does. First of all, please note that the CRI is different from the light colour or colour temperature of the lamp. Even so-called “daylight” bulbs may have a comparatively low CRI (as per full-spectrum standards anything below 90 is seriously low) and it is the CRI rather than the colour temperature (measured in “K” for “Kelvin” by the way) which makes the real difference when it comes to the light spectrum and ultimately how good you’ll see and be able to do visual tasks under such lighting.

Researchers in Sweden found out that with the CRI being around or above 96 Ra, it is quite possible that we see up to 30% better when compared to lower quality light sources. So what light sources are those which are preferrable for a good CRI which are those who are not:

I light source with a CRI = 100 Ra would be perfect and balanced in terms of colour reproduction, shading, contrast etc. – therefore the lesser the difference from 100 Ra, the better will colours be reproduced under such light. The lower the Ra-value, the worse colours will reproduced and the more difficult it is to see and work under such light.

A last but important word on the note of colour reproduction:

When comparing different light sources, it is only recommendable to compare them in the same colour temperature. It makes therefore not much sense to compare an incandescent 2700K bulb with a 6500K daylight energy saving lamp. For a proper comparison – either the incandescent lamp should be also rated at 6500K colour temperature or the energy saving lamp should be in the 2700K range. Then – and then only – true colour reproduction comparison can take place.

We hope this helps to clear up some confusion around the terms colour reproduction and colour temperature. Thanks for reading

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1. A funny Colour and Reading Speed Test
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The product consists of a thin, heat-resistant silicone cover that turns a clear bulb into a frosted one:

The background of this idea is that many energy saving lamps look just like the new incandescend (bulb covered) condom lamp.

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This is the question, which set out artist Jan-Erik Andersson on a long and adventurous journey to build his own leaf shaped house in the middle of Turku city in Finland. The house project, called Life on a Leaf, is also the art part of Andersson’s studies for a doctorate degree in visual arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki.

The light design in the house is inspired by the manager of AD LUX, Ilkka Pekanheimo’s ideas about using full spectrum light sources and indirect light. All lights, except from the installion in the dining room with 26 retro lamps from the 60:ties and 70:ties, are Viva-Lite full spectrum flourescent lights, many of them dimmable.

Andersson is exploring the possibilities of building a personal house, shaped like a leaf, as a total art work. He is interested in the way stories, written by Andersson himself, can influence the shape, the ornaments and the interior of the house.

The aesthetics of the house is departing from the Art Nouveau concept about the house as a shelter for an individual soul, opposed to the modernist concept of the house as machine for living. Can a house both be functional and fantastic, can we use contemporary computer technology to create ornaments with a meaning which stimulate people of today? Can a house, which you can live and work in, at the same time have the quality of a sculpture. How can the site’s own history inspire the new building? And is it possible to achieve all this within a decent budget?

The project also registers how the society reacts. How much personal freedom do the society give to a person, who wants to make his own dream in a world obsessed with so many regulations and restrictions?

Andersson also seeks answers to questions about the role of the architect. Can the architect function as a servant, who realizes people’s dreams, or is the architect still the person who decides what is ”good taste” or not. Life on a leaf is a collaboration between Andersson and architect Erkki Pitkäranta. As a result of ten years of collaboration they work seamlessly, throwing ideas back and forth, making stories, building small scale models and having fun.

For more information, please visit the homepage of Jan-Erik Andersson…

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Instructions:

1) Name the following colours aloud from up to down. Say aloud, as if there is nobody else in your room. So start from “red”:

2) Now do the same for the following colours, but try a little faster:

Very good. However, did you really name the colours? Why did you say that the upper colour is red, although it is white, as you can see here once more:

Isn’t that surprisingly difficult? A person, who cannot read, will find this test most likely much easier – of course we just guessed that you said “red”, because 99.5 % of all people say so.

BTW: It is also difficult to read in yellowish, eye tireing and insufficient bad colour rendered light. Therefore we suggest that you try clean, full spectrum daylight lamps, like Viva-Lite, in your office and at home. We believe that you will improve your reading speed – not to talk about seeing true colours!

There is a huge difference between different lamps.

Thanks to your Viva-Lite partner in Finland for providing the test!

Related posts:

1. The Colour Rendering Index (CRI)

The farmer wanted to light up the barn with daylight so the milk production goes up. She also painted the ceiling which in combination with Viva-Lite it makes a huge difference as you can see for yourself in the following before / after pictures:

Thanks to our distributor in Holland who made these pictures!

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