News

INTELLIGENT LIGHTING: ANOTHER STEP FOR HEALTH AND SUSTAINABILITY

INTELLIGENT LIGHTING: ANOTHER STEP FOR HEALTH AND SUSTAINABILITY

SETGA has developed a technology based on intelligent lighting that adapts to the circadian rhythm of citizens.

A smart city is one that supports the well-being of its inhabitants. It boasts a transport system which is free from CO2 emissions and a lighting system that does not affect the health of users. The cities of the future have arrived in the present, and intelligent public lighting implementations will make $15 billion in cumulative energy savings for cities by 2023, according to studies by Juniper Research.

Towards healthy lighting

Good lighting for sustainable cities is the goal of agents and companies in the sector. As artificial light consists of visible light and ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) radiation, there is concern about the effects of light from some LED luminaires on circadian regulation processes and associated systemic diseases.

In response to the situation and in order to achieve more efficient and healthy lighting for all, concepts such as Human Centric Lighting, lighting adapted to the human being have emerged, adapted to their needs to achieve the maximum quality lighting at every moment. The objective: to create lighting projects designed to optimise or improve some aspect of human behaviour. As a result, Human Centric Lighting is already applied indoors and outdoors.

Lighting and the circadian system, fully connected

Light is the main synchroniser of the circadian system. The National Institute of General Medical Sciences explains that circadian rhythms are physical, mental and behavioural changes that follow a daily cycle, responding primarily to light and darkness in the environment of an organism. Sleeping at night and being awake during the day is an example of a circadian rhythm related to light.

The circadian system must function properly to maintain good health. Day should be day, and night should be night, which require the proper use of lighting, both inside buildings and outside.
This is established by the Galician Delegation of the Spanish Lighting Committee, which remarks that healthy lighting should seek to recover the day-night contrast, increasing the former and decreasing the latter.

Lampposts that know how you’re feeling

In order to achieve healthy lighting, when remodelling existing outdoor lighting installations or installing new systems, it is important that the new lighting does not create negative effects on the circadian system. The CEI recommends using light sources with a low blue light content or variable systems that allow the colour temperature and lighting level to be lowered over the course of the evening, reaching the lowest possible levels late at night.

Setga has adapted to these measures for a long time, creating lighting projects that take into account the effects of light on human physiology. We know that we need a single luminaire but different tones for each hour of the day, and Setga makes these nuances a reality in the public lighting of cities without changing the lighting of the street lamps. The Galician company has developed a technology, Circadionic, based on intelligent lighting that adapts to the circadian rhythm of citizens.

In autumn or winter afternoons, when it gets dark around 17:30 or 18:00, the Circadionic LED technology will set the colour temperature at a neutral level above 4200 kelvin (white light), “in order to maintain activity in commercial areas and accelerate the impulse to purchase”, explain those responsible for the project. From 20.30, when citizens return home and melatonin secretion begins, “the colour temperature will be reduced to warmer colour temperatures between 2700-3000 kelvin.”

This system is based on the mono-optical compaction of bio-dynamic white, to adapt the colour temperature of the luminaires to the circadian rhythm of citizens, maintaining a CRI>of 80 and high energy efficiency. This together with photometry adapted to every need, which improves the comfort and public health of the entire society in the transition to the night, they point out.

Setga integrates Circadionic LED technology in all its new products and the technology has already been installed in several cities in Europe and Spain.