News
March/April 2021
THE LATEST NEWS AND STORIES
LUMINAIRE OF THE FUTURE
DEATH OF FORMER SLL PRESIDENT SHOCKS AND SADDENS THE LIGHTING INDUSTRY The death of former SLL president and independent lighting designer Liz Peck in January at the age of 46 was greeted by the lighting industry with shock and sadness. President from 2015-2016, she was named Lux Person of the Year in 2015 following the Night of Heritage Light event which she was instrumental in devising and organising. The judges praised ‘her personal passion and energy’ in promoting the cause of good lighting. She started her career with Concord Lighting in 1999, moving to Philips before setting up her independent lighting consultancy LPA Lighting. She joined the SLL in 2003. Last November, the Iron Bridge scheme, a collaboration with current SLL president Bob Bohannon, won the Outdoor Lighting Project of the Year at the Lux Awards. For a full tribute to Liz Peck, please turn to p11
NEW LIGHTBYTES SERIES LAUNCHED IN SPRING A new series of LightBytes, featuring online sessions, is planned for the spring. The theme will be Minimise Energy, Minimise Resource, Maximise Comfort with the sessions exploring the principles of the circular economy. The speakers as usual will represent the Sponsors in Partnership who make the events possible: Helen Loomes (Trilux), Tim Bowes (Whitecroft) and Steve Shackleton (Fagerhult), pictured from left to right. There will also be a guest speaker, and events will include individual speaker and group Q&A sessions.
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE... After a considerable stretch in lockdown there can be a limit to conversational topics so why not communicate through light, sound or movement instead? Devised by London-based Interaction Research Studio, Yo-Yo Machines are pairs of internetconnected devices that can be built by people at home using their instructions and off-the-shelf components. The pertinent device in this case is
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Light Touch which allows users to send slowly fading coloured lights to one another. When you choose and send a colour, it pulses on the partner device then fades away slowly, so they can be used in real time or leave traces to find later. www.yoyomachines.io/lighttouch
The EU-backed Repro-light project has now concluded its three-year mission to create the 'luminaire of the future'. A consortium, which included lighting manufacturer Trilux, and lighting design and product development company Bartenbach, aimed to support the European lighting industry in creating more sustainable competitive products. The project used innovative technologies and materials to develop intelligent modular luminaires with smart production processes. Key components are interchangeable and configurable (different LED modules and optics, for instance), and their software can be updated accordingly. 'The LED luminaire can change from a disposable object into a customisable and sustainable product, with a high function value,' says Repro-light. The first luminaire, Tamlight, is a continuous line fitting, while a second luminaire architecture, the Personal Table Light (PTL), was developed to specifically improve workplace lighting and exploit the effects of light on human wellbeing. For more information visit: www.repro-light.eu
WORLD EXPERTS ISSUE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LIGHT EXPOSURE Experts in the field, including Prof George Brainard, have issued recommendations for healthy light exposure for daytime, evening and night-time. The pre-print report, yet to be peer reviewed, emerged from the second International Workshop on Circadian and Neurophysical Photometry, which took place in 2019. This brought together experts in the fields of lighting, neurophysical photometry, and sleep and circadian research. The primary aim was to develop expertconsensus guidelines for healthy daytime and evening/night-time light environments. Based on the SI-compliant metric, M-EDI – melanopic equivalent daylight illuminance – (D65), they 'provide a straightforward framework to inform lighting design and practice', says the report. www.preprints.org/manuscript/202012.0037/v1
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