Is Street Lighting Damaging our Health?

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Key Learning outcomes

A short history of LED and street lighting standards
The issue with glare: Discomfort
The issue with glare: Pixelation
It’s a physical (and neural) reaction
The issue with street lighting metrics and the urgent need to reassess street lighting standards

Introduction

LEDs are efficient at lighting our roads yet people complain of discomfort. As LED technology improves, can we keep all the benefits that come from using LEDs and increase visual comfort?

This article supports the need for a new glare model for assessing discomfort glare
caused by LED luminaires and to improve the understanding, calculation, and criteria for the evaluation of discomfort glare.

A shift can be accelerated if we review and update the calculations that are used to determine street lighting standards, such as the volume of acceptable glare. Originally developed back in the 1970s, before LEDs were commonplace, the current calculations do not justify the specification of the best quality lighting option - and we’d argue, they do not ensure the safest or healthiest option either.

We are calling for a change to the method of calculation to consider the opportunities of using the very latest LED and optical technology. This will ensure more human and nature-centric street lighting is specified across the world.

This material is copyright of Cree Lighting Europe ©2023

A short history of LED and street lighting standards

Before 2006, LED lights were considered under the same legislation as lasers because historically, LEDs were used as marker lights rather than for illuminating wide areas. As LEDs were considered not suitable for general lighting, there were no product or street lighting standards compatible with LED products.

As the push for energy savings increased, so did the call for a more widespread use of energy efficient LEDs.

In 2008, the IEC General Lighting Standards were updated to include LED lighting. Great for energy savings and a low lux level, however, the previous calculation methods were simply transferred over to the new standards.

After ongoing complaints from the public and concerns from experts and environmental groups, the lighting standards were revised in 2013. Unfortunately, the research used
to update the legislation did not consider the luminance differences introduced by using LED technology.

For the past years, the specification of street lighting has been based on the 2013 standards.

A type of solid-state lighting, LEDs use a semiconductor to convert electricity into light and emit it in a specific direction, reducing the need for reflectors and diffusers that can trap light.

• A research of Global LED & Smart Street Lighting Market (2016-2026) states that “There are 315mln streetlights in the world, growing to 359mln by 2026.” Furthermore, “LED streetlights are projected to reach 89% of the total streetlight market by 2026.1”
• Studies estimate that around 70% of UK streetlights have undergone or are contracted for LED adoption2.

The difficulty with using LEDs is there are often unintended, undesirable side effects: harshness, glare, uneven illumination, and sharp shadows. These are not trivial concerns. Many campaigners have cited how these side effects influence mood, productivity, alertness, safety, comfort, spatial awareness, and perception of depth. Whilst others go further and suggest that on a deeper level, our circadian rhythm and sense of well-being is negatively impacted.

Is there a reason for these unintended consequences?
Simply, we retained the metrics to determine comfortable lighting levels for drivers and comfortable brightness, or luminance, for pedestrians as we moved away from luminaires providing a large, single source of uniform luminance. This is despite the fact that today’s luminaires contain multiple small, high intensity light sources.

1 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-led-and-smart-street-lighting-market-forecast-2016-2026-street-lights-numbers-to-increasefrom-315-million-in-2016-to-359-million-by-2026---research-and-markets-300392637.html

LEDs are efficient at lighting our roads yet people complain of discomfort. As LED technology improves, can we keep the benefits that come from using LEDs and increase visual comfort?

Provider company overview

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Cree Lighting Europe S.p.A

Via Sandro Pertini 122
Sesto F no. (FI)
Italy
50019

The information contained in the CPD article web pages is not intended and accordingly shall not be relied upon either as a substitute for professional advice or judgement or to provide legal or other advice with respect to any particular circumstance. RIBA Enterprises accepts no responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of the information contained.

Is Street Lighting Damaging our Health?

A short history of LED and street lighting standards

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