CONCEPT OF LIGHT IN SUSTAINABILITY
Light is a very important aspect of human life; our bodies use it to create vitamin D. Studies have shown that laboratory mice living under a restricted spectrum of light become ill and develop antisocial behaviors. Lighting affects us on a psychological and physiological level. Thus it is very important to have good lighting in built spaces.
As humans have evolved in daylight conditions, it follows that the human body is best adapted for the varied lighting conditions that are present in natural lighting. Therefore, Lighting a space with natural lighting is considered the best option. Of course caveats exist to placing as many windows in your building as possible. First of all, every window put into a building creates a hole in the building envelope, lowering the overall insulation value of the building.
Also, lighting in space should be diffuse, glare from daylight or the sun, reflected or direct, can cause headaches and annoy people in a space. Lighting levels that are too low can cause eye strain. Emulating natural lighting by having light from multiple sources is important, light comes from all directions outdoors.
One excellent option for lighting spaces is to use poly-carbonate. Poly-carbonate is cheaper and insulates better than windows. While light transmission is slightly lower than glass, poly-carbonate is a good option for windows that are above eye level and solely for lighting a space. Another option for day lighting a space that has no access to the outside is fiber optics. Fiber optics allow natural light to be passed through a small, fibrous, glass tube. While this option is currently very expensive and it would be better to design spaces that have direct access to natural light through a window, fiber optics are becoming more affordable and are sometimes the only option for day lighting a space. Light tubes, essentially sky lights with mirrors in them that allow one to control the direction of daylight, are oftentimes a more affordable option.
As humans have evolved in daylight conditions, it follows that the human body is best adapted for the varied lighting conditions that are present in natural lighting. Therefore, Lighting a space with natural lighting is considered the best option. Of course caveats exist to placing as many windows in your building as possible. First of all, every window put into a building creates a hole in the building envelope, lowering the overall insulation value of the building.
Also, lighting in space should be diffuse, glare from daylight or the sun, reflected or direct, can cause headaches and annoy people in a space. Lighting levels that are too low can cause eye strain. Emulating natural lighting by having light from multiple sources is important, light comes from all directions outdoors.
One excellent option for lighting spaces is to use poly-carbonate. Poly-carbonate is cheaper and insulates better than windows. While light transmission is slightly lower than glass, poly-carbonate is a good option for windows that are above eye level and solely for lighting a space. Another option for day lighting a space that has no access to the outside is fiber optics. Fiber optics allow natural light to be passed through a small, fibrous, glass tube. While this option is currently very expensive and it would be better to design spaces that have direct access to natural light through a window, fiber optics are becoming more affordable and are sometimes the only option for day lighting a space. Light tubes, essentially sky lights with mirrors in them that allow one to control the direction of daylight, are oftentimes a more affordable option.
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