2020-07-28

Commercial UV Disinfecting Products and Healthcare Disinfection Application Valued the Most by Lighting Professionals

Lighting Research Center (LRC) conducted a survey to investigate the viewpoint of people towards UV disinfection products. (Image: Pixabay) Demands for UV disinfection products hiked due to the present pandemic crisis. With increasing options for products and applications, many consumers and product specifiers have questions about the safety, effectiveness, and energy efficiency of these products. In order to address these concerns, the LRC is currently examining a range of UV disinfection technologies. The goal of this work is to provide information that will h...
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2020-06-16

More Daytime Light Exposure Leads to Better Sleep Quality and Less Stress

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is investigating the impacts of working from home or quarantining indoors due to the COVID-19 pandemic on individual daily light exposures. The results showed that indoor and outdoor light exposure significantly impacted people’s sleep quality and psychological health. LRC conducted a survey on people who had been staying home due to the pandemic in May 2020. The survey collected 600 effective data and found that daily indoor light exposure and time spent outside had a major impact on all sur...
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2020-04-22

LRC Releases Free On-line Tool for Growers to Evaluate Performance of Horticulture Lighting

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has developed a free online tool, the horticulture luminaire calculator, to assist growers evaluating the performance, efficiency, and economics of a wide variety of horticultural luminaires, typically used in greenhouses and other controlled agricultural environments. The horticulture luminaire calculator enables growers to compare different luminaires and choose the optimize solutions for their applications. (Image: LRC) Horticulture lighting is become more significant with indoor farming and high-...
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2020-02-21

LRC Research Focus on Disinfection Function of Hybrid UV Lighting System for Hospital Cleaning

As the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, continues to spread across the world, people become more alert to public health issues. Hospitals, where people go seek for health care and treatment, usually gather individual with potential health problem and become a risky environment for others. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the U.S., approximately 1 in 25 patients contract healthcacre-associated infections (HAIs) in hospitals. Despite that standard cleaning procedures cover manual application of detergents and disinfectants,...
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2020-02-20

Researcher to Optimize Light Therapy to Health of People with Alzheimer’s

Mariana Figueiro, director of the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, continues to enhance the lighting treatment developed for older adults with Alzheimer’s disease. The research team recently announced a US$ 3 million grant renewal from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). Figueiro has demonstrated that providing light exposure of certain amounts and qualities throughout the day can improves sleep patterns, sociability, and agitation, while decreasing symptoms of depression. With the latest grant renewal, Figueiro and her t...
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2019-12-18

Tailored Light Improves Sleep Quality, Depression, Agitation in Older Adults with Alzheimer's Disease

Researcher at the Lighting Research Center (LRC) found that tailored lighting intervention can significantly help Alzheimer patients to improve sleep quality, and reduce depressive symptoms and agitation behavior. In addition to memory loss, people diagnosed with Alzheimer disease also suffered from sleep disturbances, depression, and agitation. Dr. Mariana Figueiro, the Professor and Director at LRC, has been investigating how lighting intervention can lessen the impact of these symptoms in older adults living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADR...
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2019-12-13

Eaton and LRC Partner to Develop 3D Printing Luminaires

Lighting Research Center (LRC) announced the partnership with Eaton to work on a project of additively manufactured LED-integrated luminaire, which is to use 3D printing technology to produce LED luminaires. The 3D printing luminaire development project is under funding from the United States Department of Energy and aims to address the main barriers to widespread adoption of 3D printing technology as applied to solid-state lighting. (Image: LRC/Eaton) Over the next two years, the project partners will conduct material science, electronics, optics, and adv...
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2019-12-12

Research Finds Morning Blue Light and Afternoon Red Light Increase Alertness for Office Workers

Lighting Research Center (LRC) continues to conduct studies to learn how light impacts alertness during the day and sleep quality at night in daytime office workers. In its latest press release, LRC revealed that using blue light in the morning and red light in the afternoon helps office to increase energy. The study field tested a novel luminaire developed by the LRC to promote circadian entrainment and alertness in the office environment. 19 participants from three U.S. Department of State office buildings in Washington, D.C., completed the 3-week study. During ...
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2019-04-17

LRC to Develop Education Program Focus on Horticulture Lighting Applications

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) announced that it is developing a new course curriculum on lighting for plant growth and health to meet the increasing demands following the rising trend of indoor and controlled farming. Research from the Illumination for Plant Health (IPH) Alliance at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has shown that “Precision Light Dosing” can be used to combat the many pests and pathogens that reduce crop yields, and to increase plant health. At the same time, due to factors such as interest in local and sustainable food, along with m...
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2018-05-15

LRC Releases New Report on LED Horticultural Lighting Systems

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has published a new report on the energy and economic performance of LED horticultural luminaires. The LRC evaluated key factors such as power demand, life-cycle cost, luminaire intensity distribution, and luminaire shading. Of particular importance is the fact that the LRC considered the effectiveness of the entire lighting system for a controlled growing environment.
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2018-01-29

LRC’s Mariana Figueiro to Outline New Research on Lighting, Circadian Health

Mariana Figueiro, director of the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will reveal how lighting can optimize health based on the latest research at National Association of Innovative Lighting Distributors’ (NAILD) Innovation 2018 on Feb. 13-16 in Rancho Mirage, California.
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2018-01-29

The Effectiveness of Apple’s iPad Night Shift Application Tested by Lighting Research Center

The light emitted by portable electronic devices (PEDs), particularly when used at night, has drawn a great deal of interest among sleep researchers, healthcare professionals, and the media. Research shows that exposure to light at night (LAN) may be associated with poor sleep and may lead to diminished alertness and performance throughout the day. Exposure to LAN can also acutely suppress melatonin, a hormone produced at night and in darkness, which tells the body it is nighttime. The short-wavelength “blue” light emitted by electronics can be especially disruptive to melatonin production, and the proximity to the eye when PEDs are in use only aggravates the threat to getting a good night’s sleep.
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2017-10-17

Rethinking Exposure to Saturated Colored Light

Two key physical properties of light participate in color vision: wavelength and power. They factor into a light source’s spectral power distribution, which describes the amount of light power at each wavelength in the visible spectrum (which ranges from approximately 380 nanometers to 780 nanometers) that is emitted by that particular source. Power is a measure of the amount of light from each wavelength that arrives at a defined location per unit time.
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2017-10-13

New LRC Study Evaluates the Blue-Light Hazard from Solid-State Lighting

The introduction of solid-state lighting using light-emitting diode (LED) technology has ignited widespread interest in the ways that lighting can offer benefits to people, including improved visibility at night, enhanced perceptions of brightness and security, and spectral tuning for management of circadian rhythms. Yet, as illustrated in a recent report from the American Medical Association (AMA), the increasing popularity of LED lighting is also raising new questions and reviving older concerns about unwanted impacts of these light sources, such as light pollution, discomfort glare, circadian disruption, and retinal damage via a mechanism known as blue-light hazard.
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2017-09-19

LRC Collaborating With Cornell to Develop Phenotyping System to Bear the Next Generation of Grapes

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is collaborating with Cornell University on a $6.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Specialty Crop Research Initiative to develop the next generation of grapes. The project, VitisGen2, is a collaboration of 25 scientists from 11 institutions who are working in multidisciplinary teams to accelerate development of new grape varieties that are more flavorful and sustainable.
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2016-12-09

LRC Releases Free Lighting Circadian Stimulus Calculator

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has recently released a free, open-access circadian stimulus (CS) calculator to help lighting professionals select light sources and light levels that will increase the potential for circadian-effective light exposure in architectural spaces, utilizing the CS metric. Developed by LRC researchers, the CS metric is a new way to quantify light’s impact on acute melatonin suppression, a marker of circadian system activation.
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2016-12-09

LRC Scientist to Moderate Panel Session on the Health Impacts of LED Roadway Lighting

LED technologies are rapidly growing in terms of market share for roadway lighting systems in the U.S., with about 15% of roadway lights using LED sources. Unlike the yellowish glow of high pressure sodium lamps found in most of the other U.S. streetlights, LED illumination usually is white in color. This difference has sparked concerns about health and wellbeing from the American Medical Association (AMA).
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2016-11-02

Rensselaer LRC Expands Paid Externships in Lighting Degree Programs

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has recently expanded its M.S. in Lighting degree program to include a paid career externship at a leading lighting manufacturer, design firm, or government organization. Upon graduation, students now have the opportunity to participate in a paid externship for three months or more with one of many lighting organizations that have agreed to host LRC students, including Current by GE, OSRAM, Philips Lighting, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Bridgelux, Hubbell Lighting, Ketra, USAI Lighting, and numerous others.
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2016-09-29

LRC Expands Research to Encompass Connected Lighting, 3D Printing

In a 25,000-square-foot commercial office on the Rensselaer Technology Park campus in Troy, N.Y., scientists from the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are making plans to install LED lighting with fixture-integrated and network-connected lighting controls. The controls are being tested in a broad-based field evaluation to compare and quantify the additional benefits that connected lighting systems offer to users. LRC research scientists will investigate everything from ease of installation to user satisfaction. This is just one of many projects that the LRC’s Solid-State Lighting Program has undertaken to expand its research capabilities into new fields where solid-state lighting (SSL) can provide benefits.
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2016-09-26

LRC Presents Innovative Research Findings at SPIE Optics + Photonics Conference

Two doctoral students and several research scientists from the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute attended last month’s SPIE Optics + Photonics conference to present research on new innovative technologies and other topics of interest to the solid-state lighting industry. The presentations were part of the Fifteenth International Conference on Solid State Lighting and LED-based Illumination Systems, which took place August 31 in San Diego, California.
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2016-09-22

LRC Calls for Volunteers for Study on Effects of Light from iPad Screens

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is recruiting subjects 18-30 years old to participate in a paid study that will take place on four consecutive Fridays: September 30, October 7, October 14, and October 21. The goal of the study is to test the effects of light from Apple iPad screens on melatonin production.
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2016-07-04

LRC Responds to AMA Report on Health Hazards Caused by LED Lighting

  Recently the American Medical Association (AMA) has produced a document cautioning the public about In-Ga-N based LEDs used as sources of illumination. The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has received a large number of requests for an opinion. Professors Mark Rea and Mariana Figueiro of the LRC have prepared a response, available here. Key points include: Predictions of health consequences from light exposure depend upon an accurate characterization of the physical s...
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2015-11-13

LRC Launches Interactive Lighting Design Website to Support Elderly Care Facilities Illumination

Older adults in long-term care facilities often spend their days and nights in dimly-lit rooms with minimal time spent outdoors. The constant, unvarying dim light found in many long-term care facilities means that older adults are not experiencing the robust daily patterns of light and dark that synchronize the body’s circadian clock to local sunrise and sunset. Disruption of this 24-hour rhythm of light and dark affects every one of our biological systems from DNA repair in single cells to melatonin production by the pineal gland, to electrical activity in the brain. 
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2015-06-24

LRC Evaluates Audi Advanced Headlight Systems for Transportation Lighting Alliance

Through its Transportation Lighting and Safety program, the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is evaluating the potential for new lighting technologies and approaches to improve driving safety at night, including new car headlight systems. For the study, vehicle manufacturer Audi AG has provided the LRC with an A7 equipped with adaptive high beam “matrix lights” that allow drivers to benefit from using high beams all the time while selectively dimming a portion of the beam in the direction of other drivers to prevent glare. In the Audi system, the beam pattern is split into numerous individual LEDs arranged in a grid or “matrix” that adapts to the surroundings in real-time. The lighting system is being evaluated by LRC researchers this June.
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2015-06-12

LRC Study Shows Uniform Lighting in Parking Lots Provides Better Sense of Security

A newly published study from the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute shows that improving the uniformity of lighting in parking lots can increase the sense of safety and security, as well as provide up to an additional 75% energy savings by lowering total light levels.
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2015-06-11

LRC Program ASSIST Proposes New Method for Evaluating Flicker

The Alliance for Solid-State Illumination Systems and Technologies (ASSIST), a program of the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has released a publication that proposes a new method of evaluating human perception of directly observed light source flicker. The publication, ASSIST recommends…Recommended Metric for Assessing the Direct Perception of Light Source Flicker, provides specific measurement procedures and calculations to objectively determine whether the amount of flicker from a light source is above or below the threshold of human perception. The metric is applicable to any waveform shape and frequency and is based on peer-reviewed laboratory and human factors experiments.
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2015-04-28

LRC Issues New Guide To Selecting LED Troffers

The Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has released a new guide for contractors and specifiers who are replacing existing fluorescent troffers with new LED troffers or retrofit kits.
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2014-05-07

Studying Lighting Impact on Health at LRC

On May 6, a group of 30 lighting and healthcare industry professionals will travel to the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. to attend the launch of the first “flagship” Light and Health Institute a two-day, hands-on seminar to teach the many ways in which light affects, and can be used to improve, health and wellbeing. The seminar is taught by Dr. Mariana Figueiro, LRC Light and Health Program director and professor at Rensselaer; Dr. Bernard Possidente, professor of biology at Skidmore College; Dr. Mark Rea, LRC director and professor at Rensselaer; and Andrew Bierman, LRC research scientist.
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2013-10-24

LRC Launches Plant LED Lighting Program

Light and plants expert Tessa Pocock, Ph.D., recently joined the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a senior research scientist, leading the development of a new plant physiology lighting program. Her research focuses on plant photosynthesis, and plant development and regulation by light for traditional greenhouse crops and the emerging field of medicinal plants.
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2013-10-15

LRC Evaluates Safety Impacts of Advanced Car Headlight Systems

Crash risks while driving at night are higher than during the daytime, but most roadways in the U.S. do not have roadway lighting. In fact, many state and local governments find it difficult to pay for installing, operating and maintaining roadway lighting. Despite these concerns, the proportion of nighttime driving is not likely to go down in today's round-the-clock economy, making car headlights increasingly important to nighttime driving safety. Through its Transportation Lighting and Safety program, the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is evaluating the potential for new lighting technologies and approaches to improve driving safety at night, including new car headlight systems.
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Tokushima, Japan - 6 March 2024: Nichia, the world's largest LED manufacturer and inventor of the high-brightness blue and white LED, has started mass production of the new UV-B (308nm) and UV-A (330nm) LEDs in its popular 434 Series packa... READ MORE

New XLamp® S Line LEDs enhance growth, last longer, lower energy costs Horticulture and other forms of agricultural lighting require application-tuned ratios of spectral content, high efficacy and long lifetimes. Whether you are interested... READ MORE