The Application of Human-Centric Lighting in Response to Working from Home Post-COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 has caused a considerable proportion of the public to work from home, either part- or full-time, in unregulated domestic conditions, which have not been designed for commercial activities. This study determined what existing lighting conditions were present in a selection of work-from-home (WFH) environments (Objective One) through quantitative lux level and equivalent melanopic lux (EML) readings by evaluating them against regulatory standards, where further study is required to validate the results with a larger dataset. This study also investigated the social demand for human-centric lighting (HCL) installations within WFH environments (Objective Two) through qualitative questionnaires by considering key parameters: sustainability, practicality, and cost. The results of Objective One showed that compliance with general safety lighting requirements was achieved by 80% of the installations. The mean lux level recorded was 452.4 lux and 0.729 uniformity, which fell below commercial requirements defined for commonly performed WFH activities; 34.3% of recorded EML dropped below the regulatory requirements under daylight conditions. When isolated to artificial lighting, only 7.5% of the required EML was achieved. The results of Objective Two showed that generally participants did not feel that their WFH installations were unsuitably lit, however, 46.2% of participants identified noticeable headaches or eye strain when working from home. A total of 80% of participants highlighted that HCL task lighting would be preferable. It was also found that participants were willing to invest in circadian lighting for health, where 63.2% of them would not accept a reduction in efficiency of over 10% compared to non HCL. Wellbeing was found to be participants’ key preference for their lighting systems, followed by efficiency, home impact, and cost.