Should light be subject to regulations? An essential nutrient, light, is in danger of being suffocated by regulations.

We are talking about light - artificial and mainly electrically generated light - and we are talking about light for humans. Light which illuminates the rooms in which humans spend most of their time. The application of electrical light is regulated by a multitude of politically or commercially motivated regulations and by-laws. The minimum requirements with regard to the luminous efficacies of lamps has led to whole product groups being banned while, at the same time, definitions of the maximum energy requirements for lighting systems massively restrict the freedom of lighting designers.

Lighting is optical radiation and therefore, of course, a form of energy. However, what is far more significant is, light supplies information about our environment, is essential for architectural design and triggers complex photobiological processes in our body.

The latter is so complex that science is faced with many open questions on this matter and hesitates to make any recommendations affecting the design process. 

That artificial lighting has numerous effects on our organism, both positive and negative, is undisputed. The same is true of food. Compared to what we know about light, however, we know a lot about the effects of food. If both of these essential »nutrients«, both food and light, are analysed more closely, we come to the following conclusion: Foodstuffs can be divided up into their main constituents of carbohydrates, fats and protein. It is possible to define how much energy there is per mass. We can also talk about the taste and the aroma. Unfortunately there are hardly any figures and objective standards with whose aid it is possible to describe the qualitative aspects of fruit, cheese bread and wine. Therefore we need experts who analyse and evaluate the taste by sampling the food.

Light can be divided up into its essential parts and we can measure the wavelengths which it contains. In addition, it is also possible to carry out an evaluation of human sensitivity to brightness, for example photopic vision. We can also discuss »taste«, namely the colour properties, dimming properties, flickering etc. But we need experts who can evaluate the »taste« of light. However, there is one difference: it is impossible to imagine consumers being willing to accept the banning of certain foods and the restriction of the quantities they consume.

Banning light sources?

This example serves to highlight the absurdity of rules which phase out products and restrict design processes. Even the standard incandescent light bulb, which did in fact have the lowest luminous efficacy, had its justification as a light source. Who can prove that this boring (infra red) radiation did not have a positive or even significant influence on our organism? Until this has been clarified for certain, one should not allow this nutrient to be withheld from those persons who feel that it is indispensable.

Light and Sport

There are many facets to light which have an effect on our health. Therefore I would like to draw another comparison with an activity which likewise has numerous effects on our health, namely sport, meaning actively practised sport, physical exercise. 

Too much exercise at the wrong time can damage our body as much as too little exercise, whereby this statement depends very much on the individual and the type of exercise. The same is true of light. Too much light at the wrong time can damage our body just as can too little light. This statement also depends very much on the individual and the type of light. 

If you are physically active you consume more energy and emit more CO². Sport may be healthy but for our environment it has disadvantages with regard to energy consumption and pollution.  

This statement also applies without restriction to the use of electric light sources which is why lighting designers have for many years had to deal with regulations governing the quantitative restriction of electric light. 

Conclusion

Light should not be regulated. Instead of banning products and restricting the freedom of the designer, the experts themselves (the lighting designers) must carefully develop lighting concepts for specific purposes which meet health, design commercial and, of course, energy requirements. For this we need well-trained specialists who continually undergo further training.