Full-spectrum LED lighting offers numerous benefits.
Research shows bright lighting makes happier, more productive workers
Posted in General by Net Zero USA
You might be surprised to learn that your choice of lighting can have a significant impact on the productivity of your company. In fact, our research found that brighter levels of lighting comparable to daylight is beneficial for the health, productivity, and safety of all building occupants.
It turns out that dim lighting can cause eye strain and headaches. This is because the eyes are forced to work much harder in order to see when lighting levels are low or poor. Dim lighting can also result in drowsiness and lack of focus, which can cause a negative impact on employee motivation, productivity, and safety.
Because LED lighting can emit a bright pure white light it essentially mimics daylight, causing the human body to react like it would to natural sunlight.
Improvements in productivity, a decrease in accidents, an increased level of mental performance, improvements in sleep quality, and an increase in morale have all been attributed to better & brighter lighting.
The following findings about the positive effects of full-spectrum bright lighting are all from a 2002 research paper published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
Productivity Gains From Brighter Lighting
By incorporating brighter lighting in the industrial workplace, the time required to perform a specific task may decrease. Early studies in a silk weaving factory found that positive changes in performance were tied to better illumination from a heightened sense of worker safety.
In another study, people took less time to carry out various tasks of probing needles, map reading, and measuring the diameter of bolts, among other things, when luminance was increased.
A series of industrial European studies conducted in 1973 found that accident rates dropped by approximately 50% when illumination increased from 15 to 100 foot candles.
Natural light increases attention and alertness during the post-lunch dip and has shown to be helpful in increasing alertness for boring or monotonous work.
Pennsylvania Power and Light installed high-efficiency lamps and ballasts in the early 1980s to reduce glare for drafting engineers. The effects from the low-quality lights previously used were not only causing glare, but also morale problems, eye strain, headaches, and increased sick leave for employees. With improved lighting, productivity for the drafting engineers increased by 13.2%.
Health Improvements From Brighter Lighting
Studies also show that better lighting reduces headaches, seasonal affect disorder, and eyestrain, all caused by insufficient light levels. Natural light helps maintain good health, and can even cure some medical ailments.
Natural light stimulates essential biological functions in the brain and is divided into colors that are vital to our health. For example, on a cloudy day or under poor lighting conditions, the inability to perceive the colors from light can affect our mood and energy level.
Lighting is especially important for the elderly since the eyes get worse at seeing over time. To obtain the proper visual sharpness, the average 60 year old needs two to three times the light as a 20 year old, while an 86 year old may require as much as five times more light!
Increase Productivity At Your Company With An LED Lighting Upgrade
If you haven’t upgraded the lighting at your business in recent years, there’s a huge opportunity to make a simple improvement that will have a BIG impact! T12 & T8 fluorescent lighting is outdated and lower in light output compared to modern LED lighting options. You probably don’t realize it, but you’ll surely notice the difference once you make the switch.
Below are some before and after lighting photos from small businesses across America using Net Zero USA’s LED Lighting Retrofit Kits.
Independent Grocery Store – T8 Fluorescent Lighting (Before)
LED Lighting Retrofit (After)
Commercial Office Building – T8 Fluorescent Lighting (Before)
LED Lighting Retrofit (After)
Metal Plating Manufacturer – T12 Fluorescent Lighting (Before)
LED Lighting Retrofit (After)
Request A FREE Lighting Audit At Your Facility
Net Zero USA’s commercial LED lighting installers are located throughout the country, offering free lighting audits for organizations large and small. Request a consultation to learn about improving lighting and your bottom line TODAY!