Classroom LED Lighting for Schools, Colleges & Universities

[Marc 10]

Benefits of LED Lighting in Schools
The attention devoted to student test scores, teacher capabilities, and classroom educational theory overlooks one simple change that would benefit students and teachers alike: schools that transition to LED lighting will see an increase in student engagement in a safer and more efficient and eco-friendly learning environment. LED lights in classrooms have been shown to reduce eye strain and to enhance learning by generating light that is less harsh and closer to natural lighting conditions. LED lights generate the same illumination at less than 50% of the operating energy cost as traditional fluorescent school lights, and they are constructed from substances that do not expose students to hazardous materials. They also generate less excess heat than other light sources and thus reduce the strain on a school’s aging cooling systems.

Spoiler

LED Lighting in Schools
Several research studies have shown that LED lights in schools can be tuned to replicate natural light, which aids concentration and improves a student’s learning experience. At the beginning of a day, when students and teachers might benefit from the greater stimulus afforded by natural light, LED lighting systems can be tuned to emphasize blue and white light that has been shown to increase concentration and productivity. Younger students in particular often find that their ability to concentrate suffers during early morning hours that are common in schools. LED lights can help to shift their natural biological rhythms to overcome early-morning tiredness and to jump-start their school day more quickly and efficiently.

Concerns over hazardous materials in aging school buildings has led the Environmental Protection Agency to issue rules for schools that need to replace a fluorescent lamp that has broken in a school building. Because those lamps contain trace amounts of mercury, the school area around a broken lamp should be evacuated while all traces of mercury are contained and removed. This type of interruption would never happen with LED lighting systems because LED lamps do not use mercury or any other hazardous materials that might affect a student’s health. Replacing a broken LED fixture is a quick and easy process.

Cost Savings for Schools that Switch to LED Lighting
Public school districts and private schools alike  struggle with finances and budgets, and school boards and trustees are always looking for ways to reduce overhead costs and to provide educational services more efficiently. LED Lighting systems can reduce energy lighting consumption by up to 70%, which translates directly into substantially lower utility costs. Initial LED installation or retrofit costs are quickly recovered, usually in a period of eighteen months to two years, in energy cost savings alone. Moreover, most LED fixtures have a useful life of at least 50,000 hours, and in many cases up to 100,000 hours. The durability of LED lighting systems thus reduces maintenance and repair costs as well.

Advanced LED lighting control systems further add to the economy and efficiency of LED illumination in schools. LED systems can utilize integrated motion sensors to turn lights on and off automatically as motion is detected. Schools waste substantial amounts of energy solely from lights that are left burning in classrooms and offices when nobody is occupying them.

Source: specgradeled

[Marc 10]

Color Balanced LED Lighting Improves Student Performance
Every year as students trudge back to school from the summer breaks, educators and learning theorists propose and implement new methods to improve student learning and to increase performance. Those educators are now looking beyond teaching methods to determine the effects of a physical environment on student performance. They have known for years that bad lighting has an adverse effect on performance, and they are now beginning to appreciate that the proper lighting for a learning environment can objectively improve student performance. In all cases, color balanced LED’s are the proper lighting for that environment and improve student performance.

Spoiler

As least as early as the 1970’s, research revealed that cool-white fluorescent lighting (which continues to be the standard in many classrooms) caused hyperactivity, fatigue, irritability, and attention deficits in some students. When fluorescent fixtures were replaced with full-spectrum lighting, student behavior and academic performance shows notable improvements.

Color Balanced LED
All lighting is characterized by its correlated color temperature, or CCT, on a spectrum that ranges from warm to cool with measurements on a “Kelvin” temperature scale. The “temperature” of a light source on this scale is not a measure of the actual physical hot or cold temperature of the lighting fixture. Instead it is a rating of how light is perceived. “Warm” lights generally emphasize yellow and gold components, while “cool” lights trend more toward white and blue components. Fluorescent lights, and particularly fluorescent fixtures that have been installed in schools, fall more toward the “cool” side of the lighting scale with little or no “warm” balance.

Research outside of the education industry has shown that certain wavelengths of “blue” (i.e. cooler) light can inhibit a person’s production of melatonin, which is a hormone that helps a person fall asleep. Commercial environments are using this research to create lighting environments that allow their employees to be more energetic and productive. In an educational setting that is designed for adolescents who already have an excess amount of energy, too much blue light can lead to the hyperactivity and fatigue that depresses student performance. Thus, lighting that is appropriate for an adult business environment may be wholly inappropriate for a learning environment. Those learning environments benefit more from lighting that can be adjusted throughout the day to better interact with an adolescent’s internal rhythms and cycles.

LED lighting is the perfect answer for an optimized learning environment
Research has shown, for example, that LED lighting can be adjusted in early hours to increase the general sense of alertness of adolescents who are typically more tired in the earlier part of a day. That LED lighting can be modified throughout the day with an optimized color balance that better matches natural lighting without overstimulating any students. One European research project showed that the performance of some students improved by one-third or more under these color-balanced lighting conditions.

LED lighting manufacturers and engineers are producing LED lighting systems that respond to the challenges and requirements of educational communities. Next generation LED systems, for example, can be tuned from a cool 600K down to a warmer 2500K, with matching adjustments for lighting intensity. These options give educators unprecedented control over how they light their classrooms to create the environments that facilitate optimum student performance.

Source: specgradeled  

[Robert Lights ✌ 22]

New Report on Tunable Lighting in Classrooms
The U.S. Department of Energy's GATEWAY program has released a new report on a trial installation of tunable-white LED lighting systems in three classrooms in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District in Carrollton, TX, which provides valuable insights into the use of this technology in a real-world setting.

The LED systems were installed in August 2016 and provide the ability to vary the spectral power distribution (SPD) across four preset conditions associated with nominal CCTs of 3000 K, 3500 K, 4200 K, and 5000 K. The controls also provide for preset scenes to vary the on/off status and dimming level of different luminaire zones within the room, to better support such classroom functions as audiovisual presentations.

Among the key takeaways:

• The reduction in input power for the tunable-white LED lighting system was estimated to be 58% relative to the incumbent fluorescent system, and was attributable to the higher efficacy of the LED luminaires and a reduction in illuminances, which previously exceeded IES-recommended levels.
• Dimming furthered the energy savings in each classroom.
• While the teachers’ usage of the controls varied widely as recorded by the monitoring system, in each case the lighting consistently operated with all or some of the luminaires turned off or dimmed for portions of the school day.
• When the control locations were more easily accessed by the teacher, the dimming level was varied more regularly.
• The teachers used the scene controls regularly but used the SPD controls infrequently.
• Color consistency for the tunable-white LED luminaires was very good, even over the dimming range, with only minor variations in CCT and Duv.
• The two teachers interviewed by DOE appreciated the ability to tailor the lighting to different classroom needs, and felt that the lighting and controls allowed the students to be engaged in choosing the settings for various classroom activities. Both teachers stated that the lighting system improved the overall learning environment.
• For a closer look at the findings, download the full report:

Classroom Tunable Lighting Report
Classroom Tunable Lighting Report Brief

Source: energy.gov