Improving the well-being of high-Arctic residents by modifying light exposure while saving energy

• Main Authors: Newsham, Guy R., Veitch, Jennifer A., Arsenault, Chantal D., Kruithof, Steven, Mancini, Sandra, Galasiu, Anca D., Amow, Gisele
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Arctic; Canadian Forces Station Alert
• Online Access: https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/accepted/?id=7ea404b4-7f89-473a-be43-7652ce90fdff; https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=7ea404b4-7f89-473a-be43-7652ce90fdff; https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=7ea404b4-7f89-473a-be43-7652ce90fdff

We conducted a lighting retrofit study at Canadian Forces Station Alert (latitude 82°30’N), the world’s most northerly, permanently inhabited settlement. Existing recessed fluorescent troffers with nominally 6500K T8 lamps on electronic ballasts, providing ambient lighting in selected offices, were replaced, one-for-one, by 5000K LED luminaires. The new luminaires had higher efficacy and a high colour rendering index, and were dimmable at the room level with a wall control. A variety of well-being measures pertaining to the office occupants, and energy use data, were collected before and after the retrofit. Preliminary results suggest that, as predicted, the enhanced features of the LED system led to a generally better appraisal of the lighted environment, and substantial lighting energy savings of ~30%. Peer reviewed: Yes NRC publication: Yes