Vitasolis™

Optisolis™

2-in-1 Tunable LED

Light so Good:
Illuminating office spaces
A guide assessing the current trends in office lighting and its future direction
with special thanks to:www.nichia.com

INTRODUCTION:
Office workspaces are not homogeneous; there
is no standard aesthetic or layout that governs
designers when they sit down to conceptualizea new work surrounding. In turn, there is noone-size-fits-all approach to office lighting.
Modern-day office lighting schemes have many
objectives to meet, not least delivering energy efficiency,
sustainability and addressing the challenges posed by thecircular economy. Of course, none of these ambitions canbe achieved to the detriment of light quality.
Lighting has to be fit for purpose and meet user
requirements; after all, the right lighting is often personal
preference. Then there is visual appeal and creating an
expression of workplace branding that speaks to both staff
and clients. System intelligence is also climbing up thelist of demands as users seek the gains that data analysis
provides, while the growing popularity of human-centric
lighting (dynamic lighting) should not be ignored by thoselooking to enhance staff productivity and wellbeing.

Throw the shifting businesslandscape and rise of homeworking into the mix and there
is much to consider for the futureof lighting in office spaces.

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NICHIA: A guide assessing
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2-in1 Tunable White LED for every day mode lighting.

NICHIA: A guide assessing
the current trends in officelighting and its future direction

3

GOING BEYOND ENERGY EFFICIENCY:
The lighting industry is already harnessing the potentialof ‘LEDification’ and sustainability to deliver significant energy
efficiency and environmental benefits, and moving forward there
is little doubt that energy savings will remain a major driver for officelighting designs. From a renovation perspective there remains much
infrastructure that can still transition to LED, and there is regulatory pushin support of that progression. Emerging rules in Europe will ban any
remaining halogens by September 2021, for example. Moreover, the EC
has just published a new policy that sets out the objective to double
renovation rates over the next few years. It is estimated that around 75%
of existing building stock is energy-inefficient as it was constructed before
current legislation on performance. A further contributor to energy savings
is effective lighting control, such as that provided by daylight, timing
and occupancy sensors, which allow systems to react instantly to user
requirements.

NICHIA’s ‘Light so Good’ range comprises
OPTISOLIS™, an LED
with spectrum closest
to natural sunlightwithout harmful UVemission.

VITASOLIS™, an LED
with higher
cyan levels thanconventional LEDs to
stimulate the bodyand help control
human-circadianrhythm.

Clearly, however, there is a need for the office lighting of the future to go
beyond energy efficiency, which many now take for granted. With thisthought in mind, the real value of lighting to the sector and society will comefrom intelligent and dynamic systems.
Academia and the medical research community
have clearly documented the biologicalimpacts of light.

Today, NICHIA
technologies andproducts are available
that can deliver thosebiological benefits
indoors.

We are convincedthat human-centric lighting, fostered byintelligent systems, will be the next big thingfor office buildings. People question the value ofhuman-centric lighting and indoor environmental
quality because they struggle to calculate the ROI.
However, employees represent 90% of operating
costs for a typical business, and studies showthat the performance of office workers increases
by up to 12% when they are exposed
to better lighting.
Ourania Georgoutsakou

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NICHIA: A guide assessing
the current trends in officelighting and its future direction

Secretary-General,
Lighting Europe

2-in-1 tunable LED
technology allowing
color tuning from2700 to 6500K withina small, single lightemitting surface
that achieves superb
color uniformity andquality.

NOONWhite light,
high intensity

MORNING

Cool light,
high intensity

Warm light,
low intensity

EVENINGNo light

MIDNIGHT

The Circadian Rhythm - human body clock.

NICHIA: A guide assessing
the current trends in officelighting and its future direction

5WHAT IS GOOD LIGHTING?:
When it comes to delivering quality light, there are few
benchmarks to provide guidance. And while there is a standard
for office lighting - ‘EN 12464-1 Lighting of work places’ - which sets
out the minimum requirements for parameters such as color rendering,horizontal and vertical illuminance, illuminance uniformity,
glare and color temperature, few designers
will be encouraged by theword ‘minimum’.

To stand out from the crowd andmake a difference, modern officelighting schemes must go beyond.

Designers should address the core issues of safety, task
requirements and occupant needs in a coherent and integrated
manner to be successful in delivering quality light. Factors toconsider include light levels and distribution, light source quality,
the use of tuned and tunable lighting, personalization throughcontrol and, importantly, daylight.
Daylight is the most sustainable source of light; it is circadianin nature and has various disinfection properties. Most astutely
designed office lighting schemes will comprise a combination of
daylight, direct and indirect lighting, and individual task light.

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NICHIA: A guide assessing
the current trends in officelighting and its future direction

2-in1 Tunable White LED for every day mode lighting.

NICHIA: A guide assessing
the current trends in officelighting and its future direction

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A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE:+ Light forwell-being

Q

ua

y
lit

L
of

ife

Human-centric
lighting+ Light forsustainability

Intelligent
lighting systems

LEDification

Y

Today, sustainability often tops the list of concerns. There is, after all,a climate emergency taking place and everyone has a part to play. Energy
efficiency and CO2 reduction are naturally at the heart of most sustainability
drives. Here, ‘LEDification’ has made a major contribution, of which thelighting industry can be proud. But there is some way to go, with renovation
projects key to making the necessary in-roads. Effective lighting control
and intelligent design can continue making a difference, particularly with
the increasing use of wireless technologies and the emergence of data
as a more influential aspect of the holistic office lighting solution.

GROWTH OF VALUEOF LIGHT TO SOCIETY

O
N
O
M

Although technology is pivotal in any successful office lighting
design, adopting a human perspective is also important when looking to answer questions about future trends. Analyzing theneeds and concerns of office workers will set out the appropriate
design principles.

U
RC
CI

R
LA

EC

Energyefficient light
2015

2020

Another sustainability issue is toxicity at end-of-life - there is muchwork to do on recycling, reusing and renewing - while beginning-of-lifeand resource shortage must also be considered. For instance, if current
consumption rates continue, estimates suggest that copper could
disappear as natural resource at some point between 2040 and 2050.
All of these factors lead to the circular economy debate and how it
relates to the lighting industry. Designers must think about what
a circular economy product looks like and the needs it should fulfill.
By way of example, the sustainability trend could well drive the needfor plug and play solutions that allow various lighting toolkits to be
integrated with flexible infrastructure, so luminaires can be reusedvery simply at end-of-life.

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NICHIA: A guide assessing
the current trends in officelighting and its future direction2025

To apply any of thesesolutions, the contribution of LED
and luminaire manufacturers will be vitalin providing the tools that we need
as designers to ensure that our vision and the needs and desires of clients are implemented.

Mark Ridler
Head of Lighting,
BDP

Sustainability issue regarding the toxicity with end-of-life technology.

NICHIA: A guide assessing
the current trends in officelighting and its future direction

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COMING AROUND TO THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY:
A truly sustainable lighting solution needs to be socially effective,
environmentally responsible and economically feasible. There must
be a balance between the energy consumed and the task thatthe lighting is required to perform. For instance, there is little meritin designing office lighting that blankets 400lx over the entire space.
In any case, within typical workplaces, desk areas only consume about 30%of the floor area. Putting 400lx into a carpet is simply a waste of energy andusually serves to create a workspace that lacks personalization or culture.

REFUSEREFO
RM

ACQUISITION
OF RAW
MATERIALSFINALDESTINATIONRECYCLING
END-OF-LIFE
TREATMENT
DESIGNCOLLECTION

CIRCULARECONOMYRE-TRANSFORMATIONWITH MINIMUM WASTE
CONSUMPTION
USE, REUSEAND
REPAIR

TRANSPORTATION
DISTRIBUTIONR E US E
10NICHIA: A guide assessing
the current trends in officelighting and its future direction

PRODUCTION
AND

REDUCE

Certainly the most energy-efficient lighting systemis the one which is switched off, but that hardly
serves the purpose. Even the regulators are carefully
contemplating this dilemma. A review of European
legislation is due in 2024 and preparations are already underway to ensurethat any additional energy-efficiency requirements will not jeopardize theperformance of human-centric lighting.

Striking a trade-off
between energy efficiency
and light quality is the challenge,
bringing it together with thecircular economy.

LEDs also have their part to play. Among the goals at NICHIA in relation
to the circular economy is achieving higher CRI without compromising
illuminance efficacy.

RECYC
LE

Getting good daylight into a space is essential, as is theuse of lighting control technologies such as daylightharvesting sensors and presence detectors, as well as
efficient LEDs and luminaires. Using these techniques
and others will allow designers to remove 80% ofa system’s energy, while simultaneously creating asolution that benefits office workers by lighting in the
optimum way.

The circular economy has wide-ranging implications for the future oflighting. Using slimmer products, fewer components and recyclable
materials, along with extending service life, all help reduce carbon
footprint. But this concept is also about ‘light miles’: the length of supply
chains; ensuring production takes place close to point of use; how much
renewable energy is used during manufacture; and adopting an intelligent
approach to packaging.

Getting good ‘daylight’ into a space is essential.

NICHIA: A guide assessing
the current trends in officelighting and its future direction

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THE WORKPLACE/HOME OFFICE BALANCE:
National lockdowns due to the pandemic have accelerated
the evolution of the office, although some of this was alreadyunderway. Increased homeworking has been a long-held futurescenario, where certain technologies applied in the office can transfer
to homes, such as task lighting, and tuneable white and anti-glare solutions.
Many agree that the demise of the workplace due to COVID-19 is overstated,but there is little doubt it will be reinvented, largely through the accelerationof existing trends. The immediate future will likely see a mixed economy evolve,
with workers spending approximately half their time in the office and half at home.

For certain, there will be a need for highly
qualitative and versatile office lighting.

There are fewer distractions at home and, with people spending less timecommuting, productivity increases. On the flip side, office workers have a
primal need to socialize with colleagues, a part of work life missed by many
during periods of lockdown. One notion is that there could be a move awayfrom open-plan office working, which can be distracting. In its place there
might emerge more ‘loose fit’ meeting spaces that are less commercial in lookand feel. This type of plug and play, highly adaptable collaborative space will
prove ideal for colleague-to-colleague and colleague-to-client encounters.
If the only reason to visit the workplace is to see and speak with colleagues
or customers, then the way that person is rendered to others becomesparamount. As a result, lighting must work better than before, perhaps
focusing on task and ambient solutions, or better CRI, or maybe something
completely new? It is less about generating 400 or 500lx at desk level, butmore about volumetric light, where factors such as flicker, color, quality,
distribution and glare become far more important.

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NICHIA: A guide assessing
the current trends in officelighting and its future direction

Working from home needs lighting to help with staying focused.

NICHIA: A guide assessing
the current trends in officelighting and its future direction

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WHAT FIXTURES WORK BEST IN OFFICE ENVIRONMENTS?
In a very simple approach to office lighting, it is possible
to differentiate between fixed and flexible luminaires. Fixed types
include recessed, semi-recessed, pendant and downlight, while
flexible variants comprise free-standing, task and uplight.
Office lighting solutions should be personal, smart and high in quality.
Personal means tailoring the light to individual needs, thus improving
and enriching user experience. This level of customization should becomplemented by intelligence. Sensors, the cloud, data analytics
and algorithms are known to drive useful new products and services,while an intuitive user interface helps to control the increasingly complex
functions of light fittings.

Style guide to different
workspaces
It is worth restating that office
workspaces are not homogeneous,which is why there exists a wide
portfolio of luminaires to help designers
create the perfect look and meet the needsof all stakeholders, be it for new-build or
renovation projects.
Take a multi-function office which serves as a training, flexible working
and meeting room. Such a space might easily benefit from large, circularceiling-mounted light fixtures that provide direct and indirect glare-free light.
This solution will likely differ from that applied to an open-plan office featuring
a variety of dedicated activity zones. Here, an endless linear fixture could befully integrated with both ceiling and architecture, or used in semi-recessed orsuspended (pendant) format. The use of an endless diffuser (supplied on a roll)
will ensure no joins are visible.
Free-standing flexible luminaires also benefit most office landscapes. The latest
light fixtures of this type are available in tunable white versions controlled by an
intuitive graphical app to adjust luminance and color temperature. Users can alsochoose dynamic light scenarios, such as following the daylight trend, or evenmore personalized concepts. These free-standing luminaires can be connected
via the cloud, using a dashboard to visualize data. Sensors capture information
about luminance, user presence, temperature and more.
An office bureau with both informal and formal areas presents another common
application. Stream-tunable uplights might well provide a good solution here,
projecting very large light circles on to the ceiling. This impression evokes the
feeling of sunlight in the office, creating a very open atmosphere with good
homogeneity of desk area. A cooler color temperature could be adopted for theformal space, with a warmer color temperature for the informal zone.
And there should be no overlooking work areas illuminated by task luminaires.
With the latest models sporting optics that create an asymmetric glare-freebeam, users can leverage fully tunable capabilities to create their personal
micro-atmosphere.

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NICHIA: A guide assessing
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A flexible approach
to lighting design is very important,particularly having luminaires that adapt
easily with office layout redesigns.
Furthermore, versatile environments haveto be equipped with very high quality lighting.
We must step towards the possibilities thatexist now with spectrum and lighting
distribution, and do it in a much better way
than previously.

Kornelius Reutter
Product Manager,
Design & Innovation,
Regent Lighting

The future of office lighting in the workplace.

NICHIA: A guide assessing
the current trends in officelighting and its future direction

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THE UV-C OPPORTUNITY:
In the future there will be a desire to create office spaces thatare safe, where people can collaborate with minimum health risk.
UV-C disinfection technology has been proven to inactivate - without
exception - all bacteria and viruses it has been tested against, and istherefore a key element in the integral design of safe spaces.
Unfortunately, it is not easy to integrate UV-C technology into existing officelighting concepts. UV rays are different to light, while there are some obvious
safety concerns regarding the exposure of office workers to UV. Disinfection
processes could only realistically take place in an empty office. In addition, UV
will only kill bacteria and viruses in direct line of sight, so the developmentof a moveable system may be necessary. Ultimately, the adoption of UV-C
will likely become a more specialized luminaire solution that could well become
popular, but only following careful investigation.

UVC
100

UVB

280

UVA

315

Ultraviolet

400

700 Wavelength (nm)VisibleUV-C light disinfects air, surfaces and water

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NICHIA: A guide assessing
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Infrared

UV-C LEDs from NICHIA
already exist. The company
is working with LED moduleand optics partners to permit
successful integration withlight fixtures. Nevertheless,the thinking remains that
UV-C is a companion
technology, and that hightouch surfaces are bestcleaned with disinfectant
spray while ensuring
adequate ventilation.

A PEEK INTO THE FUTURE OF OFFICE LIGHTINGNICHIA has just recently announced a new and improved Circadian Tunable LED offering. Thisnew tunable LED pairing has been developed to enhance the regulation of your Body Clock by
combining both the stimulation and calming doses, in addition to color tuning.

NICHIA’s Phosphor Converted Cyan outperforms a pure InGaN die based
cyan in many ways. As highlighted by Phosphor Engineer Sadakazu Wakui

This Circadian Tune technology harnesses NICHIA’s expertise in developing a unique Phosphor
Converted Cyan, among other semiconductor processes and packaging techniques. The
supplementary component is the inclusion of NICHIA’s newly launched LEDs with TriGain®
technology, a potassium fluorosilicate (PFS) based phosphor technology licensed to NICHIA
through a strategic partnership with GE Current.

lumens per watt (lpW) performance versus a traditional pure InGaN cyan.
Additionally, the PC Cyan provides the same forward voltage (VF) as

Most existing human-centric lighting systems mainly work by changing CCT (correlatedcolor temperature). Some have started using individual “energizing” or “calming” LEDs,
including NICHIA’s Vitasolis™. However, NICHIA’s new Circadian Tune LED products willraise the bar to also address efficacy, color quality and increased Melanopsin Stimulation,
the light that explicitly targets melanopsin-containing neurons in the retina of the eye.
These neurons, called Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells (ipRGCs), areconnected to a region of the brain responsible for regulation of the 24-hour circadian cycle
along with associated reflexive neuronal and hormonal responses to the presence of light.
Sensitive to a particular range of wavelengths, melanopsin photoreceptors reach peaklight absorption at wavelengths around 490nm. By utilizing NICHIA’s Phosphor Converted
InGaN Cyan, NICHIA’s Circadian Tune LEDs are optimized at the most sensitive
wavelength of ipRGCs. Indeed, this approach provides a higher performance throughits unique combination of lumens per watt (lpW), TM30 and Melanopic Ratio (MR)than other human-centric lighting solutions.

Using NICHIA’s new Circadian Tune technology,
the high MR and cooler CCT will reduce fatigue
and provide greater alertness to help office
workers remain in an awakened state of mindor help night workers complete their shifts
effectively. At a low MR and warm CCT, thefocus switches to relaxation, prompting afeeling of safety and initializing a transition to
sleep. A sense of time is therefore introduced
when both proper melanopsin stimulus andvariable CCT is being applied.

at an industry summit, the Phosphor Converted Cyan delivers a higher

standard white LEDs, as well as the same z-height for optical matching.
Couple this unique PC Cyan and NICHIA’s Warm White LEDs with TriGain®
technology, the system can achieve a CRI of 90+, with high TM-30 values,
while delivering a lpW performance equivalent to that of an 80 CRI LED. A
balanced human circadian lighting system is achieved with simply no loss inefficacy.
Using NICHIA’s new Circadian Tune technology, the high MR and cooler
CCT will reduce fatigue and provide greater alertness to help office workers
remain in an awakened state of mind or help night workers complete
their shifts effectively. At a low MR and warm CCT, the focus switches torelaxation, prompting a feeling of safety and initializing a transition to sleep.
A sense of time is therefore introduced when both proper melanopsin
stimulus and variable CCT is being applied.
“New Circadian Tune LED products are truly innovative. Through an
optimization of efficacy, color quality and Melanopsin Stimulation, we canbetter target ipRGCs. Additionally, the utilization of a traditional 80 CRI
warm white for the relaxing portion limits the color quality of the system. To
overcome these limitations, NICHIA has introduced this Phosphor Converted
Cyan and Warm White TriGain® pairing,” explains Satoshi Okada, General
Lighting Business Planning Manager of NICHIA Japan.
“NICHIA introduced Vitasolis™ in 2019, a range of LEDs geared tosuppress fatigue and boost vitality. The Circadian Tune LED pairingbuilds on these innovations to offer a more dynamic and tunable
solution to the global lighting industry.”
LEDs with TriGain® technology are available now in NICHIA’s 757
series, the industry’s first and leading mid-power LED. The new
unique Phosphor Converted Cyan will be available within the first halfof 2021.

NICHIA: A guide assessing
the current trends in officelighting and its future direction

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Vitasolis™

Optisolis™

2-in-1 Tunable LED

The future of office lighting depends on many factors, not least the development of
new LED technologies. NICHIA has proven over many decades that it leads the way inadvanced LED solutions that set the industry tone moving forward.
To learn more, contact NICHIA today info_de@nichia.eu
View our webinar:

Nichia Chemical Europe GmbH
Westerbachstr. 28
61476 Kronberg i. Ts.
Germany