Impact of new lighting technologies on office ergonomics

The goal of this study was to find the impact of cutting-edge light-emitting diodes (LED) lighting technologies on the office ergonomics in modern offices. An experiment was conducted in a windowless office at the University of Kansas. This experiment used four test conditions with two levels of light sources (LED and fluorescent lamps) and two levels of lighting control (with/without lighting control). A total of 30 subjects with an average age of 21.6 and eyesight of 20/20 and 20/16 participated in this experiment. Subjects performed typing tasks and color matching tasks under each one of four test conditions. Subjective evaluation of lighting quality and task satisfaction were collected using a questionnaire. High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography was used as a new approach of light measurement in offices. The results revealed that LED lighting had more consistent color rendering performance than fluorescent lighting, and also led to better typing task satisfactions. LED lighting could reduce the lighting power consumption (by up to 65.5% in this study) without any negative impact on office ergonomics. Introduction of individual lighting control could lead to better satisfaction toward the lighting quality and higher savings in lighting power consumption.