PREFERRED COLOUR TEMPERATURES OF AMBIENT LIGHT AT DIFFERENT LIGHT LEVEL SETTINGS

Abstract

Ambient light is taken more into account in today’s lighting design as it has a major impact on human well-being as well as reduction of glare. LED lighting provides new opportunities to design more efficient lighting systems in terms of improved color rendering and possibilities to vary the color temperature in order to mimic daylight. Today there is a trend to use dynamic lighting in working environments to set the circadian rhythm by varying the CCT over the day by using higher colour temperatures and illuminance levels in the morning and lowering the values in the afternoon toward night. This study investigated preferred color temperatures within an ordinary workplace area using various light levels and different ratios between task area and the ambient light in a laboratory environment. Furthermore we also compared different age groups and gender in order to examine if there were any such differences in preferences.