lighting in the workspace

[gtwister09]

As I was reading through many of the older posts, I came across discussions concerning lighting in the workspace discussions. One of the things that I miss about not doing industrial engineering is ergonomics and all the things that go along with it like workstation design, tooling, motion studies, plant/workstation design and various other aspects like lighting. However I have kept up with the field for many reasons including doing things at home as well as some consulting here and there outside of information technology.

I have included a couple of pictures of what the garage looks like with standard fluorescent bulbs and with the T8 (full spectrum bulbs). No... I haven't cleaned it up either but the garage hasn't been used for about 8-9 months either. As you can see it is fairly significant from the standard to the full spectrum. The two standards are up front and the two full spectrum are at the back. We rarely use the two regular ones and will be replacing them.

I have also included a paper from 2003 that describes full spectrum lighting, some of the benefits, some methods of measurement and so forth. There's a lot of technical information contained in it but the basics are there as well as what to consider and look for in full spectrum lighting.

Full_Spectrum_Basics_and_Resources.pdf

There are places where you can get these lights from such as www.fullspectrumsolutions.com. You can even get replacements for regular light bulbs as well but they are a little pricey as always.

Regards,

Ben

Full_Spectrum_Basics_and_Resources.pdf

[kathleen]

Thanks for posting this. I recently installed some overhead lighting in my shop. The ceiling configuration limits how many sets (8) I can gang over my 20 foot table. I'd looked for bulbs with the highest lumens rating, 3200 I think. The benefits of full spectrum not withstanding, I note the lumen rating for bulbs I found on fullspectrum are nearly 70% brighter but the wattage is only 25% or so higher. I think I can swing it. I like a LOT of light. I'll read the pdf you posted later.

I find your background in industrial engineering interesting. I do a lot of that, untrained via necessity, write quite a bit about it as well (needle trades). I thought about going back for a master's in it, desiring an emphasis in lean manufacturing but the chair described it as "comic book" engineering. Considering the less than hospitable environment, I've given up on that ...for now.

[David Genadek]

I use lights form Orion lighting and have been really happy with both the light, cost and the electric bill.

I have used them in two of our barns and just put up another 16 in a shop addition.

David Genadek