You may not think of light bulbs as being anything more than something to screw into a lamp. And before recently, I took the lowly bulb for granted, too. But spending a day with the amazing team of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center gave me a glimpse into the future of how lighting can change how we decorate, save energy, combat jet lag, and even get a better night's sleep!
As I walked through the labs, looking at the different applications, I learned that the body responds differently to different hues of light: blue light wakes us up, warmer, sunnier tones are more restful.
The RPI scientists are putting this knowledge to use designing lighting systems for airplane cabins so that passengers on long flights may be spared the logginess of jet lag. The findings also have applications for anyone to get a better night's sleep by one day being able to dose up on a 24-hour multi-hued lighting scheme.
In another lab experiment, cool-looking LED light fixtures were incorporated into modular wall panels, which could be moved around a room like furniture when you wanted to do a little redecorating.
Then we moved onto something called a "dayswitch," which installed on any light switch, can sense when a room is sunny and automatically turn off a light to save energy.
Lighting can even help us shop smarter, as I saw first hand by peering into side-by-side refrigerator cases like the ones you see in grocery stores. One case was lit by fluorescent lights; the other by LEDs. Similar bottles of juice were displayed in both, but the yellow label of the bottle in the fluorescent-lit case looked grungy and gray. The LED-lit bottle looked bright and yummy. I know which one I would have snapped up!
