Near Infrared goes mainstream ?

A big shoutout to the entire InsideLighting.com team and Al Uszynski

We've been neck deep in this topic for a few years now thanks to Scott Zimmerman's ground breaking paper

"Melatonin: Both a Messenger of Darkness and a Participant in the Cellular Actions of Non-Visible Solar Radiation of Near Infrared Light" published in Biology.

Nice to see the health benefits of infrared starting to bubble up to the mainstream. In particular I'd like to call out the following from the InsideLighting.com post

Health vs. Energy Efficiency

NIR wavelengths are invisible and considered unnecessary for illumination, which has led to their exclusion to reduce energy consumption. Yet, the study suggests that ambient NIR exposure may enhance mood and reduce stress, creating potential tradeoff between energy efficiency and occupant well-being

As an industry we have to move on from "lumens per watt" as a meaningful metric. Energy efficiency is incumbent upon any good lighting design nobody is looking to waste energy. But as we learn more and more about the health benefits of non-visual energy, we can't continue to use lumens as the meaningful metric when lumens are only visible light.

Consider that infrared shows signs of health and wellness benefit yet every optical watt of infrared consumes some energy yet produces zero lumens, in essence killing any meaningful lumens per watt.

Click on graphic to link to full story at www.insidelighting.com