Lighting controls: a field study of office workers’ reactions

Abstract

This paper reports a qualitative study of the acceptability of lighting control systems by 41 French office workers, in three sites with dimmable lighting, respectively with manual, semi-manual, and automatic control. The analysis of the results aimed to determine the characteristics of an ideal lighting control system. It appeared that the occupants found automatic continuous daylight-linked systems discreet, but they needed to be able to override them. The complexity of the remote control has led occupants to under-exploit it. Many occupants chose lower artificial light levels when daylight was bright, in order to benefit more from daylight. Automatic dimming with manual choice of illuminance level, optional task lighting, and user friendly control, may be the key elements of an ideal lighting control system.