Ingo Thies
2014-04-11 11:48:24 UTC
Dear all,
maybe this topic has been discussed here earlier (and in times where
this groups had been more 'alive'): What is the reason for the
preference of higher colour temperatures (CCT) in the southern Europe or
Asia relative to Central or Nothern Europe?
The naive but probably wrong answer sometimes given in the web (without
any reference, though) is, that higher CCT look "cooler" and thus makes
people sweat less at subtropical or tropical temperatures while lower
CCTs make people feel "warmer" in cooler countries.
In my opinion, this explanation doesn't hold water. First, it could not
be reproduced in own experiments and is also not plausible anyway since
it mixes up two completely different effects: the
psychological/synesthetic effect of colour on the one hand, and physical
excess heat the body needs to get rid off on the other. Consequently,
using blueish white light in summer doesn't replace sweating or air
conditioning (or swimming :)) but rather has no noticeable effect on the
subjective warmth. Physically, I would expect just the contrary effect:
Blueish light suppresses melatonin and rises the blood pressure like
coffee, which might be a disadvantage in a hot climate. But in polar
regions, high CCT colour in the morning and during the day may partly
replace the under-abundant sunlight.
Moreover, the preference of neutral or daylight CCTs is found in entire
Asia, even in the cooler climates there, so the "warmth" argument
doesn't apply there.
My suspicion is rather that in southern countries as well as in Asia
fluorescent light has been adopted much earlier than in northern or
central Europe or the U.S. where incandescent light has long been
standard. Since low CCTs weren't widely available for fluorescents at
that time people simple got used to white light.
Are there any independent studies on this topic?
Ingo
maybe this topic has been discussed here earlier (and in times where
this groups had been more 'alive'): What is the reason for the
preference of higher colour temperatures (CCT) in the southern Europe or
Asia relative to Central or Nothern Europe?
The naive but probably wrong answer sometimes given in the web (without
any reference, though) is, that higher CCT look "cooler" and thus makes
people sweat less at subtropical or tropical temperatures while lower
CCTs make people feel "warmer" in cooler countries.
In my opinion, this explanation doesn't hold water. First, it could not
be reproduced in own experiments and is also not plausible anyway since
it mixes up two completely different effects: the
psychological/synesthetic effect of colour on the one hand, and physical
excess heat the body needs to get rid off on the other. Consequently,
using blueish white light in summer doesn't replace sweating or air
conditioning (or swimming :)) but rather has no noticeable effect on the
subjective warmth. Physically, I would expect just the contrary effect:
Blueish light suppresses melatonin and rises the blood pressure like
coffee, which might be a disadvantage in a hot climate. But in polar
regions, high CCT colour in the morning and during the day may partly
replace the under-abundant sunlight.
Moreover, the preference of neutral or daylight CCTs is found in entire
Asia, even in the cooler climates there, so the "warmth" argument
doesn't apply there.
My suspicion is rather that in southern countries as well as in Asia
fluorescent light has been adopted much earlier than in northern or
central Europe or the U.S. where incandescent light has long been
standard. Since low CCTs weren't widely available for fluorescents at
that time people simple got used to white light.
Are there any independent studies on this topic?
Ingo
