An international survey on residential lighting: Analysis of summer-term results

Abstract

Obtaining visual comfort, satisfaction and well-being in residential interiors are now becoming more important, especially in times of extreme events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It also became important to collect users' evaluations and their own solutions for residential lighting in order to improve the current lighting conditions. For this aim, with a group of international and inter-disciplinary researchers, a comprehensive study was conducted. This study is the last part of a three-stage investigation aimed at increasing our knowledge of the current lighting conditions in residential areas during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. For the current study, an online survey and in-depth interviews were conducted between June and August 2022 in Poland, Turkey, Sweden, and the U.K., with 520 participants. As results of this study show, a correlation was found between daylight satisfaction and its sufficiency. Similar correlations were found between artificial lighting satisfaction, its sufficiency, and its uniformity. The differences between seasons were detected for being very satisfied with daylight quality. Also, the correlation between satisfaction with daylighting and the ratio of windows showed difference among seasons. Stronger correlations between satisfaction with artificial lighting, its sufficiency and uniformity were found in summerterm according to winter-term results. Correlations between artificial lighting brightness – CRI and uniformity weakened in summer-term. Results from open-ended questions and in-depth interviews showed, removing the shading device and augmenting the characteristics of artificial lighting were the mostly done adjustments during the COVID- 19 pandemic. The most prominent theme is visual comfort according to the in-depth interview responses.'