LIGHTING
Lif modular smart city system
SELUX AND LIGHTING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Light as an environmental factor has an impact on all living creatures . That much we know .
Light influences both human and animal emotions and behaviour – including those of insects and generally nocturnal creatures such as bats , owls and migratory birds . As well as the shift from daylight to darkness , moonlight and starlight also play an important part .
Bats , for example , hunt only at night using echolocation . Migratory birds navigate their passage using the stars in the sky . On the water , insects hatch their larvae at night . They are all dependent on darkness . Darkness protects them from heat and hunters , allows them to search for food in safety , provides orientation , and controls biological cycles – including re-productive cycles as we see with the firefly . Female fireflies emit their gentle light signal to the males . If the surroundings are too bright , the males miss the signal and mating fails . Lighting along waterways attracts insects in their droves but this is out of balance with nature , and so they are not available as food for fish , birds and bats .
Artificial lighting affects the behaviour of our animal kingdom . We are learning more every day about the true impacts of exterior lighting , and adapting our behaviour accordingly . Bats , for example , are protected by a raft of binding international and European agreements ( e . g . the Fauna Flora
Habitat Directive ) which also identifies light as a relevant factor . Against this background , sustainable exterior lighting in urban or rural areas – and in particular in places designated as being of special ecological interest or a habitat to endangered species – must take into account the needs of insects and other animals .
Light that looks out for insects A main focus of Selux is the development of Night Sky technologies . LED technology plus new materials and production processes today give us considerably greater opportunity to control the direction , light distribution , duration , intensity and spectrum of luminaires .
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