Today, cities around the world face the challenge of balancing three key priorities: ensuring public safety, reducing energy consumption, and protecting the natural environment.

Every night, streetlights illuminate our cities, ensuring public safety and supporting urban life. However, lighting affects more than visibility; it also influences human emotions and biological rhythms. To address this, human-centric lighting has emerged, designed to support our natural circadian rhythms and promote well-being.

Yet humans are only a small part of Earth’s broader ecosystem. Artificial lighting at night can unintentionally harm both human and non-human life by disrupting natural cycles. Its consequences include disturbed wildlife migration patterns, declining pollinator populations, and the gradual loss of our view of the starry night sky.

A promising solution that benefits both cities and nature is biodynamic street lighting. Unlike human-centric lighting, it is life-centric, dynamically adjusting light intensity and color temperature based on the time of night and environmental conditions. It is a powerful solution for cities striving to balance safety, sustainability, and ecological responsibility.

WHAT IS BIODYNAMIC LIGHTING?
Biodynamic lighting is an intelligent lighting approach that adapts to the natural rhythms of people and the environment. It goes further than human-centric lighting. The concept is based on circadian science, the understanding that light profoundly influences biological clocks and the overall well-being of both humans and animals.

The term “biodynamic” combines two key principles: bio (life) and dynamic (change). Biodynamic lighting systems adjust both intensity and color temperature throughout the day and night in response to natural rhythms.
Biodynamic lighting represents a human-centric and eco-centric evolution of modern illumination. For example, biodynamic streetlights can shift to warmer tones and softer brightness during low-activity periods, helping to reduce light pollution and support biodiversity in urban environments.

WHY CITIES NEED BIODYNAMIC STREETLIGHTS
Cities need to move toward biodynamic streetlights because current lighting systems often clash with goals for health, safety, and sustainability.
Good city lighting shouldn’t just serve people; it should also protect the environment and the animals that share it. To do this, we need to understand how light affects different living things and design lighting that supports both human life and biodiversity.

LED streetlights are bright and energy-efficient, but they often give off too much blue light. This type of light can cause sleep problems for people and disturb animals and plants.
Cool-white or blue-rich light affects humans by reducing melatonin, the hormone that helps us sleep. This disrupts our natural body clocks and can make it harder to rest well or feel alert during the day. Cities have a duty to protect public health, and lighting that harms sleep and well-being no longer fits the needs of modern, healthy communities.

Animals see light differently from humans. While we are most sensitive to green and yellow light, many animals are much more sensitive to blue light. For them, bright blue light at night can be stressful or confusing. A warmer amber or red light is gentler and safer for wildlife. For example, sea turtles are far less disturbed by red or amber lighting, making these wavelengths preferable in coastal areas.
Too much light, no matter the color, also causes problems. It can disrupt natural cycles, waste energy, and increase costs. During low-activity hours, cities do not need the same level of illumination; softer, warmer light is sufficient. High intensity and cooler tones should only be used when and where necessary.

Ultimately, cities need a lighting solution that balances public safety, human health, and environmental responsibility. Biodynamic streetlights achieve this by intelligently adjusting light intensity and color temperature.

Source: https://www.agcled.com/blog/biodynamic-streetlights-win-cities-nature.html