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A GLARING EMISSION
L
ED street lights are bad for your
health; at least, that’s what the
American Medical Association
(AMA) is saying... kind of.
The AMA is an association of medical
professionals that aims to “promote
the art and science of medicine and the
betterment of public health”. Recently,
physicians at the group’s Annual General
Meeting tabled a report conducted by
its Council on Science and Public Health
entitled
The Human and Environmental
Effects of LED Community Lighting
, which
looked at the increasing popularity of
LED street lights and the effect it was
having on human- and animal-kind.
“Despite the energy efficiency benefits,
some LED lights are harmful when used
as street lighting,” AMA board member
Maya A. Babu says.
“The AMA encourages proper attention
to optimal design and engineering
features when converting to LED lighting
that minimise detrimental health and
environmental effects.”
High-intensity LED lighting designs
emit a large amount of blue light that
appears white to the naked eye. This
creates worse nighttime glare than
conventional lighting.
Discomfort and disability from intense,
blue-rich LED lighting can decrease visual
acuity and safety, resulting in concerns
and creating a road hazard, the AMA says.
“With the advent of highly efficient
and bright LED lighting, strong economic
arguments exist to overhaul the street
lighting of roadways,” the report says.
“Valid and compelling reasons driving
the conversion from conventional lighting
include the inherent energy efficiency
and longer lamp life of LED lighting,
leading to savings in energy use and
reduced operating costs, including taxes
and maintenance, as well as lower air
pollution burden from reduced reliance
on fossil-based carbon fuels.
“However, not all LED light is optimal
when used as street lighting. Improper
design of the lighting fixture can result in
glare, creating a road hazard condition.
“LED lighting also is available in various
colour correlated temperatures. Many
early designs of white LED lighting
generated a colour spectrum with
excessive blue wavelength. This feature
further contributes to disability glare
(i.e. visual impairment) due to stray light,
as blue wavelengths are associated
with more scattering in the human eye,
and sufficiently intense blue spectrum
damages retinas.”
Accordingly, the report explains,
significant human and environmental
concerns are associated with short
wavelength (blue) LED emission.
“The main reason for converting to
LED STREET LIGHTS HAVE
CAUGHT THE ATTENTION OF
THE AMERICAN MEDICAL
ASSOCIATION, WHICH IS CALLING
FOR A BAN ON CERTAIN MODELS
OF LAMP.
PAULSKELTON
REPORTS.
Discomfort and disability from intense, blue-rich LED lighting can decrease visual acuity and safety, creating a road hazard.
PUBLIC HEALTH
E L EC TR I C AL CONNEC T I ON
SUMME R 20 1 6