LED light between Nobel Prize and cancer risk factor

Multiple night‐time light‐emitting diode lighting strategies impact grassland invertebrate assemblages

“…Their compact design and low heat loss has led to LEDs becoming near ubiquitous in all aspects of human life from interior, exterior and decorative lighting to desktop, handheld and wearable displays. Yet while LEDs have been hailed for improving energy efficiency and combating global climate change, the dramatic pace of this revolution has raised numerous concerns among environmental scientists and human health experts (Falchi et al, 2011;Davies et al, 2014;Haim & Zubidat, 2015). From a health perspective, the prominent peak of blue wavelength light emitted by commonly used white LEDs occurs at the most effective frequency for suppressing melatonin production (West et al, 2011;Haim & Zubidat, 2015) and has been linked to sleep disorders, obesity and the progression of some cancers (Cajochen et al, 2011;Falchi et al, 2011;Haim & Portnov, 2013;Chang et al, 2015;Keshet-Sitton et al, 2015).…”

“…Yet while LEDs have been hailed for improving energy efficiency and combating global climate change, the dramatic pace of this revolution has raised numerous concerns among environmental scientists and human health experts (Falchi et al, 2011;Davies et al, 2014;Haim & Zubidat, 2015). From a health perspective, the prominent peak of blue wavelength light emitted by commonly used white LEDs occurs at the most effective frequency for suppressing melatonin production (West et al, 2011;Haim & Zubidat, 2015) and has been linked to sleep disorders, obesity and the progression of some cancers (Cajochen et al, 2011;Falchi et al, 2011;Haim & Portnov, 2013;Chang et al, 2015;Keshet-Sitton et al, 2015). Ecologically, a variety of biological processes are known to be sensitive to both the short wavelength peak and broad range of wavelengths emitted by white LEDs, including circadian rhythms (De Jong et al, 2016), organism navigation (Van Langevelde et al, 2011;B atnes et al, 2013;Rivas et al, 2015), reproduction (Gorbunov & Falkowski, 2002) and colour-guided behaviours Davies et al, 2013).…”

Why artificial light at night should be a focus for global change research in the 21st century

“…Their rising popularity stems from the variety of colours that LEDs can be tailored to produce, their improved energy efficiency over alternative electric light sources, and ability to produce "white" light that is aesthetically pleasing and provides enhanced visual performance (Pimputkar, Speck, Denbaars, & Nakamura, 2009;Schubert & Kim, 2005). While LEDs are often advocated for their potential to reduce global CO 2 emissions and the ability to tailor their spectra to avoid unwanted environmental impacts (see "Feasibility of solutions"), environmental scientists and human health experts have raised concerns about the broad-spectrum light (Davies, Bennie, Inger, De Ibarra, & Gaston, 2013;MacGregor, Pocock, Fox, & Evans, 2014) and prominent short wavelength peak (Haim & Portnov, 2013;Haim & Zubidat, 2015) that the commonly used white models emit ( Figure 3).…”

“…These include sleep disorders, depression, obesity and the progression of some cancers (Cajochen et al, 2011;Chang, Aeschbach, Duffy, & Czeisler, 2014;Haim & Portnov, 2013;Keshet-Sitton, Or-Chen, Yitzhak, Tzabary, & Haim, 2015). The prominent peak of blue wavelength light emitted by LEDs is of increasing concern since it occurs at the most effective frequency for suppressing the production of melatonin (Haim & Zubidat, 2015;West et al, 2011), a hormone released by the pineal gland that regulates sleep wake cycles and acts as an antioxidant. Over the last decade, LEDs have become a ubiquitous feature of human life and can be found in street, residential, commercial and aesthetic lighting installations, laptops, televisions, e-readers, smart phones and tablets.…”

Synthesis, electronic structures, and photoluminescence properties of an efficient and thermally stable red-emitting phosphor Ca3ZrSi2O9:Eu3+,Bi3+ for deep UV-LEDs

“…[1][2][3][4][5] However, conventional WLEDs using blue InGaN chips combined with phosphors are very likely to cause health problems because excessive exposure to monochromatic blue light oen results from their use. 6,7 Therefore, ultraviolet (UV) LEDs combined with phosphors are an important and promising alternative for the fabrication of full spectrum lighting sources that are healthy and comfortable to human beings. 8,9 With their rapid development, UV LEDs are mainly divided into near-UV LEDs (300-400 nm) and deep UV LEDs (200-300 nm).…”