Are LED’s Missing Something?
The goal of Lighting used to be simple. We wanted our light to save energy and make things, including our selves, look good. Long Life was important too. Incandescent made us look great, but wasted 90% of its energy and had very short life. H.I.D. and Fluorescent saved some energy, and had long life, but for the most part, we looked terrible. Over time, LED solved those problems with massive energy savings, great spectrum with high R9, and long life. But are we missing something?
Scott Zimmerman of Silas and Robert Soler of Bios Lighting are featured in a video called “The Importance of Near Infrared in the Spectrum.” The National Lighting Bureau sponsored this video at its Annual Lighting Forum. These experts are quizzed by Randy Reid, Executive Director of the National Lighting Bureau and Editor of the EdisonReport.
Mr. Zimmerman makes the case that the elimination of near infrared spectrum is harmful to our health. He explains that the industry has done a great job of replicating visible light, but no one really knows the consequences of eliminating the invisible light. He reminds the audience that the eye does not see the near infrared, but the body does.
The video is somewhat provocative, as Mr. Zimmerman’s ideas and research have not been well received by the industry. Watch the video here and decide for yourself if we need infrared light in our daily lives.
The controversial video was filmed at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).