New technology could boost light consumption, quality of life

Washington, Aug 20 (ANI): A new technology based on semiconductor light-emitting diodes (LEDs) could increase our consumption of light and therefore our quality of life.

The team of US-based researchers said that SSL - with its cheap manufacturing and operating costs - may have an impact not just on energy consumption but also on human productivity, and that the two impacts are linked.

"Thus, an increase in the cost of energy associated with lighting, which would normally reduce both human productivity and energy consumption, can be mitigated by an increase in the efficiency in lighting: energy consumption can be held constant while maintaining some human productivity increase or energy consumption can be reduced without a decrease in human productivity," they said.

The study could have implications for governments and local authorities that are implementing legislated regulations in energy consumption or instigating incentive schemes to use more energy efficient light sources.

The research is published in a special issue of IOP Publishing's Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics. (ANI)