US Cities Reconsider LED Streetlights After AMA Warning

LED lights have captured a greater share of the global market each year as Europe, the United States, India and China enact policies encouraging energy conservation. The light-emitting diode, invented in the early 1960s, sends an electric current through a semiconductor device. LEDs are about seven times more energy efficient than conventional lights and last 25 times longer, while cutting energy use by more than 80 percent, reports the US Department of Energy. However, engineers may want to tinker with the strength of LED lighting after the American Medical Association warned that “high-intensity LED streetlights emit invisible blue light that can supposedly interrupt sleep rhythms and up risk for heart disease and cancer” and “damage drivers' nighttime vision,” reports Alyssa Navarro for Tech Times. Computers and televisions also rely on LED lights. – YaleGlobal