The Pros And Cons Of Led Streetlights

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The American Medical Association strongly encourages the use of LED streetlights to minimize health and environment issues.

LED streetlights produce less heat and lasts longer.

This policy statement by AMA gained unanimous approval during their last annual meeting in Chicago, in response to the growing popularity and practical uses of LED lighting indoors and outdoors.

Cities and municipalities are already replacing their streetlights with the more efficient and power saving LED units that are proven to save more energy and require less maintenance.

The AMA, however, points out while the benefits are tremendous, the need to properly design the LED structures must also consider minimizing potential effects to health and the environment.

Specifications for LED streetlights must also be carefully considered.

According to AMA, they recommend that outdoor street lighting must have a colour temperature (CT) threshold of 3000 Kelvin (K). CT is the measurement for spectral content of light with the colours of yellow, red, blue and green. A higher CT rating means greater blue light concentration, which results to more white light.

Many cities like New York and Seattle are retrofitting their street lights with LED CT ratings of 4000K to 5000K. This means a high level of blue light. Other cities are following suit.

Complaints of LED-produced lights

Some quarters, however, express their concerns regarding mounting complaints of vision-affecting glare. One recent example is from Davis, California. Residents were constantly complaining that the LED streetlights lights were harsh to the eyes and needs replacement.

A couple of problems were raised on LED’s ‘white light’ which is glare and discomfort. Since LED light is concentrated and has high blue light, it causes glare that causes papillary constriction. Sufficient levels of blue light can even cause damage to the retina.

Street lighting guidelines for using LED

In order to balance the pros and cons of LED street lighting, AMA gave out three recommendations to serve as a guide for LED streetlights retrofitting

First, to support the proper conversion of community-based LED lighting to reduce energy use and impact to the environment. Second , to encourage measures to minimize and control high levels blue light by reducing glare with the use of filtering shields and avoid affecting sight. Third, to set the bar of 3000K or lower CT for outdoor installations like roads and streets with proper shields to prevent glare, as well as dimming the lights during off-peak hours.

There may not be a perfect solution for LED streetlights yet, according to the AMA, but they hope to see better technologies soon to address these concerns.

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