Beyond energy saving: LEDs allow light to be modulated to improve productivity, sleep and health.

After more than a century of honored service, the old incandescent light bulb has been (almost) completely replaced. The bulbs that lit the homes of entire generations have been banned in the United States, replaced by new LED technology.

But beware: this is not a simple replacement, it is a revolution whose full potential we have yet to see, as the website Vox tells us. LEDs are not only more efficient than traditional bulbs. Their flexibility and precision allow us to completely rethink our relationship with artificial light.

Light has become smart

We now have lamps that can change color and intensity simply with a touch on a smartphone, in rooms where the walls themselves give off a soft, soothing glow. Smart lighting, in offices, keeps employees awake and productive during the day, then becomes warmer and quieter when it’s time to go home.

Also, public streetlights whose light automatically dims at night, without the need for manual intervention to turn them on and off. Stores and malls where every department has the right light to highlight products. Even clothes equipped with mini-LEDs to be visible in the dark.

Fantasy?

No, simply the untapped potential of LEDs. But there is more. Used properly, LEDs may also be able to help us regain our ‘lost darkness,’ bringing the rhythms of artificial lighting back in tune with the natural cycles of light and darkness necessary for the well-being of body and mind.

Less light when needed, more light when needed

It sounds trivial, but it is a small Copernican revolution in the way we think about lighting. For decades we focused only on how much artificial light we could produce. LEDs allow us to start asking: what is the right light, at the right time, in the right place?

A world of possibilities, but…

As in all revolutions, there is excitement but also uncertainty. It is up to designers to explore this new world of possibilities with creativity and responsibility. The companies that will be able to develop LED products that are not only efficient, but truly useful to people’s well-being, will be the lighting players of tomorrow.

LEDs are marking the dawn of a new era for artificial light, full of opportunities. It is up to us to illuminate the future, in the true sense of the word.