Five things that could replace the light switch

LEDs may have the near future sewn up as far as light sources go, but what about the light switch? Lux takes a look at the technologies poised to take its place.
LEDs may have the near future sewn up as far as light sources go, but what about the light switch? Lux takes a look at the technologies poised to take its place.
Shuji Nakamura continues to expand Soraa, the company he co-founded to push LED lamps to new heights of colour and efficiency.
Yet another study warns of the health effects of blue wavelength light, such as LEDs. But it's not all bad.
It's a mixed bag for organic light-emitting diodes. They're improving and prices are dropping, but LEDs will stay ahead of them until the next big thing comes along, according to a new research note.
They haven't been on the market all that long. Are they failing? We asked recovery trendsetter Recolight.
Lighting designers must learn to design for the biological as well as the visual effects of light, PhotonStars Fenella Frost told LuxLive yesterday.
Not content with winning a Nobel Prize for his blue LED, which kicked off the LED lighting revolution, Shuji Nakamura now plans to shake up the world of 'human-centric' lighting with new technology based on violet LEDs.
Academic studies are fine. But when you want the boss to approve millions for an overhaul, it sure would help if you could demonstrate the connection between lighting and the company's bottom line. A new toolkit aims to do just that.
If you want a Nobel Prize, you have to meet lofty expectations. So what has the blue LED done to earn its inventors the grand honour? For starters: It is bringing light to millions of people with no electricity.
It looks like the sun... but it isn't. It's a brand artificial skylight which, for the first time, recreates the scientific phenomenon that makes the sky appear blue.
A hundred new 'smart cities,' $1.2 billion, and a gung-ho Prime Minister Modi are all pulling in LED vendors who want to build the backbone of intelligent urban networks.
Earlier this week we wrote that office workers confined to spaces away from natural light are tired and weary compared to their colleagues by the window, as a U.S. study observed.
Now, like the proverbial string of buses, another study has come right along revealing the same general effect and more: People who work near the window laugh more.
The latest twist in the good light/bad light health saga is an alarming one: Exposure to even low levels of bedroom light could stop a key breast cancer drug from working, U.S. research suggests.
There is great potential for energy efficiency improvements in appliances such as lighting, says a recent research paper. However, government measures to promote the manufacture and purchase of such equipment are often misconceived and counter-productive.
Lighting technology could provide a basis on which to build data networks to power other technologies and services, speakers at the International Lighting Fixture Design conference said last week.
John Aston, the newly inaugurated president of the Society of Light and Lighting, has called on the lighting industry to promote awareness of links between lighting and public health.