Those of you in the audience who are subscribed to our weekly LEDs Magazine News & Insights newsletter will notice a special distribution in your inboxes today. Despite the fact that we recently curbed this distribution back to once per week, as a team we felt the extra attention focused on ultraviolet (UV) technology for germicidal applications deserved a special edition of the newsletter. So we are considering perhaps making this a monthly newsletter like other topic-focused distributions we send.
In today’s special edition, you’ll find content curated as an overview of the manufacturing and performance demands of UV LED sources; “myth-busting” of what UV germicidal irradiation can and cannot do; and the comparative capabilities of conventional UV sources and LEDs as described in the latest R&D efforts. Browse this newsletter online if you don’t receive our News & Insights weekly; you can subscribe anytime.
As chief editor Maury Wright explains in the newsletter’s editorial column, although UV LED technology trails the penetration and maturation of visible-light LEDs, product developers and manufacturers continue to make headway in resolving lifetime and radiometric power challenges, in addition to pursuing ways to lower volume manufacturing costs so applications such as disinfection, or UV germicidal irradiation (UVGI), can become more broadly deployed where society so greatly needs them. Whether at the moment that means mercury-based or other UV sources are being deployed, or LED-based technologies are making their way into custom fixtures and air/surface sanitizers, we continue to devote our resources to meeting your interest by covering and sharing examples of responsible deployments that provide appropriate cautions about UV exposure and implement safety measures to protect people (and pets, in the residential application!) from UV radiation.
Our work continues as we intend to keep bringing you content that informs, educates, and brings action-oriented perspective to UV topics. A multi-webcast series is planned that will explore technology issues and solutions with UV sources, as well as application scenarios. We also plan to develop three special reports in the magazine that focus on germicidal UV in three application areas: schools, healthcare environments, and commercial settings. These will incorporate staff-written and contributed content, so we invite you to contact Maury with proposals for application-specific technical approaches.
As we head rapidly toward the close of what has turned out to be an extraordinarily unsettling year, we’d remind you that while the current coronavirus pandemic will eventually reach an endpoint agreed upon by epidemiology and health experts (instead becoming what they "endemic disease"), the world is full of pathogens that seek to survive and thrive alongside us. Ingenuity and perseverance across many fields will be responsible for securing a healthier world for all. Light-based technologies are one part of the solution. Though the attention on what is “trending” may grow weaker, the need for disinfection as a part of public safety should remain well within view.
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