Page 70 - Lighting Magazine December 2019

THE
LIGHTIFICATION
OF THINGS
Lighting is so much more than illumination. Visible light is replacing chlorine, radio waves, electricity, and even medications. BY DAVID SHILLER
What do visible light disinfection, LiFi, fiber optic communica- tions, quantum computing, and medical light therapies have in common? They are all examples
of light replacing older technologies, often with enormous benefits. We can call this macro-trend the Lightification of Things. Let’s look closer at the examples.
Lighting as Disinfectant
There has been a lot of trade press (including the pages of enLIGHTenment Magazine) about visible
light disinfection. This technology uses a special wavelength (color) of violet light (often 405 nm) to disinfect surfaces exposed to the light.
The technology is catching on in the healthcare industry, where infection prevention is of life-and- death importance. In many cases, ceiling fixtures will produce both white light and the special wave- length of violet to simultaneously light the room and gradually disinfect. The specific wavelength of violet light has been demonstrated to kill bacteria, includ- ing nasty ones like MRSA and C. diff. The violet light triggers chemical reactions within the bacteria that kills them. In this case, visible light is able to do a job that once required chlorine bleach or UV light — both of which have safety issues. Visible light disinfection still requires traditional cleaning, but improves the results.
a new transmitter
Most people use WiFi every day. WiFi is a radio that connects our phones, tablets, computers and – in the IoT dream – every electrical device imaginable to the internet. The WiFi router transmits and receives
66 enLIGHTenment Magazine | DeceMber 2019
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