LEDs ‘damage brain’ - Uh oh!!!

Altrincham / Trafford local authority is to delay the introduction of some 26,000 LED street lights – after a protestor claimed they would ‘damage the brains’ of local residents and that they were an ‘untried and untested’ technology.

The £8 million roll-out of the luminaires in Altrincham, Cheshire, was halted by Trafford council after protest leader Simon Nicholas claimed the light from the LEDs could damage the brains of people living nearby.

Scientific research on LEDs has linked them to disrupted sleep patterns, alleges Nicholas, who says there is also a glare danger to drivers.

The protesters say the new luminaires are not in keeping with conservation areas and the heritage lamp-posts are unsuitable for LED light engines.

Trafford councillors were due to vote on the plans at a meeting – but the proposal was withdrawn until more research is conducted on the proposals to ensure their safety.

Birmingham and Bath councils have already been forced to ditch or delay the installation of LED street lights because residents said they 'looked like UFOs' – while Salford residents complained they were not bright enough when the lights were trialled in 2011.

so why is everyone so scared of this is untried, untested new technology?

I personally had a resident ask why we had carried out a lighting upgrade at Sandford Rise in Sandy (Beds)  - when I told him that the new system had built in emergency lighting and used 1/5 of electricity whilst giving more light and lessening light pollution than the defunct system, I was met with a shrug of the shoulders and "There was nothing wrong with the old lights"

unless to account for the mineral wiring system was failing, there we no emergency back up and the switching tech did not have an IP rating. obviously apart from that it was all fine.

we calculate we can help save 70 per cent on energy bills from the LED lights.

are you sceptical of LED? why?