Letters
Pros and cons
I enjoyed the article “
Will LEDs lead to a greener world? Maybe,” in the GreenLight section of the magazine (November 2010, p. 27).
I was enlightened by the concept that even though LEDs are more energy-efficient
than current lighting technology, their use could increase to a level where there
is no net gain in overall energy efficiency on a large scale.
Not to imply that the positives don’t outweigh the negatives,
I just wanted to point out another potentially negative consequence of large-scale
LED usage: the environmental impact of LED materials. Recently, Chemical & Engineering
News published an article that discusses research on this issue. Titled “LEDs
Not So Green After All,” it can be found on C&EN’s website:
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/88/i51/8851news8.html.
It is very interesting – and perhaps even more important
– to consider both the positives and negatives of new technologies.
Ryan Pensack, graduate student
Chemistry Department
Penn State University
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