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USA Today
29-03-2025
- USA Today
Purple streetlights cast a mysterious, eerie and fleeting glow across the nation
Purple streetlights cast a mysterious, eerie and fleeting glow across the nation Evan Lovett finds the purple streetlights alluring and troublesome as they glow over his hometown, Studio City, California. The area's once yellow lights began turning purple last summer, offering 'a very airy vibe, in a cyberpunk sort of way,' said Lovett, 46, the creator and host of the podcast, L.A. in a Minute. He talked about the purple lights during a recent episode. However, the uniqueness can wear off quickly, Lovett said. After all, streetlights are supposed to help you see when it gets dark outside. The purple lights aren't particularly good at that. The dim lights became a bit more personal after his house was broken into one night when he was out with his family in early February. He believes the purple-bluish lighting has made his entire neighborhood vulnerable. 'I'm a fan of the color purple, but I don't want my streetlights to be that way," he said. "It's kind of dangerous.' Lovett is just one of many people who have observed an odd yet atmospheric coast-to-coast phenomenon caused by faulty LED streetlights. It has led to a years-long wave of purple lights that mysteriously appear and then disappear across the nation. It's generated incorrect theories, potentially dangerous lighting and fans of an accidental aesthetic. In Milwaukee, at least 300 streetlights installed in 2018 began taking on a purple hue in 2021. In Eau Claire, Wisconsin, some city streetlights took on a blueish-purple tint the same year, as did bulbs in the village of Schaumburg, Illinois and Palm Beach, Florida. In all, at least 30 states have reported suddenly purple streetlights and parking lot lights, along with areas of Canada and Ireland. The first reports began in 2021 and have continued since. Speculation abounds, and theories have included: Maybe the purple lights are more energy efficient or more wildlife friendly. Maybe they're meant to raise awareness about domestic violence. Or perhaps they make it harder for drug users to see their veins. But the truth is that hue isn't intentional — it's the result of a spectacular, if aesthetic, failure of some LED chips. The signature purple glow has popped up, then disappeared, across the country as the lamps slowly fail and are replaced. Safety concerns are real, especially for drivers. "If you've driven through these areas where there's a lot of these purple street lights, you know that it's kind of glare-y and uncomfortable, which could distract the drivers and create some issues," J. Lynn Davis, a member of the Illuminating Engineering Society, said in a presentation on the lights last year. But for some, the fleeting failure has a poetic quality. The color "makes the ordinary look extraordinary," said Selina Román, 46, a photography professor at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. What went wrong with the faulty purple streetlights? The purple hue is the result of the delamination of the phosphor-silicon layer in the streetlights' LED chips. In this case, tens of thousands of LED bulbs installed along streets and parking lots across the country, which appear to have begun delaminating around 2021. To understand why, it's helpful to go back to the mid-2000s, when LED street lighting began to replace the sodium-vapor lamps that had been previously used. (LED stands for light-emitting diode.) LEDs were more cost-efficient because they lasted longer and used less energy than sodium-vapor lamps. And the older sodium-vapor lamps also cast a very distinctive yellow or yellow-orange light. LEDs were meant to cast a white light. However LED diodes don't produce white light naturally. To get white light, it was necessary to mix other colors with blue LEDs – just as sunlight is not actually white but a mixture of all colors. 'The combination together, blue plus yellow, gives us something that approximates white light,' Davis said in an online presentation in May last year. But something began to go wrong with some of these LED arrays beginning around 2021, when the first reports appeared of previously white streetlights suddenly casting first lavender, then violet and finally plum-colored light. The science behind those purple streetlights To get to the bottom of what was happening, a group of lighting experts called the LED Systems Reliability Consortium came together to research the problem. In 2024, Davis and three other lighting researchers analyzed multiple LED modules from streetlights that were producing the purple light, using both microscopic and thermal analysis. The group tested 28 faulty LED modules donated from the North Carolina Department of Transportation. They had been manufactured in mid-2017 and installed around 2018. The color shift began after they had been operating for three to four years. What the researchers found was that in some of the modules, the yellowish phosphor and silicon mixture that filtered the blue light to make it white began to crack and split, eventually falling off and allowing the blue light underneath the shine through. The light that comes out is purple rather than blue because with the loss of some of the yellow layer, the mix of blue and yellow light tilts strongly toward blue – creating a light that appears purple, said Davis. Although some posters online have suggested the streetlamp are emitting ultraviolet or black light, that's incorrect, Davis said. "It's because of the combination of of blue and yellow. It's not a violet source, he said. "It's coming from the blue LED." Who made the faulty purple streetlights? Davis and others in the May 2024 presentation declined to name the company whose faulty LED chips they tested. Whether the malfunctioning streetlights were made by only one company or several, and if it was just one batch or a longer production run, is not known. In the many news articles about the LED lights being replaced in various cities USA TODAY found, only one company is named – American Electric Lighting, a division of the nation's largest lighting producer, Atlanta-based Acuity Brands Lighting. The reports came from Saint Paul, Minnesota, Sioux City, Iowa, Milwaukee, Orlando, and Tallahasee, Florida. Neither American Electric Lighting nor Acuity Brands Lighting responded to emails or phone calls from USA TODAY. However in an interview with Business Insider in 2022, an Acuity spokesman said the effect occurred in only a small percentage of its light fixtures and that it appeared several years after initial installation. According to multiple news reports, the company is replacing all the malfunctioning lights under warranty. As the lights are replaced, photographers race to record Across the country, photographers are rapturous over the mysterious purple glow being cast by the malfunctioning streetlights that began to crop up around 2021. They call their unique gleam "mystical" and "magical." In Los Angeles, photographer Willem Verbeeck cruises the streets scanning for purple streetlights at least three nights a week. For him, the subtle nature of purple captures an essence that used to be seen in old movies. The 'deeper and darker the purple, the better,' he said. The purple lighting doesn't illuminate, he said. Instead, the color 'sits on things and doesn't show anything, not the traditional way a streetlight should,' he noted. With cities working to replace the bulbs, the photographers are busy trying to capture the fleeting moment. Verbeeck's nearly two-year journey to photograph areas with the purple lights has taken him across L.A. up to the Hollywood Hills, near downtown and over to the beach. For him, it's 'going on a treasure hunt.' Recently, his purple light treks have taken him to industrial areas like the Port of Long Beach, where the lights don't get immediately fixed and there aren't many residential complaints. 'I think it's incredibly eerie and unsettling,' he said. 'It's not a totally uncomfortable experience, but it feels like you are in a back alley or a place you're not supposed to be, that's the feeling I get.' For Román, seeking out the mauve light has became a passion project and resulted in a photo collection she called 'A Bad Batch' Recently she saw some of purple hued lights at the rest areas off the Skyway Bridge during her commutes from Tampa to Sarasota. 'The purple lights take an otherwise bland, average scene at night and creates something mystical and magical," she said. 'I felt like I was in a race to get them before people started complaining and they would get fixed.'
Zawya
11-02-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Light + Intelligent Building Middle East concludes record-breaking edition with innovation and technology in the spotlight
15,948 visitors, denoting a 10% increase on the 2024 edition and a 15% increase in exhibition floor space, underscored the popularity of the event as demand from innovative lighting, smart home and building automation solutions continue to grow Industry-defining launches, global collaborations, and the largest-ever Light Middle East Awards mark this year's highlights at Light + Intelligent Building Middle East Dubai, UAE: Light + Intelligent Building Middle East, the region's leading event for lighting and building technology, has concluded, achieving record-breaking exhibitor, visitor, and floor space growth. Held at the Dubai World Trade Centre, the event underscored its importance as a platform for the industry by bringing together 442 exhibitors from around the world and attracted 15,948 visitors, marking a 10% rise in attendance. The exhibition floor space also grew by 15%, underscoring the industry's continued growth and expansion due to new innovations and cutting-edge technology. Abdul Muhsin, Show Director for Light + Intelligent Building Middle East, said: "This year's event has been our most successful yet, with a hattrick of achievements, including increases in exhibitor and visitor numbers and exhibition space growth as a result of this demand. The show's continued growth underscores the Middle East's rising influence in the global lighting and building technology landscape, driven by increased investment in smart cities, sustainable design, and cutting-edge innovation. 'We're delighted to see the continued evolvement of the event into a global hub where professionals, designers, and technology leaders come together to shape the future of lighting, smart home and building automation solutions.' The exhibition, held under the theme 'Building Commonality Through Community, Creativity and Culture, ' featured several global product launches, pioneering collaborations, thought-provoking discussions shaping the industry's future, and a global outlook with three dedicated country pavilions, featuring Germany, Hong Kong, and China. The Global Associations Meet, a high-profile networking event held at the Premium Club, welcomed over 100 industry leaders and representatives from major global lighting associations. World-renowned international lighting designers represented international associations, including the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) and the Society of Light and Lighting (SLL). Several companies chose the exhibition as the platform to launch new products. Among the standout innovations unveiled was Spectrum Lighting's new wireless-powered technology, a breakthrough expected to redefine efficiency and sustainability in the lighting industry. Other launches included the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers, unveiling its latest guidelines, TM65 UAE: A Methodology For Calculating Embodied Carbon In Building Services, a breakthrough to redefine efficiency and sustainability in the lighting industry. Other stand-out features included the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), and Society of Light and Lighting (SLL) led workshop 'Building Commonality in Global Lighting Best Practices,' bringing experts together to explore unified lighting standards and methodologies. The event also featured a dedicated designers' gallery, showcasing the work of top lighting design studios from the UAE, offering visitors an insight into the latest trends and innovations shaping the future of lighting design. Additionally, in a unique initiative supporting next-generation talent, students from the University of Sharjah presented innovative luminaire designs, demonstrating fresh perspectives and creative solutions in lighting technology. Pushing the boundaries of art and technology, the exhibition also featured 'The Moving Hues 2.0,' an immersive light art installation created by India-based Studio Plus and MYVN Architecture. Originally curated in Bangalore, India, the installation showcased a dynamic play of light, motion, and translucent layers, evoking the organic beauty of nature. Rounding out the show highlights was the Light Middle East Awards, which returned for an 11th edition and the biggest to date. Celebrating regional and international lighting projects, products and designers, the awards drew together 550 global industry leaders shaping the future of lighting design and technology. The 19th edition of Light + Intelligent Building Middle East returns next year, from 12–14 January 2026, at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
