BLT Direct ask if LEDs will make cleaning a thing of the past

Ultraviolet LEDs are the next wave of LED lighting solutions, but they aren’t for lighting your home; they’re for sanitising public spaces. BLT Direct, the online lighting experts, have looked at the new technology and believe that it’s going to catch on quickly.

“Germs are difficult to fight even with soap and water,” said Steve Ellwood, Managing Director of BLT Direct. “In places where there are plenty of unwell people, such as hospitals, it can be even more difficult to disinfect surfaces because they are used so often. The potential in UV LEDs is enormous.”

UV LEDs work not by removing the germs, but by destroying their capability to perform vital cellular functions, including disrupting their DNA and destroying nucleic acids which the germs need to survive.

These lights could not only replace disinfection techniques for places like doctors’ surgeries and restaurants, they could even pioneer new ways of disinfecting items unable to be washed. Rubber handrails on escalators, for example, cannot be cleaned regularly because any water and soap would interfere with the movement of the escalator. However, a germicidal UV light could easily pass overhead and eradicate all risk of picking up an illness.

We are probably several years away from having UV LEDs used in places like shopping centres, but it’s probable that hospitals and surgeries in the UK will be the first to benefit from this new technology.

“Soon, people might even be able to buy these LEDs for domestic cleaning,” added Steve Ellwood. “It’s not just a safety device, but a labour-saving one that looks set to work magic for manufacturers.”

For more information about BLT Direct, and to browse the wide range of lightbulbs available, as well as finding out what savings can be made by switching to LEDs, visit the website: www.bltdirect.com