Lighting the Way to a Clean Future with Ultraviolet Light Emitting Diodes

The health care market holds enormous potential for the deployment of UV-C LEDs. UV-C LED solutions also enable point-of-use water treatment for consumers: Imagine being able to purify your water with a light the size of a pencil eraser in your kitchen or in a portable water bottle, with water from any faucet.

Germs are everywhere.

They're on our clothes, in our hospitals, and even in the water we drink every day. Humans are resilient to a certain degree, but recent health crises such as the Zika virus and the water contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan, have been a wakeup call. Even in today's seemingly sanitized world, persistent environmental health threats in our water and on everyday surfaces can cause serious damage—and the problem is far more severe than many realize.

According to the World Health Organization, more than one billion people lack a reliable source of clean drinking water—that's nearly one in every seven people. Globally, nearly 3.4 million people—mostly children—die of water-related diseases annually. Even the places we expect to be safest can be dangerous. The Center for Disease Control estimates that one in every 25 hospital patients contracts at least one health care-associated infection during their visit. Globally, each year over 700,000 patients suffer from an infection while hospitalized, leading to 75,000 deaths.

Hospitals and commercial businesses around the world are taking note and deploying more solutions. Sales of disinfectant sprays, gels and wipes have grown in recent years, and the market for disinfection solutions keeps growing. The global health care surface disinfection market alone is expected to surpass $542 million by 2020. Although these products can reduce the germ count on surfaces, existing solutions are limited. They're expensive, generate excessive waste, and often include dangerous chemicals such as mercury—one of the top 10 chemicals of major public health concern.

Industrial water treatment solutions face similar obstacles. Reverse osmosis and distillation systems are notoriously inefficient, wasting three gallons of water for each gallon of clean water produced.