Light Therapy Lamps Being Installed At Bus Stops In Swedish Town, Powered By Renewables

 
Swedish energy company Umea Energi has begun to install phototherapy lamps at 30 bus stops throughout the city of Umea, as part of a new pilot program. The program is designed to give people “a little energy kick” while waiting for the bus.

Over 400 miles north of the already northern capital city, Stockholm, the winter days in Umea are very short and without much sunlight. So to address this, Umea Energi decided to install the phototherapy lamps as a way to give people a sense of summer and sunlight during the winter.

According to the company, the light is harmless, and has all of the ultraviolet radiation filtered out. “The American Cancer Society states that while there is no scientific evidence for the use of ultraviolet therapy in treating cancer or other illnesses beyond psoriasis and the suppression of a certain type of skin cancer, light box therapy without the ultraviolet radiation is a ‘proven medical treatment for seasonal affective disorder,’ and that it is currently being explored to treat other types of depression.”


 
Readers here will be happy to know that the electricity that powers these bus shelter lamps is coming from renewable sources. Umea Energi’s long-term goal is to be carbon neutral by 2018.

Source: CNET
Image Credit: Umea Energi