We just published an article on the negative aspects of high CCT (correlated color temperature) LED lighting in an attempt to raise the awareness of understanding accurately the term 'CCT ' for the lighting industry peers. Many lighting manufacturers in China simply don't care this parameter and never realize how important it is in the era of solid state lighting. In the domestic market the cool whiteness CCT around 6000K is the dominant color temperature for interior and outdoor lighting. This is the same case with most developing countries. The intrinsic cause of the high CCT preference is not that people in these countries like the 'cool feel' with cool white light or they think higher the CCT brighter the light, but rather the ignorance in lighting knowledge and lack of consumer education from lighting manufacturers and public organizations.
The debate initiated from AMA's statement sparked off an industry-wide research in the United States. The focus of our post is not to comment on the necessity of AMA's advocate of using 3000K CCT for In-Ga-N based LED lighting to mitigate blue light hazard, disability glare and discomfort glare, melatonin suppression, and circadian disruption. Nor do we explore the feasibility of low CCT LED lighting as concerned by the lighting industry professionals that it may compromise the ability of the lighting system to meet all critical design criteria for each unique application. We try to emphasize the spirit of independent research for the sales people. In fact, the majority of the sales persons in China has little knowledge in CCT. This reflects their negligence in equipping themselves with professional vertical expertise. The best customer service is technology-driven. However, there's an unhealthy atmosphere among the sales and marketing professionals who indulge themselves in superficial business tricks.
In another post we questioned the appropriateness of categorizing CCT groups, e.g., warm white (2700-3200K), neutral white (3800-4300K), cool white (6000-6500K) - which are the typical CCT groups that many Chinese suppliers offer in their cutsheets or pricelists. Unprofessional buyers would follow unprofessional sellers blindly, and professional buyers see the unprofessionalness in the sellers. Color temperature in terms of the "whiteness" versus "warmness" is inherently a reflection of sellers' R&D capabilities in the field that they specialize in. CCT does not explicitly characterize the consequences of light exposure on human biology, which also depend on quantity and duration of exposure to light. Nevertheless, when offering customers with high CCT LED lamps make sure that full research is conducted to justify the necessity of using high CCTs in your products.