Several hours of our childhood summers have passed with the constant buzzing of bugs around streetlights and front porch lamps. Have you ever wondered, just like regular lights or street lights, do LED lights attract bugs? And if they do, why do LED lights attract bugs? This article aims to answer these questions, which ends with a plot twist.

How do LEDs Work?

LEDs are used commonly in most modern electrical devices, from cars to TV remotes.LED stands for light light-emitting diodes. They work by allowing the flow of current in one direction in a circuit and blocking it from flowing through the other direction. This flow of current emits photons through the semiconductor within the LED, which is responsible for emitting light. We perceive different colours depending on the wavelength length emitted by the semiconductor.

Do LED Lights Attract Bugs?

Yes, LED lights attract bugs, but fewer insects than typical incandescent lights. This is because LED lights release less ultraviolet (UV) light and create light at wavelengths that most bugs cannot see. Bugs are more attracted to UV light and shorter wavelengths like blue and violet, thus LEDs with warmer hues (such as yellow or amber) are less likely to attract insects. Some bugs, however, may be drawn to specific types of LED lights based on their spectrum.

LED vs Tungsten: Why do LED Lights Attract Bugs?

We have undergone quite a revolution from old-fashioned tungsten bulbs to LEDs almost overnight, which is why it is crucial to understand why LED lights attract bugs. This has significant implications for disease transmission, human welfare, and agricultural practices commonly riddled with pests.

Multiple studies have been conducted to investigate why LED lights attract bugs. One such study was conducted by Dr. Andy Wakefield and published in the journal Ecology and Evolution.

In the summer of 2014, Dr Wakefield and his team took two LED bulbs—a cool white LED and a warm white LED—as well as a traditional tungsten filament light and a modern compact fluorescent light to 18 field sites around the southwest of England. The bulbs were set up on the field attached to an insect trap. They turned the lights on at sunset and off at sunrise and collected insect samples beneath each light for later analysis.

Over the summer, they caught 4000 insects, each identified and classified according to family order.

“what’s interesting about our results is that we found that 80% of those biting midges were attracted to the traditional filament light, about 15% were attracted to a compact fluorescent, 2% were attracted to the cool white LED, and 3 % to the warm white LED,” said Dr Andy Wakefield to Integral LED.

This is because bugs are cold-blooded animals that often seek warmth. LEDs emit minimal UV light and heat (LEDs use 20-25% of the energy to produce heat), the main attractant for many insects, making them less appealing to bugs. Meanwhile, Incandescent bulbs emit high UV light( 375 nanometers (nm)) and heat (90% of the energy used is wasted to generate heat).

In a Nutshell

This news might be surprising to a few, as LEDs, which are known to be an energy-saving alternative to traditional fluorescent bulbs, are also beneficial at keeping pests away.

Cool white LEDs are the lowest in the percentage of attracting bugs, while tungsten filament bulbs and fluorescent lights pose a larger threat to attracting bugs. So, if you’re looking to furnish your backyard with light fixtures, LED lights are far more unlikely to cause it to be infested by bugs.

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