Lifelight is a next-generation hand sanitization system that uses light to deliver safer, cleaner, and more sustainable protection for people and the planet.
01Why it matters
U.S. hospital patients has an infection they caught in hospital, on any given day. That is about 687,000 infections and 72,000 deaths a year.
CDC HAI Hospital Prevalence Survey · Magill et al., NEJM 2018
of the moments when intensive care staff should clean their hands are missed. Doctors manage it about one time in three.
Lambe et al., Critical Care Medicine 2019 · 61 studies
of alcohol rub goes through one dispenser in a year at 200 uses a day. Producing it releases about 66 kg of carbon, mostly from the alcohol itself.
Br J Anaesth 2023 · Duane et al., Environ Sci Pollut Res 2022
02Hands and infection
Staff hands touch patients, lines, catheters and surfaces all day. When hand hygiene is missed, they move bacteria and viruses from one patient to the next.
of hospital infections spread from patient to patient on the hands of staff.
Weinstein, Am J Med 1991fewer hospital infections in Geneva after hand hygiene rose from 48% to 66% of the times it was needed. Infections fell from 16.9% of patients to 9.9%.
Pittet et al., The Lancet 2000What each one costs
Five of these infections cost U.S. hospitals an estimated $9.8 billion a year. This is what a single case adds to a patient's stay.
Each dot is the average extra cost of one case, pooled from 26 studies. The line around it is the range the true figure most likely falls within (95% confidence). In 2012 dollars. Zimlichman et al., JAMA Internal Medicine 2013. MRSA raises a CLABSI to $58,614 and an SSI to $42,300. WHO estimates up to 70% of HAIs are preventable with good hand hygiene and infection prevention practice.
Then, light.
03How it works
Far-UVC at 222 nm is absorbed by protein within a few micrometers. Bacteria and viruses are smaller than that. The dead outer layer of your skin is thicker.
Hold your hands in the treatment zone. Nothing to touch, pump or press.
The unit emits a narrow band of Far-UVC centered on 222 nm.
No residue, no dry time, no bottle to replace. Ready for the next person.
04The evidence
Peer-reviewed results on 222 nm light, and the gaps in alcohol rub it addresses.
of norovirus-type, coronavirus and common-cold viruses on surfaces inactivated in a lab study, at a low dose.
Alcohol does not kill C. difficile spores, a leading cause of infection in hospitals. 222 nm light does, at a high enough dose.
less carbon per hand clean than alcohol rub, counting electricity and standby. No product to make or ship.
Recognition
“This hand sanitizer could radically change how we sterilize our hands.”
05Sustainability
Most of gel's footprint is spent before anyone uses it. It has to be made, packaged, shipped, stored and thrown away, for every dispenser, every day, for as long as it is on the wall.
The life of a refill
Alcohol is fermented or synthesized, then blended with water, thickeners and emollients. Making the alcohol is 69–83% of a sanitizer's climate impact.
Filled into plastic bottles, pouches and pump cartridges, each used once.
Trucked to every site by the pallet and kept as a flammable liquid under fire-code limits.
Empty bottles, cartridges and leftover gel go to landfill, refill after refill.
Made once and installed once. After that, nothing to package, ship, store or throw away. Its only running input is electricity.
No refills, no packaging, nothing sent to landfill.
The alcohol itself accounts for 69–83% of a hand sanitizer's climate impact. Lifelight uses none.
No deliveries, no storage room, no empty dispensers between rounds.
200 uses a day at 2–3 mL per use. Carbon for alcohol rub at 0.3 g CO₂e per mL (Br J Anaesth 2023); share of impact from alcohol from Duane et al., Environ Sci Pollut Res 2022. Lifelight electricity is modeled at 30 W for 10 seconds per use, based on two 12 W filtered 222 nm lamp modules, plus 1 W standby, at $0.15/kWh and 0.37 kg CO₂e/kWh. A 300-bed hospital uses about 3,700 L of hand rub a year, or 1.1 t CO₂e from product alone (worked example).
06Running cost
A dispenser has to be refilled for as long as it is on the wall. Lifelight uses a few seconds of electricity per hand clean, has no consumables, and its lamp is rated for 8,000 to 10,000 hours.
Alcohol rub at $0.15 per use, Lifelight's estimate including product, packaging, handling and refill labor. Lifelight electricity is modeled at 30 W for 10 seconds per use, based on two 12 W filtered 222 nm lamp modules, plus 1 W standby, at $0.15/kWh and 0.37 kg CO₂e/kWh. Hardware purchase is not included.
07Where it works
Hospitals and clinics, airports and schools, hotels and restaurants: anywhere people need clean hands without a sink or a bottle.
08Who made it
Lifelight was co-invented and co-founded by a doctor who treats the infections it is meant to prevent and a designer who turns proven science into products people can use.
Co-founder · Co-inventor
M.S., M.D. · Board-certified emergency medicine physician
Founder, CEO and Chief Scientist of Crosby Innovations, a Michigan company developing Far-UVC light for skin sanitization. Named inventor on U.S. patents for Far-UVC hand sanitization, including US 12,263,257.
Co-founder · Co-inventor
Founder, Betterlab
Betterlab brings together proven science and emerging technology and delivers them through design, to solve problems for people and the planet at a global scale. Todd has more than 200 products in production, is a three-time International Designer of the Year and a Fulbright Scholar.
09Questions
Light at 222 nm is absorbed within the first few micrometers of protein-rich tissue: the stratum corneum in skin, the tear film in the eye. In 2022 the ACGIH raised its 8-hour limits at 222 nm to 160 mJ/cm² for eyes and 480 mJ/cm² for skin. Lifelight is designed to operate within ICNIRP exposure limits.
Conventional germicidal lamps emit at 254 nm, which reaches living cells in skin and the eye and is restricted to unoccupied spaces. 222 nm is absorbed far more strongly by protein, which allows use around people.
Alcohol does not kill bacterial spores such as C. difficile and performs poorly against norovirus. 222 nm reduced a norovirus surrogate by 3.4 log on surfaces at 9.3 mJ/cm² and is sporicidal at higher doses. See the comparison.
Electricity is the only running cost: about $2.20 a year per unit at 200 uses a day, including standby. There is no product to buy or store.
No. It is an alternative to alcohol-based hand rub for routine hand hygiene. When hands are visibly soiled, follow your facility's protocol for soap and water.
10Request a demo
Tell us about your site and we will follow up to arrange a demonstration or a pilot.