When atoms with high energy levels release energy to go to a lower energy level it is called a quantum jump, right? Well in many of these situations the atom releases light, or photons. Perhaps the photons are energy that electrons have turned into, and as the energy condenses and reaches a slower vibration it becomes the electron once more. Now of course some photons will not condense because energy is being lost, and these are the photons we see.
Another hypothesis:
Since atoms release energy when the electrons move overall closer to the nucleus of that atom, we can conclude that the more potential energy the atom has, the further away its electrons are from the nucleus. Naturally positve and negative charges want to touch, something must be something holding them apart, and a reason, which I think is energy.