Reducing Lighting Energy Consumption
Worldwide focus on reducing energy consumption is driven by economic factors and environmental concerns. Lighting accounts for about 25% of energy consumption in homes, and 21% in commercial buildings1 and hence reduction in energy consumed by lighting has been a major focus.
With the advent of halogen and Compact Fluorescent lamps (CFL), the world achieved some reduction in energy consumption.
Much of the world has now committed to completely phase out the power-hungry incandescent lights over the next several years. However, alternatives such as halogen and CFL have limitations such as health risks or reduced light quality. In recent years, LED technology has emerged as the one that offers significant energy savings over old technologies like incandescent, halogen and CFL. It also supports high efficiency, good power factor, light quality and is positioned as the technology of choice for lighting over decades to come. Industry analysts estimate that 50% LED penetration in the worldwide lighting market by 2020 would result in cumulative energy savings of over $489B over the next decade.