Historical
Perspective
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History and Background of
the Lighting Industry The history of
lighting dates as far back as prehistoric man, when primitive humans first
used naturally occurring materials, such as rocks, shells, horns and stones
filled with grease and topped with a fiber wick to light their caves. For centuries, many famous names such as
Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo Galilee and William Shakespeare have all
experimented with lighting as related to their particular crafts and
interests and, in 1752, Benjamin Franklin’s famous kite-and-lightning
experiment helped pave the way for understanding the role of positive and
negative electricity in modern lighting systems. Later on, one of the most significant
events of the 19th century was the discovery of the laws of electrodynamics
by James Clerk Maxwell, and Maxwell’s famous equations showing that light is an electromagnetic wave, which led to the
wide scale use of electricity. This
event was followed by the successful invention of the electric incandescent
light bulb by Thomas Edison in 1879.
Since this time, advances in the lighting industry have evolved very slowly,
as most of the modern lighting technology we use today is still based on
Edison's original light bulb design.
Where the Residential
Market Stands Today Almost 30 years after
the first Energy Crisis, most people still illuminate their homes pretty much
as they did in the 1970s and, while some residents have installed compact
fluorescent bulbs and other energy-saving devices, the majority still waste
energy every time they switch on a light bulb. Part of the reason for this slow
movement to change may be the fact that lighting accounts for only about 6%
of energy consumption in the home, so even the most efficient lamps do not
make a dramatic difference in residential utility bills. This stands in contrast to a typical
commercial building, where lighting is the single-largest consumer of
electric power, often exceeding 30% of a building's total energy costs. Other reasons include the fact that most
consumers simply do not think about changing their lighting system until
prompted to do so by the failure of a light bulb. Additionally, many people have hesitated to
adapt to newer technologies, including CFLs, claiming the new lamps produce
light that "feels" different from the familiar glow of incandescent
bulbs. Thus, while businesses and
local governments have saved millions of dollars by moving to more efficient
light bulbs, or "lamps" as they are known in the lighting industry,
for many homeowners, the logic of investing in more efficient, and more
expensive, lamps is harder to see and less economically compelling. Part of the reason people light their
homes as they do also lies in the history of residential lighting. Beginning in the 1920s, the price of generating
electricity dropped steadily, lamps grew more powerful, and people became
accustomed to brighter lights in their offices and homes. In an era of cheap electricity, skimping on
light made little sense. In the 1960s, however, this situation
began to change as several forces contributed to an increasing rise in
consumers’ utility bills. First, the
price of equipment to generate electricity began to climb sharply. Also, the OPEC Oil Embargo of 1973 pushed
up utility bills, as many power plants burned fuel oil in order to make
electricity. Finally, smoggy skylines
revealed another cost of burning fossil fuels for electric power, namely
pollution controls such as scrubbers for coal plants, which further boosted electricity
prices. As high energy prices persisted, the
meaning of “efficiency” in lighting began to change. While for decades, efficiency had meant
getting more light from a given amount of power, the meaning of efficiency
gradually became a matter of getting the same amount of light from less power
– a subtle switch in emphasis from light to power. Consumers felt the economic pinch in their
pocketbooks and this prompted the public at large to begin to pay closer
attention to global energy issues. In
response to higher electricity prices, people adjusted their consumption
habits by turning off lights to save energy, while some installed home energy
saving devices such as dimmers, timers and sensors. Furthermore, even designers began
rethinking how best to light homes going forward. For the first time, consumers also started
looking for alternatives to traditional tungsten-filament incandescent lamps,
which had changed little from the 1920s. Some consumers switched to
fluorescent lamps, particularly in kitchens, laundry rooms and workshops
where the color quality and slower start-up time of fluorescents mattered
less, and many homeowners chose more efficient high-intensity discharge lamps
for exterior security and driveway lighting.
In the early 1980s, manufacturers such as General
Electric, Sylvania, and Philips, responded to consumer demand for cost
savings and began introducing more efficient designs. At this point, while some were based on old
research, such as fluorescent tubes containing krypton gas and
tungsten-halogen bulbs that worked in regular screw-in sockets, other new
designs, like the circular fluorescent lamp shown below, were relatively
simple extensions of known technology.
New research and development also began to focus on improving home
lighting efficiency. Manufacturers introduced small metal halide lamps,
compact fluorescent lamps and incandescent bulbs that used infrared
reflecting film, among other designs.
While several of these lamps made it only briefly to market, others
continue to compete with traditional bulbs. Finally, in 1992, the U.S. federal government promoted
residential lighting efficiency at home with the Energy Policy Act of 1992,
which eliminated several types of light bulbs/lamps in favor of more Currently, more consumers than ever
are considering the importance of energy conservation and alternative “green”
lighting technologies, such as CFLs, LEDs and dimmers, driven by today’s
global energy crisis with skyrocketing pricings and booming demand, in
addition to conservation and environmental efforts, new technologies and the
urging of government and industry. While
CFLs have certainly increased in popularity there are still several technical
issues which are preventing the wide scale change over from incandescents to
this technology. For example, the
majority of CFLs on the market today are not dimmable and still do not
adequately produce light that is appealing to many consumers. While advances are rapidly being made in
the market, to date no one manufacturer has brought to market a CFL
technology that is likely to adequately replace incandescents. As a result, the overall reign of incandescent
light bulbs continues to be relatively unchallenged within the residential
home as they remain inexpensive, easy to use, versatile, and reliable, even
if they are energy power-hungry. For
this reason, residential home lighting continues to represent a vast and
significant market for effective and economical green lighting
technologies. Where the Commercial Market Stands Today The cost of electricity for lighting
in the commercial market is significant.
Lighting is the single largest consumer of electric power in a typical
commercial building, often exceeding 30% of a building's total energy
costs. In fact, almost half of the
electricity used in a typical store or office building goes toward keeping the
lights on, and commercial establishments account for about half of the
lighting energy used in the United States.
For this reason, conserving energy on commercial lighting means
significant savings for individual business and the country as a whole. The pursuit of energy savings has driven
major changes in this area over the past thirty years. Early in the 20th century, many
businesses kept the lights low to save money on electricity. Later, however, research in the 1920s and
1930s seemed to establish a direct relationship and link between lighting and
productivity, encouraging business owners and office managers to install
brighter lamps and new fixtures. Many
believed the brighter lights would increase productivity and more than offset
the increased energy costs. By the end of
the 1920s, all the major technology feature components of fluorescent
lighting were in place following decades of invention and development. These elements included economically
manufactured glass tubing, inert gases for filling the tubes, ballast
technology, long-lasting electrodes, and mercury vapor as a source of
luminescence effective as a means of producing a reliable electrical
discharge, and fluorescent coatings that could be energized by ultraviolet
light. At this point, intensive
development became more important than additional basic research. The introduction of fluorescent lamps
in 1939 produced significant energy savings for businesses. Early fluorescents provided more than twice
as much illumination per watt as incandescent lamps (about 40 Lumens Per Watt
(lpw) vs. 16 lpw). Some utilities even hesitated to promote fluorescent
lights, fearing that the demand for electricity might suffer. With the advent of World War II, this
became a moot question and fluorescent tubes were installed by the thousands
in new wartime manufacturing plants across the United States, and across some
of Western Europe. By 1951, more light
was generated in the United States by fluorescent lamps than by incandescent
lamps. In the 1950s and 1960s, installing
fluorescent lighting fixtures by the millions to boost light levels made
sense for most commercial business, especially with prevalent low energy
prices. Furthermore, over the years,
the efficiency of the tubes also improved, from 40 lpw to approximately 70
lpw. As less efficient tubes burned
out, they gave way to more efficient replacements. Thus, while homeowners were slow to adopt
fluorescents, preferring cheap, simple incandescent lamps that produced warm
colors, stores and offices on the other hand had came to rely predominantly
on fluorescent lighting by the early 1970s when the Energy Crisis hit. With fluorescent fixtures already
installed throughout their stores and manufacturing plants, commercial users
would seem to have been somewhat insulated from the rise in electricity
prices and yet, when the Energy Crisis hit, many business instead “pulled the
plug” on these so-called "efficient" fluorescent lights. The reason for this decision lies in the
evolution of the ballast technology up to this point. Fluorescent tubes are only one part of a
lighting system, the other components, especially the ballast, changed little
over this time period. Technically
known as a "current-limiting device," the ballast controls the
amount of electric current flowing through the tube. As it turns out, real energy savings came
not from the simple installation of fluorescent tubing, but rather in the
upgrading of the ballast, an expensive investment proposition for any
business owner at that time. Specifically, ballasts made before
the 1970s were cheap to produce and reliable but, by current standards, were
noisy and had the effect of wasting energy.
The real problem of improving commercial energy efficiency in the
1970s and 1980s lay in the cost of upgrading ballasts. Installing new ballasts meant a greater
investment of time and money than simply sliding in a new tube, as some also
required a new fixture, and thus represented substantial expense to the
business owner. Design practices also played a role
in the decision to simply eliminate fluorescent lighting systems in some commercial
establishments. Until the 1970s,
energy was cheap and many businesses held fast to the belief that brighter
work spaces made more productive workers.
Faced with growing demand for more
efficient lamps and fixtures, manufacturers quickly brought several designs
to market. Two early responses include
Interlight's Phantom-Tube (a non-illuminating capacitor) and Sylvania's
Thrift-Mate (an impedance-modifier mounted on a special lamp), both of which
were sold as replacements for one tube in a two-tube fixture. Both products reduced energy consumption,
allowed fluorescent fixtures to produce some light, and limited the damage to
the lighting design. In 1948, Clifton Found and Wilford
Winninghoff had discovered that changing the starting-gas in a fluorescent
lamp from argon to krypton increased the efficiency of the lamp. This idea, however, remained “on the shelf”
until the late 1960s when a new manufacturing process reduced krypton prices
and made the invention more feasible.
Lamps with altered gas mixes, such as General Electric's Watt-Miser
series, were later introduced in the mid-1970s. Nonetheless, these lamps sometimes
performed poorly on existing ballasts. In the same decade, the U.S.
government also took an interest in improving lighting technology as the U.S.
Department of Energy began to sponsor work on electronic ballasts through the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. By driving lamps at higher frequencies,
electronic ballasts made fluorescents more efficient, as GE's John Campbell
and others had already discovered in the 1950s. Electronic ballasts served to waste much
less power than conventional magnetic ballasts and had the additional benefit
of being more easily controlled with dimmers. Manufacturers introduced
conventional ballasts, known as "cut-out" or "hybrid"
ballasts that saved energy by cutting off power to the lamp's electrodes
after ignition. The research at Lawrence Berkeley Lab
and independent work done by several manufacturers ultimately yielded
solid-state electronic ballasts (“SSEB”) and in 1978, a noted field
demonstration took place at the main office building of Pacific Gas &
Electric in San Francisco, CA., in which two DOE-sponsored electronic
ballasts were installed in the building and competed successfully against a
hybrid ballast and several conventional magnetic ballasts. Elsewhere in the world, an
international competition produced the first compact fluorescent lamps. P.J.M.P. Verstegen and a team at Philips in
the Netherlands developed a new family of rare-earth phosphors, while William
Thornton at Westinghouse devised a rival "tri-band" phosphor
design. Both innovations proved useful
by making compact fluorescent lamps practical and allowing for thinner linear
tubes that could be used with the new electronic ballasts. Specifically, a one-inch diameter lamp
coupled to an SSEB can achieve 100 lumens per watt, and has been the major
technical factor responsible for making commercial lighting significantly
more energy efficient. Furthermore, under the program title,
"Demand-Side Management," electric utilities also contributed in
the effort to save energy by creating a series of guidelines and initiatives
to help customers change their patterns of energy use, install more efficient
equipment, and save money. In this
case, programs such as the Environmental Protection Agency's "Green
Lights" promoted T8-SSEB systems, helping to boost sales and bring down
costs of these energy saving products. Stores and office buildings have also installed dimmers, timers and
occupancy sensors to save energy. Some
building codes now even require these mechanisms. Even incandescent technology has evolved,
as low-voltage "MR-16" lamps have become popular lighting options
for retail shops and museums.
Additionally, cooler lamps, such as incandescent or fluorescent light,
also save money by reducing air conditioning bills. Furthermore, within the lighting
profession, designers, engineers and trade groups have begun to
recommend lower lighting levels. Many
designers having moved away from the "blanket of light" approach
and more toward a commercial light system that favors "task
lighting," which places light only where it is needed. A more sophisticated use of natural light
in building designs has also helped to save energy. Finally, new computer programs and software
available on the market have let designers explore new options for creating
effective and economical commercial lighting. The stakes in commercial lighting have always been high, significantly
more so than in residential lighting, which accounts for only about 6% of the
energy costs of a typical household.
This factor helps explain why businesses have generally been more
willing than homeowners to embrace lighting innovations and become early
adapters of new cost and energy saving lighting systems. In the commercial world, new lighting
equipment is viewed as an investment, and increased attention to the bottom
line has been a powerful factor throughout history in promoting the use of
efficient lighting in the commercial sector. Impetus for Change: The Significance of Implementing Green
Technologies Society today faces
an unprecedented level of concern over rising energy prices and their impact
on economic competitiveness and national security in an arguably unstable
world. Furthermore, global climate
change has the potential to dramatically alter the world’s existing
socio-economic and political environment.
In addition, the unprecedented pressures of worldwide urbanization,
manufacturing and population growth demand a renewed commitment to clean
energy and environmental solutions. Within the United States, more than half of the
electricity generated is by coal, making coal an extremely important source
of electricity generation. Unfortunately
for the health of the environment at large, burning coal and other fossil fuels
to produce electricity generates a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions,
including carbon dioxide emissions. In fact, nine out of every ten tons of coal mined
in the United States today is used to generate electricity, and in other
countries such as China, this ratio is even higher.
Coal is the most carbon intensive fossil fuel with
the highest uncontrolled CO2 emission rate.
According
to the United Nations Environment Program, coal emits around 1.7
times as much carbon per unit of energy when burned as does natural gas and
1.25 times as much as oil. The United
States alone produces about 25% of
global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, and the
burning of coal contributes
40% of U.S. CO2 emissions.
Overall, all nations must take committed steps to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions and the environmental impacts of energy consumption in order to
mitigate the risks of climate change and its impact on the global
environment. The demand for electricity in the United States
alone is predicted to increase by approximately 50% in the next 25 years
while rapidly growing population centers in countries such as China and
India, home to two-fifths of the world’s population, will put substantial
additional pressures on conventional world energy resources. While technological advances to increase
energy use efficiency, lower costs, and address and combat global warming
abound via innovations that exist across industry sectors, within the
lighting industry in particular, the movement toward energy efficiency and
green technologies include the increasing implementation of CFLs and, going
forward the potential of LED technologies, both of which use less energy
compared to legacy lighting solutions.
Green
Technology Solutions in the Lighting Industry According to the U.S. Department of Energy, lighting
is responsible for 450 million tons of U.S. carbon dioxide CO2 emissions per
year. Because of their advantages
over traditional incandescent bulbs, advanced lighting technologies can
potentially make a significant dent in the US’s CO2 emissions by helping to
conserve the demand for energy, including coal generated electricity. A single compact fluorescent light, for example,
prevents the emissions of eight to 16 pounds of acid-rain causing sulfur
dioxide and 1,000-2,000 pounds of CO2.
Clearly, large-scale national implementation of advanced lighting in
residential and commercial buildings could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by
hundreds of millions of tons per year. Regarding
lighting technologies, conventional incandescent lamps are the least
efficient option. They convert only
about 10% of the energy they consume into light, while the remainder is
transformed into wasted heat. For this
reason, commercially available energy efficient lighting technologies, such
as fluorescent lamps and high intensity discharge lamps are beginning to
replace traditional incandescent lighting in many homes, and are already used
in many commercial and institutional installations. Additionally, solid-state lighting such as
light-emitting diode technology or LEDs is another promising advanced
technology currently under development.
These
technologies are discussed below. Traditional Lighting: The Inefficient, Albeit Prevalent
Incandescent Bulb Overview Incandescent lamps create light by
running electricity through a thin filament which heats the metal filament to
a very high temperature such that it glows, producing a visible white light. These traditional light bulbs naturally
generate a broad range of visible frequencies that yield a pleasing warm
yellow or white color quality. While
incandescent lamps remain a preferred lighting source, particularly for
residential establishments, the incandescing process is highly inefficient,
as more than 90% of its energy input is emitted in the form of lost
heat. A standard 100 watt 120 VAC
light bulb produces about 1700 lumens, or about 17 lumens per watt. The benefit of this lighting source is that
incandescent bulbs are relatively inexpensive to produce and hence can be
sold at an affordable price point to consumers. The typical lifespan of an incandescent
lamp is around 1,000 hours and these bulbs are known to work well with
dimmers and timers. To this day, most
existing light fixtures are designed for the size and shape of these
traditional bulbs. For this reason, residential home lighting continues to
represent a significant market opportunity for effective and economical green
lighting technologies. Technology
and Current Use The
incandescent bulb, first created by Thomas Edison in 1879, represents a
highly inefficient source of lighting, as the majority of the energy input
into the bulb is actually converted into heat, rather than lighting, with
only a small percentage of the electricity passing through the bulb becoming
a source of light. In fact, the very
nature of the design of the incandescent bulb makes it inherently
inefficient, as incandescent bulbs give off light simply because of the level
of heat generated by electricity use running through them. Regarding design, the typical light bulb is
comprised of a glass dome with a very thin piece of wire, called the
filament, located inside the bulb. As
electricity is passed through the filament, the filament wire becomes very
hot - up to 4500 degrees Fahrenheit depending upon the light bulb’s design.
Depending on
how much electricity is pumped into the bulb and how much heat is created,
the photons appear as light of a particular color. The process of heating a metal filament to
force its atoms to produce photons produces significant amounts of wasted
energy in the form of unused heat. To date, the
overwhelming majority of lights in residential households are incandescent
lights, the least energy efficient of all lighting types.
Incandescent
lights predominate in all rooms of a household, both in number and in hours
used. In all rooms, except for the kitchen and “other,” which includes
laundry rooms, incandescent lights account for about 90% of the hours
used. Although the kitchen and “other”
rooms contain the most fluorescent lights, fluorescent lights in these rooms
still account for only 30% to 33% percent of the hours used. Type of Light By Room
Nearly every household uses lights and all households
with lights use electricity to power them.
However, electricity consumption for lighting is less than 10% of all
electricity consumption in the residential sector. Space heating, water heating, air
conditioning and other appliances each accounts for more electricity use than
lighting. Nonetheless, if households
were to replace their most intensively used incandescent bulbs with compact
fluorescent bulbs, they would see a sizable savings in their electric
bills. In fact, the total U.S.
household energy that would be saved by replacing all incandescent bulbs,
used for a time period of four or more hours per day, would be approximately
31.7 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually, or about 35% of all electricity
used for residential lighting. The life-cycle
cost of a light bulb includes the cost of the bulb itself, as well as the
cost of the electricity required to power the bulb. Electricity costs are a large percent of
the life-cycle cost of incandescent lights. Depending on the electric rates,
electricity costs account for 78% to 91% of the life-cycle cost of incandescent
lights. This compares to only 37% to
63% of the life-cycle cost of compact fluorescent bulbs.
Compact
fluorescent bulbs need about one-third of the power required by incandescent
bulbs to emit the same amount of light.
Thus, if one wanted to replace a 75-watt incandescent bulb, a 26-watt
compact fluorescent would be an appropriate choice. Therefore, regardless of electricity costs,
compact fluorescent bulbs offer a three-fold increase in efficiency. If compact fluorescent bulbs, by virtue of
their high cost, do not produce large dollar savings to individual
households, they nonetheless result in a large savings of electricity as well
as the fuel resources required to produce electricity. Common Residential Light Bulbs and
Their Characteristics:
Fluorescent Light: A
Cooler Solution Overview Fluorescent
lamps work by passing electrical current through mercury vapor
contained within a tube casing. This
process in turn produces ultraviolet light which is then absorbed by a
phosphor coating inside the lamp, causing it to glow or “fluoresce.” While the heat generated by fluorescent
lamps is significantly less than its incandescent predecessor, a smaller amount
of energy is still lost in generating the ultraviolet light and converting
this light source into visible light.
Linear fluorescent lamps are typically five to six times the cost of
incandescent lamps [confirm this fits our stats elsewhere], but have life
spans around 10,000 and even up to 20,000 hours. Overall, the lifetime of a particular CFL
can vary from 1,200 hours to 20,000 hours. Regarding the
efficacy of fluorescent tubes, with modern electronic ballast these lamps
commonly average 50 to 67 lumens per watt, and most compact fluorescents of
13 Watts or more with integral electronic ballasts achieve about 60
lumens/watt. As a drawback,
fluorescent bulbs should be recycled rather than simply disposed of in order
to prevent mercury release. Furthermore,
some flicker at the 100 or 120 Hz level and the quality of the light they
shed tends to be a harsh white version due to the lack of a broad band of
lighting frequencies. Most are also
not currently compatible with dimmers or timers. Technology In order to
solve the problem of the traditional incandescent bulb, in which the majority
of electric current is converted into heat rather than light, cool light
sources based on the process of fluorescence were developed. In essence, a fluorescent light is a type
of electric lamp that excites mercury vapor to create luminescence. Thus, fluorescent lamps require
significantly less electricity then incandescent technology as lighting is
produced through a chemical reaction, rather than via direct heat from
intensive electricity use. While
scientists experimented with the properties of fluorescence, since the
mid-1800’s, an American named Peter Cooper Hewitt (1861-1921) patented (U.S.
patent 889,692) the first mercury vapor lamp in 1901, and his low pressure
mercury arc lamp serves as the very first prototype and direct parent of
today's modern fluorescent lights.
While fluorescent lamps come in all shapes and sizes, they all work on
the same basic principle. At the most
basic level, an electric current stimulates mercury atoms, which causes the
atoms to release ultraviolet photons.
These photons in turn stimulate a phosphor which then emits visible
light photons. In order to
understand fluorescent lamps at a deeper level, however, it helps to understand
light itself. Light is a form of
energy that can be released by an atom.
It is made up of many small particle-like packets that have energy and
momentum but no mass. These particles,
called light photons, are the most basic units of light. Atoms release light photons when their
electrons become excited. Electrons
are the negatively charged particles that move around an atom's nucleus,
which itself has a net positive charge.
An atom's electrons have different levels of energy, depending on
several factors, including their speed and distance from the nucleus. Electrons of different energy levels occupy
different orbitals. Generally
speaking, electrons with greater energy move in orbitals further away from
the central nucleus. When an atom
gains or loses energy, the change is expressed by the movement of electrons.
Specifically, when something passes energy on to an atom, such as the
application of heat, for example, an electron may be temporarily boosted up
to a higher orbital, that is, farther away from the nucleus. The electron only holds this position for a
fraction of a second, however, as almost immediately it is drawn back toward
the nucleus and to its original orbital.
As it returns to its original orbital, the electron releases the extra
energy in the form of a photon, and in some cases a light photon (see diagram
below).
In some
aspects, the creation of light through the process of fluorescence is similar
to the way in which light is produced in an incandescent light bulb. Specifically, the atoms of a particular
material release light photons when the electrons of that atom become
excited. The main difference between
these two sources of light, however, is the process by which the atoms become
excited. In an incandescent bulb, the
atoms are excited by heat.
Alternatively, in a fluorescent bulb, the atoms are excited by a
chemical reaction. As it turns
out, fluorescent lamps have one of the most elaborate systems for exciting
atoms. Regarding the components of a
fluorescent light, one of the main elements of a fluorescent lamp is a sealed
glass tube in which a small amount of mercury is combined with an additional
gas, typically argon. These gases are
contained in the sealed tube at very low pressures. Furthermore, the inside of the glass tube
is coated with a small amount of phosphor powder. The last component of the light fixture
itself is the electrical source, which is usually provided by two electrodes
located at the bottom of the tube. Typical Fluorescent
Bulb Design
When the
fluorescent lamp is turned on, current begins to flow through the electrical
circuitry and, ultimately, electricity reaches the system’s electrodes. Given the considerable voltage across the
electrodes as the current enters the tube, the electrons will traverse
through the gas and move from one end of the tube to the other. The energy entering the bulb and the
movement of gases changes some of the mercury in the tube from a liquid state
into a gas vapor. As the electrons and
charged atoms migrate throughout the tube, some of them collide with the
mercury’s vapor atoms. It is these
collisions that excite the atom by bumping up the atom’s electrons to higher
energy levels. As these electron
particles return to their original energy state within the atom, they release
light photons. As if this
process were not complex enough, there is an additional chemical reaction
within the fluorescent tube that occurs to actually create the light seen by
the human eye. Electrons in mercury
atoms mostly release light photons in the ultraviolet wavelength range. Thus, the light that is produced by the
colliding atoms and photons of a fluorescent lamp is actually of the
ultraviolet wavelength range, a range that is invisible to people since our
eyes are not able to register ultraviolet photons. For this reason, the ultraviolet light
produced must be converted into visible light in order to illuminate the lamp
for humans, and it is the fluorescent lamp’s phosphorus coating that serves
this purpose. Phosphors are
substances that give off light (i.e. visible spectrum light) when they are
exposed to light of other wavelengths (i.e. invisible ultraviolet
light). Specifically, as the
ultraviolet light photons hit the phosphor atoms that coat the inside of the
fluorescent tube, the phosphor atom undergoes an additional set of reactions that results in
the creation of white light seen by humans, in addition to a certain amount
of heat. (This process is outlined
below.) Fluorescent bulb manufacturers
can even vary the color of the light by using different combinations of
phosphorus. The Physics of Fluorescent Lamps
As it turns
out, conventional incandescent bulbs also produce a significant amount of
ultraviolet light, but these bulbs are not able to effectively convert this
ultraviolet light into light that humans can observe. In fact, a typical 100 Watt tungsten
filament incandescent lamp may be able to convert only 10% of its electric power
input to visible white light, whereas typical fluorescent lamps convert about
22% of the electrical current input to visible white light. This process of ultraviolet light
production, combined with the absence of conversion into visible light, is
another factor that makes incandescent bulbs highly inefficient sources of
light. Another
significant difference between the incandescent lamp and the fluorescent
light lies in the fact that gases do not conduct electricity in the same way
as solids, with the major difference being their electrical resistance or
opposition to flowing electricity. In
a solid metal conductor such as the wire filament of an incandescent bulb,
resistance is a constant at any given temperature, as controlled by the size
of the conductor and the nature of the material. In gas
discharge technology, on the other hand, such as a fluorescent lamp, electric
current causes resistance to decrease.
When a fluorescent lamp is first turned on, the gas inside the tube
gets warm. As more electrons and ions
flow through a particular area, they bump into more atoms, which free up
electrons and create more charged particles.
As warming continues, the electrical resistance within the tube is
reduced, causing the gas to glow even hotter.
This allows even more current into the tube through a process called
negative resistance. In this way,
current will climb on its own in a gas discharge as long as there is adequate
voltage - and household AC current has plenty of voltage for this situation
to occur. If allowed to go unchecked,
and if the amount of current in a fluorescent light is not adequately
controlled, this phenomenon of negative resistance would allow an excessive
amount of energy into the tube causing the various electrical components of the
lamp to simply “blow out.” For this reason, fluorescent
lights, in addition to certain other types of bulbs, require an additional
important component in order to function properly. A device called ballast is responsible for
ensuring that each lamp can draw in only a certain amount of electricity no
matter how hot it gets, and is intended to limit the amount of current
in an electric
circuit. The simplest
form of ballast technology is the magnetic ballast. Magnetic ballast is based on an inductor,
which simply put, consists of a coil of wire that is wound around a piece of
metal. As electric current is passed
through the coil of wire, it creates a magnetic field. This magnetic field is used to regulate the
flow of current into the fluorescent lamp.
This magnetic field can only slow down the amount of current going
into the tube; it cannot stop it.
Fortunately, the alternating current used on the modern electrical
grid is constantly reversing itself, so the ballast only needs to prevent the
excess flow of current for a very short amount of time. Because the magnetic ballast is rather
simple in design, it regulates the flow of electricity at a slow rate. This low cycle rate is often responsible
for the noticeable flicker in the humming often associated with fluorescent
lamps. Fortunately,
electrical engineers have solved many of the problems associated with
magnetic ballast via design improvements reflected in modern electronic
ballast systems. These modern systems
now use advanced electronics to more accurately regulate the flow of current
through the fluorescent tube. Because
these systems are able to very accurately control the flow of electricity
into the fluorescent lamp, flickering and humming noises have been virtually
eliminated. The more efficient
electronics contained within electronic ballasts allow lighting designs with
these systems to consume up to 25% less electricity than those containing
conventional magnetic ballasts.
Additionally, because modern electronic ballasts operate at high
frequencies, they force a more efficient method of exciting the gases within
the tube, including the excitement of the phosphors coating on inside of the
bulb, often creating about 10% more light for the same power input or,
alternatively, enabling an additional 10% decrease in power consumption
yielding very real cost savings for the end user. In addition to electricity savings, modern
electronic ballasts ensure a reliable starting sequence for the fluorescent
light that typically serves to significantly prolong the life of the lamp. An electronic ballast component of a compact
fluorescent lamp
Source: Elcktronsraterp Since fluorescent lamps were first patented in the
early part of the 20th century, this lighting technology has mainly been
deployed in commercial buildings such as warehouses and stores, with only
limited use in residential settings.
Over the past two years, however, this situation has changed
significantly due to the popularity of a relatively new version of
fluorescent lamp technology, namely the compact fluorescent lamp or CFL. Enter the Modern Compact Fluorescent Lamp CFL lighting systems combine the energy efficiency
of fluorescent lighting with the convenience and popularity of the modern
household light fixture, which was originally designed for the incandescent
bulb. Modern CFL's work in a similar fashion to standard
fluorescent lamps as described above.
Specifically, the modern CFL consists of two parts: a glass filled
tube and a magnetic or electronic ballast.
As in traditional fluorescent tube technology, the CFL produces light
when the gas contained within its tube glows with ultraviolet light as
electricity flows through the ballast and into the lamp. This ultraviolet light then excites the
phosphor coating on the inside of the bulb, which serves to emit the visible
light humans can see. Some older CFLs are still based on magnetic ballast
technology. Such lamps are easy to
identify because they flicker slightly when electricity is applied to the CFL
lighting system and they are often heavier than lamps outfitted with
electronic ballast. In fact, these
magnetic ballasts can sometimes add a significant amount of weight to the
lamp, actually rendering it impractical for use in certain light fixtures. Modern electronic ballasts, on the other hand,
resolve most of these issues. Because
of their advanced circuitry, the flicker phenomenon often experienced while
turning on a CFL has been either significantly reduced or eliminated. Also, CFLs based on electronic ballasts
typically last significantly longer than those based on a magnetic ballast
due to circuitry efficiency. Compared to incandescent bulbs, when used properly,
CFL’s usually last up to 10 times longer, consume approximately one fourth of
the energy, and produce between 65% and 75% less heat while generating more
light per watt input. In fact, the
cost savings associated with CFLs are well documented. While the purchase price of CFL's can be considerably
higher than the price of incandescent bulbs, as typically CFLs sell for
approximately $3.00 compared to an incandescent bulb that can sell for as low
as less than $0.50, the initial high cost of the CFL is recovered in cost
savings over the life of the bulb. As another point of comparison, most CFLs consume
approximately 20 watts of energy, compared to 75 watts of energy for the most
popular incandescent bulb types. CFLs
also last significantly longer than incandescent bulbs, often lasting up to
10,000 hours versus only approximately 2,000 hours for incandescent lights. At this rate, the energy costs over the
life of a CFL bulb at 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour would total only
approximately $23.00, compared to nearly $79.00 for a 75 watt incandescent
bulb. Overall,
CFLs generate high energy efficiency over incandescent lamps, typically
reducing lighting operating costs by as much as 60% to 80%.
Source: Center for CFL Education Considering U.S. Department of Energy research
indicates approximately 25% of the total electricity generated in the United
States is used for lighting purposes, the soaring cost of energy and the
growing movement toward green technology and clean energy, the CFL lighting
solution has become significantly more popular in recent years. Issues
with CFLs While it may appear that CFLs should be an obvious
choice for use in many lighting applications due to their long bulb life and
significant potential energy savings, the modern CFL still posses certain
downfalls as highlighted below. Environmental
Concerns - Fluorescent lighting
technology uses a small amount of mercury in the chemical light making
process. When the light ultimately
ceases to function and must be thrown-out, proper disposal of the mercury
content in the bulb has become a major concern. Recent research indicates, however, that
these popular concerns may be significantly “overblown” as, for example, the
average household thermometer contains approximately 400 times more mercury
than the average CFL. Environmental
groups are now admitting that the health of the earth is much better off
incurring the very small amount of mercury pollution due to improper CFL
disposal, compared to the detrimental environmental effects of electric power
generation that consumes significant amounts of fossil fuels each year to
produce light via incandescent technology.
Problems
with Flickering - Even though
modern electronic ballasts have significantly reduced the flickering that
occurs when a CFL is initially activated, the flickering effect has not been
completely eliminated. This phenomenon
is significantly annoying to many people and, as a result, they choose not to
utilize fluorescent technology. Lack of
Instant “on” Capability – Regarding
the time to achieve full brightness, CFL’s may provide as little as 50% to
80% of their rated light output upon initially being switched-on and they can
take up to three minutes to warm-up to full brightness. Additionally, the color of the light
produced may be slightly different immediately after being turned on. This warm-up period compares to around 0.1
seconds for incandescent lamps. Bulb Life - The process of turning on and off the CFL can
shorten the life of the bulb. As a
result the, U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Star program advises consumers
to leave CFLs on for at least 15 minutes at a time. Recently, however, many of these issues
have been effectively eliminated through the introduction of the latest
generation of technology. Light Quality - For many home applications, the quality of the light produced by a
lighting source represents a very important consideration. Many early adopters of CFLs have complained
about the quality of the fluorescent light, finding it especially harsh and
unpleasing to the eye. This situation
is also improving as new generations of CFL products enter the market. Shape - The
vast majority of CFLs employ “twisty bulb” designs that often do not fit into
home lamp and lighting fixtures. Going
forward, newer versions coming to market will offer consumers a lower profile
and a design that is similar to the familiar incandescent bulb shape.. Audible
Noise – Some CFLs and other
fluorescent lights may emit a “buzzing” sound, whereas incandescents do not
generate any such noise. Such sounds
are particularly noticeable in quiet rooms and can be annoying under these
circumstances. Newer compact
fluorescent light bulbs, however, are nearly noiseless although some poorly
made CFLs may still emit an unpleasant buzzing sound. Use with
Timers - Electronic timers can interfere with the
electronic ballast in CFLs and can shorten their lifespan, although
mechanical times do not present this problem. Lack of
Dimmability - One of the biggest
complaints about CFLs is that they are not dimmable. Dimmer switches were designed for
incandescent lamps, and not for CFL technology. Modern dimmer switches work by turning the
light bulb on and off faster than the human eye can identify, at a rate of
120 times a second. This process is
not 100% efficient, however, which is why dimming the lights 25% only reduces
energy consumption by approximately 15%.
This rapid on-and-off process, while causing the CFL to dim, often
serves to make the lamp go out altogether.
Additionally, conventional dimmer technology significantly shortens
the life of the CFL bulb. Because of these issues, consumers need to buy CFLs
that are specifically designed for use with dimmer switches. Even these CFLs, however, do not have
perfect functionality as typically most of the dimmable CFLs available on the
market today only dim to about 20% of the rated lumens, and when turned down
further, they can have the undesired effect of completely shutting off. An additional issue is that while
incandescent lamps dim and the light produced becomes “softer,” or more
“romantic” one might say, dimmable CFLs do not share this characteristic. Power Factor One additional item to consider with fluorescent
lighting systems is that of power factor (PF), which has the impact of
affecting the amount of energy a utility must actually generate in order to
provide a certain level of Watts.
Within this context, there are actually two different forms of
electric power. Active power is the amount
of power supplied by the utility that can be translated into useful work and
is typically defined in terms of Watts (W).
Reactive power, on the other hand, is the electric power that is
consumed by an appliance such as a lamp but does not actually produce any
form of useful work. Reactive power is
defined as Volt Amps (VA). The sum of
active and reactive power is the total power amount actually supplied by the
electric utility to run a device. The
ratio of active power or real power measured in Watts (rated wattage) to
total power measured in volt-amperes (volt amps consumed) is called Power
Factor (PF). It is defined as: Power Factor = Active Power / Total Power;
or PF = W / VA. Power factor is characteristic of alternating
current (AC) circuits and is always expressed as a number between zero and
one, or 0% and 100%. Regarding power
factor, the higher the number between zero and one, the greater/better the
power factor. When a device has a
power factor of less than one, the device consumes electricity, but only part
of this energy is actually used to power the product. Circuits containing only heating elements such as
incandescent filament lamps, strip heaters, and cooking stoves have a power
factor of 1.0. Other circuits
containing inductive or capacitive elements such as ballasts, motors and
personal computers, among other devices, usually have a power factor below
1.0. Importance
to Utilities Power factor is a matter of significance for power
generating utilities as it is a measure of what they must generate in terms
of VAs versus what is actually consumed in Watts by the customer. Thus, the importance of power factor lies
in the fact that utility companies supply customers with volt-amperes, but
bill them for Watts. This relationship
can be expressed as (Watts = volts x amperes x power factor). Watts, or real power, is what the customer
must pay for while VAs is the extra “power” transmitted by the utility in
order to compensate for a power factor less of than 1.0. The combination of the two is called
"apparent" power. Power factors below 1.0 require a utility to
generate more than the minimum volt-amperes necessary to supply the needed
power in Watt terms. This situation
increases generation and transmission costs.
In fact, with good power factor generally considered to be greater
than 0.85 or 85%, utilities may impose penalties on customers who do not have
good power factors on their overall buildings. Low power factor loads increase losses in a power
distribution network and result in increased energy costs. As an energy user’s power factor decreases,
the utility has to supply more current for a given amount of real power
use. This extra amount of power that
must be generated by the utility is a reactive component and is referred to
as volt–amperes or reactive power.
Thus, a commercial or residential facility with a lower power factor
causes the utility to have to increase its generation and transmission
capacity in order to handle this extra demand. By raising the power factor, an end user
will consume less VAs, equating to a dollar savings from the utility. Power Factor and Ballasts Regarding ballasts in fluorescent lighting systems,
there are two main types of power factors.
Normal power factor ballasts (NPF) have a value of less than 0.9,
typically in the range of 0.4 to 0.6, while ballasts with a power factor
greater than 0.9 are defined as high power factor ballasts (HPF). Basic electronic ballasts have a low power
factor, a situation that can be corrected with additional electronic
circuitry added to the ballast. Historically, within commercial settings, most hard
wired lighting ballasts have been power factor corrected to 0.9 PF, since it
was often considered likely that large commercial buildings will result in a
dense aggregation of ballasts and intensive electricity consumption making
efficiency very important. Typically,
these densely ballast populated commercial buildings were illuminated with
fluorescent lamp ballast systems that had a high input Watt rating per
fixture and a potentially high input VA rating. The effect of power factor on both the utility and
the customer is illustrated below[1],
where the utility bills the customer for Watts but must generate volt-amperes
(VA) and that (Watts = volts x amperes = power factor). Three examples include: 1. 60-Watt incandescent lamp (PF=1.0) 2. 15-Watt medium-based compact fluorescent lamp,
electronic ballast, normal power factor (PF = 0.6) 3. 15-Watt medium-based compact fluorescent lamp,
electronic ballast, high power factor (PF = 0.95) For the 60 Watt incandescent lamps:
For the 15 Watt medium-based compact fluorescent
lamp, electronic ballast, normal power factor:
For the 15 Watt medium-based compact fluorescent
lamp, electronic ballast, high power factor:
Penalties
for Low Power Factors In general, while utilities may charge large
commercial customers an additional fee if their site power factor is below a
stipulated value, small commercial users and residential installations are
typically not economically penalized for having lower power factors,
especially where the Wattage level use is also low. Power
Factor Comparison Study The table below illustrates an example between a
traditional 75 Watt incandescent bulb and three types of energy efficient CLF
bulbs. The VA savings achieved with
the CFL bulbs, relative to the traditional incandescent light, is clearly
significant in all cases and ranges here from approximately 40% in the normal
power factor (NPF) case up to approximately 70% in the high power factor
(HPF) case. Likewise, among the CFLs,
while the level of real Watts consumed is practically identical in each of
these energy efficient products independent of their respective level of
power factor correction, their actual level of VA power consumption begins to
differ meaningfully when power factor levels are taken into consideration. Energy Requirements for a 1200 Lumen
Screw In Lamp
Source: General Electric Industry Standards and Regulations Regulatory and standardization agencies recognize
that energy efficient lighting and a lighting system’s electronic ballast
interface are contributors to an end-user's overall power factor, and have
consequently established limits for acceptable power factors. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
recommends that all commercial indoor, hard wired ballasts meet a minimum
power factor of 0.9. The ANSI also
requires residential hard wired luminaires below 120 Watts meet a minimum
power factor of 0.5. Thus, ANSI
standards board acknowledges that low density installations do not have the same
impact on the VA load as larger commercial establishments and therefore
requires less power factor and harmonic content control. Finally, the lighting industry has supported the
U.S. government’s national movement toward reducing overall energy
consumption by supplying a continuous flow of new energy efficient products,
the majority of which require electronic ballast. The High-Intensity Discharge (HID) Lamp High intensity discharge (HID) lamps represent a
very compact light source. For this
reason, HID lamps are typically used when high levels of light over large
areas are required in an energy efficient, intensive lighting source. Examples of current applications of HID
lighting include gymnasiums,
large public areas, warehouses, movie theaters, football
stadiums, outdoor activity areas, roadways, parking lots and pathways. They are also used to light some of the
most famous monuments in the world including the Eiffel Tower and the Sydney
Opera House. More recently, certain
HID lamps, such as metal halide HIDs, have been used in small retail and
residential environments where they are used for indoor gardening applications,
particularly for plants that require a quantity of high intensity
sunlight. They are also a common
choice of light for indoor aquariums in reproducing the tropical intensity of sunlight. In general, compared with fluorescent
and incandescent lamps, HID lamps have a
higher luminous efficacy since a greater proportion
of their radiation is in the visible light spectrum, as opposed to being
generated as heat. Their overall luminous efficacy is also much higher
as they give a greater amount of light output per watt of electricity
input. A single 100-watt HID lamp,
for example, provides as much light as a 500-watt incandescent lamp or a
160-watt, four-lamp fluorescent fixture.
At present, HID lights are also used in automobile headlamp lighting,
high-performance bicycle headlamps, flashlights
and other portable lights. HID lamps
are also used on many general aviation aircraft for landing and taxi lights,
given they generate the greatest amount of light per unit of
electricity. Importantly, as the HID
lights use less than half the power of an equivalent tungsten-halogen light,
a significantly smaller and lighter-weight power supply can be used. Conveniently, they are also approximately
the size of a common 100-watt incandescent bulb. High-intensity discharge lamps are a type of arc lamp,
the general term for a class of lamps that produce light by an electric
arc. Specifically,
regarding their construction, high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps are a type
of electrical lamp that produces light by means
of an electric arc located between tungsten
electrodes. These electrodes are housed inside a
translucent or transparent fused quartz, or fused alumina
tube that is filled with both gas and metal salts. The gas
is used to facilitate the arc's initial strike which, once started, heats and
evaporates the metal salts forming a plasma
that greatly increases the intensity of light produced by the arc, and
reduces its power consumption. High-intensity discharge lamps are also known
as a type of arc lamp.
As a drawback, most HID lamps produce significant UV
radiation, and require UV-blocking filters to prevent UV-induced
degradation of lamp fixture components, and the fading of dyed items that are
illuminated by the lamp. Furthermore,
exposure to HID lamps operating with faulty or absent UV-blocking filters
will cause injury to humans and animals, such as sunburn
and a problem known as arc eye, a painful corneal flash burn. Fortunately, many HID lamps are designed to
quickly extinguish if their outer UV-shielding glass envelope is broken. The LED Lamp LED Lamp Technology LED lamps
(also called LED bars or Illuminators) are a type of solid state lighting (SSL) that utilizes light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as a source
of illumination, rather than electrical filaments such as those of
the incandescent lamp or gas as in the CFL bulb.
“Solid state” refers to the fact that
light in an LED lamp is emitted from a solid object, such as a block of semiconductors,
rather than from a vacuum as is the case with traditional incandescent light bulbs or a gas tube
as with fluorescent lamps. Unlike
traditional lighting, sold state lighting creates visible light with reduced
heat generation or lost energy dissipation while the bulb’s solid-state
nature provides for greater resistance to shock, vibration, and wear, thereby
significantly increasing its lifespan over alternative lighting technologies.
Blue, green and red LEDs
can be combined to produce any color. Infrared and ultraviolet
LEDs also exist. A
light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor
diode,
or a semiconductor device that converts alternating current to direct
current, which emits light when an electrical current is applied in the
forward direction of the device, as in the simple LED circuit,
with the effect being a form of electroluminescence. An
individual LED is a small area light source, usually less than 1 mm in size,
often with optics added to the chip in order to shape the LED’s radiation
pattern and assist in reflection. A
single LED
diode can generate only a limited amount of light, and only a single color at
a time. The particular color of the
emitted light depends on the composition and condition of the semiconducting
materials used in the LED, and can be infrared,
visible light, or ultraviolet. To produce the white light necessary for
conventional lighting systems, light types spanning the visible
spectrum of red, green and blue must be generated in approximately
correct proportions. In order to
achieve this effect, three approaches are used for generating visible white
light using LED technology, namely wavelength
conversion, color mixing and, as most recently developed, Homoepitaxial ZnSe. In
summary, Wavelength conversion involves converting some or all of the LED’s
output into visible wavelengths via a variety of technical methods. Color mixing involves using multiple colors
of LEDs in a simple lamp to produce white light. Such LEDs lighting sources contain at least
two LEDs (i.e.: blue and yellow), but can also have three LEDs (red, blue and
green) or four LEDs (red, blue, green and yellow). As no phosphors
are used in this process, there is no energy lost during conversion, thereby
enabling the potential for higher energy efficiencies. Homoepitaxial ZnSe is a technology recently
developed by Sumomito Electric where an LED is grown on a ZnSe substrate. This process simultaneously produces blue
light from the active region and yellow emission from the substrate,
resulting in a white light. No
phosphors are used in Homoepitaxial ZnSe, resulting in a higher efficiency
white LED.
LEDs are produced in an array of
shapes and sizes. Finally,
for an LED lamp to be considered a SSL source, a multitude of LEDs must be
actually placed close together in a lamp housing case in order to be able to
collectively add their illuminating effects.
This is due to the fact that an individual LED produces only a
small amount of light, thereby limiting its effectiveness as a solitary light
source. In the case where LEDs lamps
are built using only white LEDs in SSL, this is a relatively simple task as
all of the incorporated LEDs are of the same white “color” and can therefore
be arranged in the lamp casing in any fashion. When using the LED color-mixing method,
however, it becomes more difficult to generate an equivalent white brightness
level when compared to using all white LEDs in a similar lamp size. Because of the inherent benefits and
greater number of applications for white LED based SSL, most LED
lamp designs focus exclusively on using these LED varieties. Evolution of LED Lighting The
phenomenon of using solid state technologies to produce a lighting source was
discovered during the early 1900’s, with the first known report of a
light-emitting solid-state diode was made in 1907 by a British experimenter H. J. Round
of Marconi
Labs. The first commercial LEDs were commonly
used as replacements for incandescent indicators, and in seven-segment displays, first in
expensive equipment such as laboratory and electronics test equipment, then
later in such appliances as TVs, radios, telephones, calculators, and even
watches. These red LEDs were only bright enough for use as indicators, as the
light output was not enough to illuminate an area. Later, other colors became
widely available and also appeared in appliances and equipment. As the LED
materials technology became more advanced, the light output was increased,
while maintaining the efficiency and the reliability to an acceptable level,
causing LEDs to become bright enough to be used for illumination. The first
practical visible-spectrum (red) LED was developed in 1962 by Nick
Holonyak Jr., while working at General Electric Company, and by the
1960’s, commercial red LEDs became available on the market. A decade later during the 1970s, these
lights were in widespread use as a source of indicator-lights in a range of
equipment and devices, first in expensive equipment such as laboratory and
electronics test equipment, then later in such appliances as TVs, radios,
telephones, calculators and even watches.
At this point, the first LEDs were commonly used as replacements for
the formerly widely used indicator types of incandescent filament lamps and
neon, given their longer lifespan and lower power voltage requirements. Although, the light output of these early
LEDs remained much too small to be useful as a full system lighting
source. Years later, LEDs were
available in infra-red, red, orange, yellow and green, with the colors of
blue and violet LEDs finally appearing only recently in the 1990s. The
development of a blue LED was critical, as blue LEDs are needed in order to
produce a white light SSL device, such as the white lighting used to
illuminate homes and businesses.
Finally, in 1993, an inventor named, Shuji
Nakamura of Nichia Corporation, developed a blue LED
using gallium nitride (GaN). With this discovery, it was now possible to
create white light by combining the red, green and blue light of separate
LEDs, or by placing a blue LED in a package with an internal light converting
phosphor. Using the blue LED/phosphor technique, some
of the blue LED output is converted into either a yellow, or a red and green,
resulting in the LED light emission appearing white to the human eye. The
development of LED technology has enabled both efficiency and light output to
increase exponentially, with a doubling of these
metrics approximately every 36 months since the 1960s. These impressive advancements in LEDs are
generally attributed to the parallel development of other semiconductor
technologies as well as improvements in the fields of optics and material
science. As a point of interest,
recently, in 2008, SSL technology advanced to the point that the Sentry
Equipment Corporation, located in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, was able to light
both the interior and exterior of its new factory using almost entirely
LEDs. Although the initial cost was
estimated to be approximately three times more than a traditional mixture of
incandescent and fluorescent bulbs, is it expected this extra cost will be
repaid within two years due to anticipated electricity savings and,
furthermore, the LEDs bulbs should enjoy a lifespan of 20 years before the
company will need to replace them.
LEDs are
widely used as indicator lights on electronic devices and increasingly in
higher power applications such as flashlights and area lighting. Regarding
design, LED lamps are usually clusters of LEDs in some type of suitable
housing. LED bulbs come in many
different shapes, including the standard light bulb
shape, as well as a variety of low voltage models (typically 12 V
halogen-like) and replacements for regular AC mains (120-240 V AC)
lighting. While the replacement forms
are currently less widely available, this is changing rapidly. Comparison with Alternative Lighting
Technologies While one
of the chief benefits of LEDs, more generally known as solid-state lighting,
is their longevity, in some cases orders of magnitude, longer than
incandescent or fluorescent devices, the inherent energy efficiency of the
technology is what is getting most of the attention in the market. Overall, LEDs
as a lighting source hold several advantages over incandescent bulbs and
fluorescent lamps.
While the
continued development of LED technology as a lighting source remains very
promising going forward, several challenges to the effectiveness of LED lamps
remain. Perhaps most importantly for the mass deployment of this technology
is the fact that LED lamps do not currently deliver the intensity of light
output necessary for domestic uses at a reasonable cost/affordable price
point. For this reason, it is not
currently practical to produce high levels of room lighting from an LED
source. As a result, current LED
screw-in light bulbs offer either low levels of light at a moderate cost, or
moderate levels of light at a very high cost.
Currently, the
existing manufacturing process for white LEDs has not matured to the point
where this technology can be produced at a low enough cost to enable
widespread use, as there remains multiple manufacturing hurdles that must be
overcome. As an example, the process
used to deposit the active semiconductor
layers of the LED must be improved to increase yields and manufacturing
throughout. Additionally, problems
with phosphors, which are needed in LEDs for their ability to emit a broader wavelength
spectrum of light, have also been an issue. LEDs are
currently more expensive, as measured by price per lumen, on an initial
capital cost basis than more conventional lighting technologies such as
incandecents and CFLs. The additional
expense for LEDs arises partially from the relatively low lumen output and
the drive circuitry, and power supplies needed for this technology to
function. Nonetheless, on a total cost
of ownership basis, defined as including energy costs and maintenance
expenses, LEDs far surpass incandescent or halogen sources and could even
begin to threaten compact fluorescent lamps sometime in the future, although
this is not on the horizon. In addition to
issues of cost, other considerations of LEDs that currently limit the
technological, widespread use as a lighting source, include the following
issues:
The current
generation of LEDs, which employs mostly a blue LED chip together with yellow
phosphor, has a CRI around 70, which is much too low for widespread use in
indoor lighting. Better quality CRI
LEDs are significantly more expensive, and thus additional research and
development efforts are needed to improve quality and reduce costs. ·
Temperature limitations - LEDs also have limited temperature tolerance and
their overall efficiency tends to decline as temperatures rise. This limits the total LED power that can be
practically fitted into lamps for physically replacing existing filament, and
compact fluorescent types. Once again,
research and development efforts must progress in this area in order to
improve the thermal characteristics of LED lamps. Ongoing
cost savings of LEDs versus acquisition cost issues Analyzing the “Cost Savings” of LED Usage Consumers and businesses worldwide could easily save
millions of dollars per year by adopting LED lighting technologies. LEDs typically use five to 15% of the
energy used by a normal incandescent lamp.
The acquisition cost of LEDs is very high, however, and it is this
high acquisition cost that is the biggest barrier to wide scale
implementation. Using one of the most
widely accepted cost metrics in the lighting industry, the approximate cost
per lumen of light output for LEDs is around $90 per kilo lumen, as compared
to just a few dollars per kilolumen for more established lighting
technologies. This statistic tells
only part of the story, however, about the true costs of LED adoption. Realistic costs of valuation of LEDs, versus other
technologies, would take into account lifetime costs rather than just the
initial expenditure. The Illumination Engineering
Society of North America has adopted a metric called “cost of light
formation” which incorporates the upfront installation costs, the energy
costs needed to operate, and the maintenance costs that occur as the lighting
system ages, in addition to the cost of replacement. When this metric is used incandescent
lights received very high scores because they consume a lot of energy on an
ongoing basis. Fluorescents and LED
light sources achieved very low values because of the efficient energy
consumption. When we apply this type of analysis to the costs of
LEDs versus incandescents, LEDs easily win.
For example, a typical LED bulb that replaces a 75 W incandescent
consumes approximately 68 fewer watts, potentially saving 3,400 kilowatts
over the life of the LED. If we use a
price of $0.10 per kilowatt hour, the cost savings would be approximately
$346. Potential ongoing cost savings
are even higher, when we consider that many parts of the country, California
for example, have electric rates that are considerably higher than the $0.10
per kilowatt hour used in the calculation.
Additionally, this compilation does not take into account the cost of
replacing the incandescent lamp, perhaps 20 to 40 times, during the
calculated period. While on the surface it may make sense to many that
consumers should simply switch over to LEDs in order to reap substantial
long-term cost savings. History of
consumer behavior tells us that this is a very unlikely scenario. Consumers are simply too price sensitive to
adopt such behaviors, and as a result, reducing acquisition cost remains one
of the top priorities of LED technology manufacturers. Over the past few quarters alone, manufacturers in
this developing industry have begun to make great strides in reducing costs. These gains are being made through the
production of higher power devices that deliver greater luminous flux, the
development of better thermal management, and through improvements in
GaN-based chip production, which generally suffers from low throughput and
low yields. The process of improving LED performance and
reducing costs has been so rapid over the past years that it often described
by a logarithmic law, similar to Moore's Law that is applied to
microelectronics. Although many people
with even a elementary understanding of science seems to have heard of
Moore's Law, which states that the number of transistors and integrated
circuit doubles every two years. Far fewer are aware of Haitz’s law, which
can be applied to LEDs. Named after Rowland Haitz, a retired scientist from
Agilent Technologies, the law forecast that every 10 years the amount of
light generated by an LED increases by a factor of 20, while the cost per lumen,
which is the unit of useful light emitted, falls by a factor of 10. This law has not only been upheld over the
past five years, it has actually been exceeded. Due to these efficiencies, many modern LEDs
are now fast approaching the efficacy of fluorescent lamps. Clearly, as the efficacy of solid-state
performance increases, while at the same time the cost of light delivered
from LEDs rapidly falls, the use of LEDs will likely continue to rise.
Halogen
Lighting Another lighting technology currently being
considered for its potential “green contributions” to energy saving efficiencies
is that of the halogen lamp. A halogen lamp
is an incandescent lamp in which a tungsten
filament is sealed into a compact transparent envelope casing filled with an
inert gas in addition to a small amount of halogen,
such as iodine
or bromine. As a side note, the halogens or halogen
elements are a series of non-metal
elements from Group 17 of the Periodic
Table of the elements, and comprise fluorine
(F), chlorine
(Cl), bromine
(Br), iodine
(I) and astatine
(At). The group of halogens is the
only group which contains elements in all three familiar states of
matter (solid, liquid and gas) at standard temperatures and pressures. The function
of the halogen is to set up a reversible chemical reaction with the tungsten
evaporating from the filament. The
halogen cycle increases the lifetime of the bulb and prevents it from
darkening by re-depositing tungsten from the inside of the bulb back onto the
filament. The halogen cycle describes
a complex chemical interaction between tungsten, oxygen and a halide that
makes tungsten halogen
lamps possible, prevents lamp blackening and extends the service
life of the bulb. Certain
halogen related technologies use a hot mirror coating that allows wasted heat,
produced by the filament of a halogen lamp, to be recycled, thus reducing the
amount of electricity required to produce the desired light output. Additionally, the halogen lamp can operate
its filament at a higher temperature than in a standard gas filled lamp of
similar wattage without loss of operating life, thereby giving it a higher efficacy of around 10% to 30%.
Halogen bulbs as shown both alone and part of a
complete lighting system. Halogen lighting is typically used for both automobile lights and residential home illumination. For home use, the bulbs are designed to fit
standard lighting fixtures ranging from 40 watts to 150 watts. Compared to incandescent lighting, CFLs
and LEDs, halogen lights maintain certain advantages. While halogen lamps are similar to
incandescent lighting, they last longer, approximately two years on average,
and are twice as efficient as traditional bulbs. Specifically, the halogen bulb is an energy
saving option that lasts up to four times the life of a regular bulb with an
average of 3,000 hours of lighting life.
Halogen bulbs also generate light of a higher color temperature compared to a non-halogen
incandescent lamp or, alternatively, they may be designed to have as much as
twice the life expectancy with the same, or slightly higher, efficacy. Furthermore, the light from a halogen lamp
is warm, diffuse, and pleasing to the human eye, compared to fluorescent
light, which many consumers perceive as dim.
Unlike CFLs, halogen lamps do not contain the dangerous element of
mercury which can be difficult when it comes to proper disposal. Compared to
LED lighting, halogen lights are significantly more affordable and available
for immediate consumer use. LED lamp
technology represents another promising technology that is currently used
successfully in applications such as in traffic signals, exit signs, and
flashlights, but unlike halogen solutions, it remains some way off from being
cost-efficient for retrofitting into existing home fixtures. Regarding
efficiency, while compact fluorescent light bulbs produce the most lumens per
watt, at close to 40 lumens per watt, thereby making them the most efficient
for home lighting, traditional incandecents produce only 12 to 14 lumens per
watt. Given that regular halogen
lights produce 14 to 20 lumens per watt; this places halogen technology
generally somewhere between the high efficiency levels of CFLs and the lower
level efficiencies of traditional incandescent bulbs. Energy-saving halogen bulbs currently
produce 24 to 28 lumens per watt.
Additionally, while many halogen lamps may be dimmed successfully,
their corresponding lamp life may not be extended as much as predicted by
this practice. In act, the life span
on dimming depends on lamp construction, the halogen additive used and
whether dimming is normally expected for the particular halogen lamp under consideration. One
disadvantage to halogen lamp use includes the fact that halogen lights get
hotter than regular incandescent lamps, as their heat is concentrated on a
smaller envelope of the bulb’s surface, as well as because the glass surface
is closer to the filament. While this
high temperature is essential to a halogen lamp’s operation, it can pose fire and burn
hazards. In fact, some safety codes now require
halogen bulbs to be protected by a grid or grille, Going forward,
technological advances in halogen lighting will need to concentrate on bringing
the cost of the manufacturing equipment and coating process down to the point
where the bulbs are widely affordable.
Green
Technology Market Trends in the Lighting Industry The U.S.
spends approximately $71 billion a year on electricity for lighting, which
represents 22% of the total U.S. bill for electricity.[2] Furthermore,
it is estimated that businesses and residential customers in the United
States spend in the neighborhood of roughly $37 billion each year for
lighting products, with the home lighting industry representing an approximate
$6.0 billion market. Within the United
States, the market for advanced lighting products, such as CFLs and LED based
lighting among others, is forecast to rise by nearly 14% per year to reach
$4.4 billion in 2011. Gains will be
driven by consumer demands for more efficient, environmentally friendly
lighting solutions, which in turn will increase sales of CFLs. Worldwide, the annual global lighting
market is estimated to be worth over $100 billion. Major Market Segments
Recent
technological changes affecting this industry include the development of
energy efficient light sources such as linear or compact fluorescent lamps and
the development of solid-state lighting, including LED technologies. Trends in
Incandescent Lighting Residential Sector and Incandescent Lighting Virtually
100% of households use electricity for lighting. Residential lighting consumption represents
approximately 3.0% of total U.S. sales of electricity to all sectors.[4].
Incandescent lamps remain the
preferred source of
lighting in homes and residential establishments. Incandescent lighting is familiar to
consumers, presents a comfortable level of brightness to the human eye,
enables the ability the deploy energy saving techniques such as dimmers
and/or timers, and most domestic lighting fixtures are designed for this type
of bulb. Of
residential households, 98% use incandescent lamps while 42% use some type of
fluorescent lamp.[5]
However, when the actual use of various types of lighting is
considered, within residential households in the United States, approximately
87% of all lights used one or more hours per day are incandescent[6], although this
figure has likely declined somewhat in recent years. Likewise, only 13% of the lights used for
one or more hours per day are fluorescent, and less than 1% of lights used
for 15 minutes or more per day are compact fluorescent. Percent of Households Using Incandescent,
Fluorescent and Compact Fluorescent Lights
Source:
U.S. Energy Information Administration The
greatest potential for energy savings in the residential sector occurs with
lights that are used for longer periods of time. The U.S. Energy Information Administration
estimates that if households replaced all incandescent bulbs used for
4-or-more hours per day with compact fluorescent lights, they could save 35%
percent of all the electricity used for residential lighting. Incandescent
lights continue to dominate household lighting use as the majority of light
bulbs in residential households are incandescent. In fact, of the 2 billion residential
sockets in the United States, only about 10% are occupied by compact
fluorescent bulbs. For this reason,
residential home lighting continues to represent a significant market
opportunity for effective and economical green lighting technologies, such
CLFs and halogens. Substantial residential
energy savings can occur if incandescent
lights are replaced with fluorescent
lights, given that fluorescent lights consume approximately 75% to
85% percent less electricity than incandescent lights. Regarding
commercial, institutional, and the public sector in general, use of the
traditional incandescent lamp has largely been phased out in favor of more
cost efficient solutions such as linear fluorescent lighting systems. Trends in
Fluorescent Lighting In 2007, CFLs comprised more than 5.0% of all light bulb sales in the
United States and, in some regions such as the Northwest, sales of CFLs are
as high as 15% percent. Consumer
awareness of CFLs has exploded since 2005, fueled by environmental debates
and energy conservation discussions on television and in print media
outlets. With environmental public
awareness campaigns such as 18seconds.org, which spotlights public energy
savings, and the Environmental Protection Agencies's ENERGY STAR Change a
Light, Change the World program, driving consumer demand, use of advanced
lighting technologies is expected to grow significantly, with CFLs poised to
post the fastest gains through 2012. This
trend is expected to continue among U.S. consumers as major retailers such as
Wal-Mart aggressively market these products, largely in an effort to boost
their own “environmentally green” image.
In addition, states such as California have gone so far as to propose banning incandescent bulbs, which are
viewed as energy wasting. Currently in
California, an estimated 73 million incandescent light bulbs and six million
compact fluorescents are sold each year.
At present,
more so than ever before, there is a sort of revolution taking place in the
lighting industry to address the growing desire among consumers to “make a
difference.” It has been estimated
that if every American household replaced just one of their existing
incandescent bulbs with an energy-efficient CFL, the country would save more
than $600 million annually in energy costs and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent
to what is produced by more than 800,000 cars. Many consumers are well aware of such
statistics and are actively migrating to these technologies as a result. Efficient lighting products, such as CFLs, will
continue to gain significant media exposure through the efforts and support
of environmental activists and also stand to benefit significantly from
potential bans on incandescent bulbs in a number of U.S. states. Furthermore, manufacturers are rising to
the challenge of addressing environmental concerns about CFLs by developing models
that contain less mercury. The market for
compact fluorescent lamps is expected to be the fastest growing segment of
the lighting industry through at least 2012, driven by cost improvements and
the growing worldwide desire to reduce global warming. According to Envirostats, during 2006, more
than 2.0 billion bulbs valued at approximately $1.5 billion were
produced. Furthermore, production has
grown in more than 35% annually since 2003, including a 43% jump in
production during 2005 alone. The
association of electrical and medical imaging equipment manufacturers’ index
for CFLs shipments grew by more than 33% during 2007, and has averaged more
than 66% growth since 2003. Recently,
the index surged even more, growing by 113% and 139% for the years 2006 and
2007, respectively. This index surged
while shipments of incandescent lights have been declining steadily since
2004, with production dropping by approximately 19% during 2007. CFL and Incandescent Bulb Sales Indexes
Source:
Association of Electrical and Medical Imaging Equipment Manufacturers Compact
fluorescent lamps have been around for years.
Remarkably, however, while billions of CFLs have been produced over
the past 10 years, the overall market
penetration rate of these fluorescent lamps remains very low. As is outlined in the chart below, at the
beginning of 2008, fewer than 25% of all lamps in the United States are CFLs. Market Penetration of CFLs Versus Incandescent Bulbs
Source:
Association of electrical and medical imaging equipment manufacturers Residential Sector and Fluorescent Lighting While adoption of CFL’s is widely covered by the press in the United States and to a lesser extent in Western Europe, to date still, within the United States, relatively few homeowners have invested significantly in energy and cost saving CFL lighting products, due to some of the drawbacks when compared to traditional incandescent bulbs. Overall, compact fluorescent lights are used in over 10.0% percent of residential U.S. households. In recent
years, suppliers have worked to improve the performance of CFLs. Advances aimed at addressing some of the issues
with CFL lamps give residential users more reason than ever to take advantage
of this technology. Improved products
now offer more residential applications and superior lighting quality and
CFLs are currently available in shapes that fit better in home
applications. In fact, many CFLs
currently on the market match the size, shape and light output of standard
75-watt incandescent lamps.
Furthermore, significant technological advances are currently being
made in CFL dimming capabilities, an important feature that is likely to
drive consumer uptake since most CFLs are not currently compatible with
dimmers or timers. A primary aim
of many manufacturers of CFLs is to reduce the amount of mercury contained in
the lamps. Although the amount of
mercury contained in each unit is small, as little as four milligrams, which
is much less than is contained in the average household thermometer, its
presence poses a threat to the CFL’s environmentally conscious image. Commercial and Public Sectors and Fluorescent
Lighting The cost of electricity for lighting in the
commercial market is significant, with lighting as the single-largest
consumer of electric power in a typical commercial building, often exceeding
30% of a building's total energy costs.
This high expense is a key motivating factor that has made businesses
and public institutions generally more willing than residential consumers to
embrace new lighting innovations and become early adapters of new energy
saving lighting systems. For many
businesses, public organizations and government institutions, new lighting
equipment is viewed as an investment, making increased attention to the
bottom line an important factor in promoting the use of cost efficient,
energy saving, lighting in this sector. Linear fluorescent lighting is the most prevalent
type of lighting for commercial, industrial and nonresidential settings. In fact, to date, fluorescent lamps have
mainly been deployed in commercial buildings such as warehouses and stores,
with only limited use in residential settings although over the past two
years this situation has changed significantly due to the popularity of home
fluorescent lamp technology. While residential
use of fluorescent lighting remains relatively low in the United States, and
is generally limited to kitchens, basements, hallways and other areas, schools
and businesses
and other organizations find the cost savings of fluorescents to be
significant and rarely use incandescent lights. Given its size and large consumption of
electricity for lighting, the commercial sector represents the most important
sector for achieving overall energy savings.
In the commercial sector in particular, where approximately 92% of the
buildings already use fluorescent lights, with 59% using some type of
incandescent lighting[7], increasing energy
savings will require upgrading and retrofitting existing lights and lighting
systems. To maximize energy savings,
commercial and public institutions, must also consider hours of usage and the
amount of actual floor space lit by a particular lighting type. While approximately two-thirds of all
commercial buildings use some type of incandescent lighting, only 14% of lit floor
space is actually illuminated by incandescent lights with about
77% being lit by fluorescent lights, and approximately 3.0% lit by compact
fluorescent lights.[8] Two other types of lighting equipment technology,
namely halogen and
high-intensity
discharge (HID) comprise the remaining source of commercial floor
space light. Types of
Lighting Used to Illuminate Commercial Sector Floor Space
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Within the
commercial sector, some energy savings would occur by simply replacing all
incandescent lights with fluorescent lights. Data suggests greater energy savings will
occur by upgrading and retrofitting, such as replacing existing fluorescent
lights with more
energy-efficient equipment, including electronic ballasts which
increase fluorescent efficiency by up to 25%.
With only about half of the total lit commercial floor space served by
fluorescent lights with energy-efficient ballasts, there still remains a
significant fraction of commercial building floor space that can be upgraded
with more energy-efficient lighting equipment.[9]
Energy savings
in the commercial sector will also increase significantly with the advent of
effective dimming technology for fluorescent lighting systems. Today, linear fluorescent lights are widely
used in commercial and industrial settings, although unlike their
incandescent lamp counterparts, the technology to dim these fluorescent
lights has not been available until very recently, and it continues to
rapidly evolve. Many types of business,
institutional and government related facilities, would like to have the
ability to dim their fluorescent lighting in order to conserve power and
achieve meaningful cost savings. For
example, a large retailer that runs its lighting 24 hours a day while customers
shop, for example, as well as at night when shelves are restocked, could
easily run its fluorescent lighting at 100% power during the day while its
customers are shopping, and at 70% at night.
Under these circumstances, dimming capabilities could likely provide a
variety of organizations with significant cost savings. Dimmable
Fluorescent Lighting Dimmable
fluorescent lighting systems have evolved rapidly, resulting in the
availability of an increasingly powerful and easy-to-use-and-install array of
options, optimal for retrofitting existing buildings, as well as for new
construction applications. The
market’s broad selection of corresponding ballast and control components have
been made increasingly compatible.
Advances in electronic ballast technology over time have enabled
manufacturers to dim lamps to levels of 5% and lower, and the installation of
dimmable fluorescent systems has been simplified by the availability of
ballasts that require no extra wiring due to the removal of additional control
leads. . Dimmable
fluorescent systems offer end-users an optimal combination of benefits as a
controllable alternative to their existing lighting systems. Specifically, these systems provide
enhanced flexibility and energy efficiency, improved lighting quality and
environmental purification, and represents an easy-to-install undertaking for
distributors and contractors. Dimmable
fluorescent lighting systems combine the long life and energy efficiency of
fluorescent lamps with the controllability and full range dimming
capabilities of traditionally popular incandescent systems. End-users can deploy fluorescent dimming
systems to significantly reduce the amount of energy used in lighting a
facility, an activity that can account for up to between 35% and 40% of a
commercial building’s total electricity, according to Department of Energy
estimates. From an
equipment perspective, dimmable fluorescent lighting involves the combination
of fluorescent lamps, dimmable electronic ballasts, and control products such
as manual dimming controls, light-level sensors, occupancy sensors, clock
switches, and centralized controls.
These systems can operate using either manually driven technology or
an automatic sensitivity to daylight levels, or occupancy status. Trends in HID
Lighting HID lamps are typically used when high levels of
light are required over large areas and when energy efficiency and/or long
life is desired. These areas include
gymnasiums, large public areas, warehouses, outdoor activity areas, roadways,
parking lots, and pathways. More
recently, however, HID sources, especially metal halide, have been used in
small retail and residential environments. Going forward, lighting product types are expected
to rise the fastest through 2012, including technologically advanced products
that offer increased energy efficiency.
Spurred by elevated energy costs and growing environmental concerns
both businesses and households will increasingly demand greater energy efficiency
from their lighting systems. Consequently,
the demand for non-portable fixtures using more efficient light sources,
including fluorescent, halogen and HID lamps, will outpace demand for
conventional incandescent fixtures. Daylight Harvesting “Daylighting” Other trends in controllable lighting revolve around increased owner
interest in voluntarily achieving sustainable or “green” building
status. For this reason, another
building practice gaining increased attention by all sectors is that of
daylight harvesting. While many
sustainable designs utilize existing natural resources, “daylight harvesting”
refers to the increasing popular practice of strategically bringing natural
daylight into a building’s interior. In recent
years, the sustainable design movement has returned daylight harvesting to
the forefront of many mainstream construction projects. Daylight harvesting, or “daylighting,” is
the use of natural sunlight/daylight as a primary source of illumination to
support human activity in a building space.
A primary strategy with daylight harvesting is to use lighting
controls that switch or dim the lights either manually or automatically in
response to available daylight. Here,
daylight harvesting systems automatically adjust indoor lighting to match
changes in ambient daylight. In order to
implement a daylight harvesting system, a low-voltage control system is
required. The type of building
lighting system incorporated with daylight harvesting construction is
actually critical to successful design.
Specifically, a lamp’s light quality should blend well with natural
light and provide good color rendering and contrast. Hybrid lighting designs can allow bright
sunlight to provide up to 100% of illumination during midday, when energy
costs are highest. During times of
high natural sunlight, continuously dimmable lighting (i.e.: 100% down to 50%
power) can save significant energy costs. Likewise, when clouds roll in or nighttime
falls, for example, effecting dimming systems can provide increased power to
maintain nearly constant levels of lighting. Examples of building construction
incorporating daylight harvesting for use of natural light. Effective
daylighting has been demonstrated to save energy and increase the quality of the visual environment,
both reducing operating costs and improving user satisfaction. The practice
of daylight harvesting now plays a prominent role in programs such as the
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating
System, which provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable
construction, and has expanded recognition in California’s Title 24 energy
code. Industry experts anticipate that
energy codes may eventually mandate the use of daylighting controls in
buildings and new construction. Industry
Consolidation A Globalized, Concentrated Market The electric
lighting industry is a globalized and highly concentrated market dominated by
three major players. Collectively,
General Electric (GE), Philips and Osram Sylvania, represent over two-thirds
of the world lighting market.[10]
Specifically, GE holds an approximate 28% market share, Philips has a
26.0% market share position, and Osram Sylvania, the North American business
arm of OSRAM GmbH of Germany which is part of Siemens, holds a 21%
stake. Multiple smaller players
comprise the remaining 25% market share, including approximately 1,200
lighting manufacturers who operate in the North American region alone. These three main players also dominate the
U.S. advanced lighting market where a number of smaller companies remain
competitive by focusing on niche products.
With a
worldwide increasing focus on energy conservation and environmentally
friendly products, and as increasingly more of these products come to market
with the maturation of fluorescent, LED and halogen technologies companies
successfully playing in these fields will likely see increasing consolidation
as the bigger players seek to establish their global positions for the next
generation of “green” lighting. The
LED sector in particular has seen both vertical integration and consolidation
recently, a trend that we believe will continue over the coming years. Industry Regulation and Government Legislation The Kyoto
Treaty: Worldwide Commitment to
Reduced Global Warming and Environmental Protection As of May 2008, 181 countries including Russia and
the European Union are party to the Kyoto Protocol. With Australia’s ratification of the Treaty
made effective in 2008, the United States remains the single developed nation
in the world not to have signed the renowned Protocol. Other significant countries missing from
the list of participants includes China and India under their status of less
developed nations. In summary, the signatories to the Kyoto Protol are committed
to reducing their green house gas emissions by an average of 5.2% below 1990
levels by the year 2012. As part of achieving
this goal, many nations have undertaken to ban the use of older lighting
technologies, including the use of incandescent bulbs, in favor of more
environmentally friendly CFL’s, in order to limit CO2 emissions from wasted
heat energy. Global
Legislation Banning Incandescent Due to higher energy usage and environmental
pollutant capacity of incandescent light bulbs, in comparison
to more energy efficient alternatives, such as compact fluorescent lamps and LED lamps,
some governments have passed laws and regulations to phase out usage of
incandescent lighting. United
States Under the federal Clean Energy Act of 2007, incandescent
bulbs that produce between 310 and 2600 lumens
of light are effectively banned by January 2014. Bulbs outside this range are exempt from
the ban; this roughly, applies to light bulbs that are currently less than 40
Watts or more than 150 Watts. California
will phase out the use of incandescent bulbs by 2018 as part of a bill that
was signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on October 12,
2007. The bill also requires a reduction in lighting electricity usage. Canada Canada’s Federal Environment Minister has announced
a plan to phase-out inefficient light bulbs in Canada by 2012, although this will
not mean the banning of any existing technology such as incandescent light
bulbs. According to the Minister,
Canada will save $3.0 billion to $4.0 billion Canadian dollars over the
lifetime of the new bulbs used.
Furthermore, in April, 2007, Ontario's
Minister of Energy
announced the provincial
government's intention to ban incandescent light bulbs by 2012. While the plan bans the sale of
incandescent light bulbs, it does not ban their use. The provincial
government of Nova Scotia is also looking to move toward
phasing out incandescent light bulbs in its province by instituting a ban
over the next four to five years. Europe The European
Union has proposed a ban on the production of new incandescent
light bulbs that is planned to come into effect in the near future. However, the proposal has yet to be
approved by all member states or the European Parliament.
Australia In February, 2007, the Australian Federal Government
announced the introduction of minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) for
lighting products, with a new minimum standard efficiency level of 15 lumens
per watt (lm/w). The importation of non-compliant lighting including,
significantly, incandescent bulbs, into Australia
will be banned starting in 2010 and, starting in 2009, the retail sale of
non-compliant lighting including incandescent globes will also be
banned. The country estimates that greenhouse
gas emissions will be cut by 800,000 tons for a saving of
approximately 0.14%. According to the
current proposal, all regular light bulbs and other kinds of light bulbs sold
starting from October, 2009, will need to meet new minimum energy performance
standards. These requirements will
effectively prohibit the sale of most incandescent light bulbs and while high
efficiency halogen bulbs will still be available, they must meet the new
minimum energy performance standards. Australia has also taken some initiatives to
encourage its people to switch to compact fluorescent lamps from traditional
incandescent lighting. For example,
residents in some municipalities have been offered free compact fluorescent
lamps to replace their incandescent light bulbs, including free
installation. In return, residents are
required to sign over the carbon credits resulting from the reduced carbon
emissions over the expected life of the compact fluorescent lamps to the
installation company. New
Zealand New Zealand
will ban incandescent light bulbs beginning in 2009. New minimum energy standards would mean no
fresh stocks of these bulbs could be imported into the country, starting
October 2009. The government has also
signed the Kyoto Treaty and aims to make New Zealand carbon neutral as one of
its key environmental goal. Other Elsewhere in the world, Cuba exchanged all incandescent light bulbs for CFLs in
2007 and has since banned the import and sales of incandescent light
bulbs. Within South America, both Brazil
and Venezuela
were the first countries to attempt to phase out the use of incandescent light bulbs, in 2005. China has recently agreed to phase out incandescent
bulb production over the next 10 years; a major concession given China is
responsible for approximately 75% of world light bulb manufacturing. In the Philippines, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has called for a
ban on all incandescent light bulbs by 2010 in favor of more energy-efficient
fluorescent lamps in order to help cut
greenhouse gas emissions and household costs during her closing remarks at
the Philippine Energy Summit. Once in
effect, the Philippines will be the first country in Asia to ban incandescent
bulbs, although in East and Southeast
Asia, it is very rare to see incandescent
bulbs in buildings anywhere. CFL Related Legislation Governments around the world have taken legislative
action to improve lighting efficiency.
The movement toward CFLs is especially exciting as upcoming
legislation in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand is
forcing a major migration to this cost-saving technology over the next few
years. Additional initiatives within
the European Union should accelerate this process. In 2007, the United States Congress included certain
provisions into its wide-sweeping energy bill that virtually eliminates most
ordinary incandescent bulbs by 2012.
The recently passed energy bill specifies that all light bulbs must
use 25% to 30% less energy than existing products today by between 2012 and
2014. This phase out will start with
100 W bulbs in January of 2012 and continue with 40 W bulbs in January
2014. By 2020, all bulbs must be 70%
more efficient. The authors of the
energy bill claim that with the phase-out of these older technologies, the
United States will be able to cut light bulb electricity usage by as much as
60% by the year 2020, saving Americans over $18 billion in electricity
usage. Within California, tax
incentives and environmental awareness have resulted in higher use than in
many other places across the country. The European Union (EU) has taken less drastic
action and has instead asked its members to implement a voluntary European
Union pledge to switch to energy efficient lighting by the end of the
decade. Ireland has banned all
incandescent light bulbs starting in 2009, making it the first country to
take action toward implementing the European Union’s pledge. Other European Union countries are
currently considering similar proposals.
Additionally, Both Australia and New Zealand have announced plans to
phase out incandescent bulbs. China,
which manufactures nearly 75% of the world's light bulbs, has recently agreed
to phase out incandescent bulb production over the next 10 years. United States Regulations and Initiatives Energy Star Program
ENERGY
STAR was first created as a United
States government program in 1992.
Today, it is an international standard for energy efficient consumer
products as Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan and the European
Union have all adopted the program as well.
Regarding
the lighting industry, in the United States and Canada, the Energy Star
program labels compact fluorescent lamps that meet a set of standards for
starting time, life expectancy, color, and consistency of performance. The intent of the program is to reduce
consumer concerns over the variability of product quality. Specifically, CFL lighting systems with a
recent ENERGY STAR certification start in less than one second, and do not
flicker. Nonetheless, ongoing work for
improving the light quality of these fluorescent lamps continues. The Energy Independence and Security Act
of 2007 The passage of
the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 created a natural market for
energy-efficient products, including those of the lighting industry. Under this act, all incandescent light
bulbs must use 25% to 30% less energy than today’s products by the years 2012
to 2014. Considering that LEDs are
cost prohibitive; we believe manufacturers of CFLs will be the biggest near
term beneficiaries of this legislation. Department of Energy’s “L Prize™”
Competition In May
2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced details of its Bright
Tomorrow Lighting Prize competition, otherwise known as the L Prize,™ a
competition authorized by The Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of
2007. The L Prize™ is the first
government-sponsored technology competition designed to spur lighting
manufacturers to develop high quality, high efficiency solid-state lighting
products, such as LEDs to replace the common incandescent light bulb. The competition will award cash prizes up
to $20 million, and may also lead to opportunities for federal purchasing
agreements, utility programs, and other incentives for the winning products. The
legislation challenges industry participants to develop replacement
technologies related to the most commonly used and inefficient products,
including 60 Watt incandescent lamps and PAR 38 halogen lamps. The L Prize™ specifies technical
requirements for these two competition categories, as innovating lighting
products meeting the competition requirements must consume just 17% of the
energy used by most incandescent lamps in use today. A future L Prize™ program announcement will
also call later for the development of a new “21st Century Lamp,” as
authorized in the legislation. National Institute of Standards and
Technology In June,
2008, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
announced the first two standards for solid-state lighting in the United
States. These standards determine the
detailed color specifications of LED lamps and LED light fixtures, and the
test methods that manufacturers should use when testing these solid-state
lighting products for their total light output, energy consumption, and
chromaticity/color quality. The
solid-state lights being studied are intended for general illumination, but
white lights used today vary greatly in chromaticity, or specific shades of
white. The American National Standards Institute’s published standard number
C78.377-2008, specifies the recommended color ranges for solid-state lighting
products using cool to warm white LEDs with various correlated color temperatures.
Also, the
DOE is launching its ENERGY STAR program for solid-state lighting products in
2008. Here, NIST scientists assisted
the DOE by providing research, technical details, and comments for specific
ENERGY STAR specifications. The ENERGY STAR certification provides assurances
to consumers that products save energy and are of high product quality while
also providing an incentive for manufacturers to supply energy-saving
consumer products. Furthermore, NIST
is working with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support its goal of
developing and introducing solid-state lighting in the United States that
reduces energy consumption for lighting by 50% by the year 2025. The DOE predicts that phasing in solid-state
lighting over the next 20 years could save more than $280 billion. The
solid-state lighting community continues to develop LED lighting standards
both for rating LED lamp lifetime as well as for measuring the performance of
the individual high-power LED chips and arrays, with NIST scientists taking
active roles in these ongoing efforts. Efforts to Encourage CFL Adoption Because
of the potential to reduce electricity consumption and green house gas
emissions, since most electricity in the United States in generated by coal,
various organizations have undertaken measures to encourage the adoption of
CFLs and other efficient lighting devices.
Efforts range from publicity to encourage awareness, to efforts to
make CFLs more widely available, to direct measures to provide CFLs to the
public. Some electric utilities and
local governments have also subsidized CFLs, or provided them free of charge
to customers in hopes of reducing electric demand on the public grid, and
thereby delaying the need for additional investments in generation infrastructure. The Pacific Gas & Electric Company of
California, for example, provided rebates to customers for 19 million CFLs
last year, and over the past six years, the company has subsidized 30 million
bulbs. All in all, from 2000 to 2006,
PG&E customers, including both residential and businesses saved more than
$279 million by using CFLs. U.S. Department of Energy: Demand Side Management Programs The U.S.
Department of Energy estimates that electricity demand in the United States
will increase from 3821 billion kilowatt-hours in 2005, to 5478 billion
kilowatt-hours by the year 2030.
Lighting has historically consumed 17% of all electricity sold in the
United States. To help curtail the
growing demand for additional power generation capacity, the DOE, together
with the power generation industry, has supported a series of demand side
management (DSM) programs to entice end users to reduce energy
consumption. In support of this
movement, the lighting industry has supplied a continuous flow of new energy
efficient products, with the majority of these products requiring electronic
ballast. lighting industry Company Profiles In this section we
have included corporate profiles on various lighting industry participants. While we have made an attempt to include the
largest players in the section, this list is not inclusive of all of the
industry’s many participants. We have
provided selected profiles on some of the smaller, emerging players in the
lighting industry who we believe have interesting products or technologies
that can be either sold directly into the business or consumer markets ,or
can be sold as technology components to be included in the products produced
by the more established industry participants.
World Headquarters: Atlanta, Georgia CEO: Vernon J. Nagel CFO: Richard
K. Reece is Description: Pubic company (NYSE:AYI) Market
Cap: $1.9 billion (Aug 11, 2008) Closing Price:
$45.89 (Aug 11, 2008) Financial
Profile Annual
Revenues: $2.5 billion (Aug. 31, 2007) Cash &
Cash Equivalents: $216.3 million (May 31, 2008) Total Debt: $364.0 million Employees: 7,000 Web site: www.acuitybrands.com and www.acuitybrandslighting.com Acuity Brands,
Inc. (“Acuity Brands”) designs, produces and distributes lighting equipment
and specialty products worldwide. The
lighting equipment business of Acuity Brands is operated by Acuity Brands
Lighting (“ABL”), one of the world’s leading providers of lighting fixtures
for new construction, renovation, and facility maintenance applications. As the company’s lighting equipment
segment, Acuity Brands Lighting offers a broad array of indoor and outdoor
lighting fixtures for commercial and institutional, industrial infrastructure,
and residential applications for various markets throughout North America,
and select international markets.
Acuity Brand’s line of specialty products segment is a producer,
marketer and service provider of a wide range of cleaning and maintenance
solutions for commercial, industrial, institutional and consumer end-markets,
primarily throughout North America and Europe. Specifically, the company’s line of
specialty products include: anti-bacterial and industrial hand care products,
cleaners, degreasers, deodorizers, disinfectants, floor finishes, sanitizers
and pest and weed control products.
The company was founded in 2001, and is based in Atlanta, Georgia,
with operations throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Acuity Brands
sells its lighting products under several brand names including Metal Optics,
Lithonia Lighting, American Electric Lighting, Antique Street Lamps,
Carandini, Gotham, Holophane, Hydrel, Mark Architectural Lighting, Peerless,
SpecLight and Synergy Lighting Controls.
The company maintains one of the strongest sales and distribution
network in the industry. Its brand name products are distributed and sold
through independent sales agents, factory sales representatives, distribution
centers, regional warehouses, and commercial warehouses. Principal customers of the company’s
lighting products include electrical distributors, retail home improvement
centers, national accounts, electric utilities, municipalities, contractors,
catalogs and lighting showrooms located in North America and select
international markets. The company’s
lighting products are manufactured at 24 plants in the United States, Europe,
Canada and Mexico, and are dispersed through strategically located
distribution centers. Of the
Company’s fiscal 2007 net sales of approximately $2.5 billion, the lighting
equipment segment generated the majority of revenues at approximately 78% of
total net sales, or about $1.95 billion, while the company’s specialty
products segment generated the remaining 22%, or approximately $550
million. In fiscal 2007, North America
represented Acuity Brands Lighting’s most important geographic market,
accounting for approximately 96% of ABL’s net sales. Details of the
company’s brand name lighting products include the following:
Avago Technologies, LTD. Avago High-Brightness LEDs World Headquarters: Atlanta, Georgia CEO: Vernon J. Nagel CFO: Richard
K. Reece is Description: Pubic company (NYSE:AYI) Market
Cap: $1.9 billion (Aug 11, 2008) Closing Price:
$45.89 (Aug 11, 2008) Financial
Profile Annual Revenues:
$2.5 billion (Aug. 31, 2007) Cash &
Cash Equivalents: $216.3 million (May 31, 2008) Total Debt: $364.0 million Employees: 7,000 Web site: www.acuitybrands.com and www.acuitybrandslighting.com Avago Technologies is one of the largest producers
of LEDs in the world and offers an extensive portfolio of LED products to
lighting customers. Key products
include high brightness and high-power LEDs surface Mount LEDs, color
sensors, display backlighting solutions, flash LEDs flexible light strip
modules, and LED displays. The company
is a significant worldwide provider of LEDs for electronic sign and signal
applications. Bridgelux, Inc. Headquarters:
Sunnyvale, California CEO: Mark Swoboda CFO: Gloria
Fan Chief Technology Officer And Founder: Dr. Heng Liu Description: Private Company Web site: www.bridgelux.com Bridgelux, is a privately held company headquartered
in Silicon Valley and was founded in late 2002. The company's primary focus is on
solid-state lighting. The company
produces a proprietary, indium gallium nitride power LED chip, which is now
being shipped in high volumes to manufacturers of mobile appliances, signage,
automotive, and various general lighting applications. The company's proprietary approach is aimed at
removing packaging and assembly cost, as well as lowering the high cost by
increasing usable lumens, and claims to have brought the overall LED cost
down to $0.01 per lumen. Bridglelux’s impressive R&D efforts have
produced extensive knowledge of GaN epitalxial growth processes, device
structures, and chip designs have allowed the company to grow into a leader
in the high-power LED industry. The
product portfolio includes power chips, packaged LEDs and LED arrays, and new
solutions that enable further adoption of solid-state lighting technologies.
Cooper
Industries World Headquarters:
Houston, Texas Cooper Lighting Headquarters: Peachtree
City, Georgia Cooper
Industries CEO: Kirk S. Hachigian Cooper Industries CFO: Terry A. Klebe Cooper
Industries Description: Pubic company
(NYSE:CBE) Cooper
Industries Market Cap: $7.8 billion
(Aug 11, 2008) Cooper Industries Closing Price: $44.77 (Aug 11, 2008) Cooper
Industries Financial Profile Annual Revenues:
$5.9 billion (Dec. 31, 2007) Cash &
Cash Equivalents: $154.7 million (Jun. 30, 2008) Total Debt: $1.3 billion (Jun. 30, 2008) Cooper
Industries Employees 2007: 31,000 Web site: www.cooperindustries.com
and www.cooperlighting.com Cooper Industries, Ltd. is a global company that engages in the
manufacture and sale of electrical products and tools in the United States
and internationally. It operates in
two main industry segments, namely, the company’s Electrical Products
segment, which includes its Cooper Lighting division, and the Company’s Tools
industry segment. Organizationally,
the company’s two major industry divisions are further divided into nine
segments that make up the company: Cooper Lighting,
Cooper B-Line, Cooper Bussman, Cooper Crouse-Hinds, Cooper Safety, Cooper
Wiring Devices, Cooper Power Systems, Cooper Tools and Cooper Hand Tools. The company’s Electrical Products segment manufactures, markets, and
sells electrical and circuit protection products, including fittings, support
systems, enclosures, wiring devices, plugs, receptacles, lighting fixtures,
hazardous duty electrical equipment, fuses, emergency lighting systems, fire
detection, and mass notification systems and security products. The company’s Electrical Products line is
used in a variety of applications including residential, commercial and
industrial construction, maintenance and repair applications. This segment also offers distribution
switchgear, transformers, transformer terminations and accessories,
capacitors, voltage regulators, surge arresters, among other related power
systems components, for use by utilities and in industry for electrical power
transmission and distribution. The
company’s Electrical Products segment contributed approximately 87%, or $5.13
billion, of the firm’s total 2007 revenues of $5.9 billion. The company’s Tools segment manufactures, markets, and sells hand tools
for industrial, construction, electronics, and consumer markets; automated
assembly systems for industrial markets; and electric and pneumatic
industrial power tools, and related electronics and software control and
monitoring systems for general industry, primarily automotive and aerospace
manufacturers. Cooper Industries sells
its products through distributors, wholesalers, and agents, as well as
directly to original equipment manufacturers, home centers, specialty stores,
department stores, mass merchandisers and hardware outlets. While the company’s main market place is the United States, Cooper
generates most of its non-U.S. revenues in Canada, Germany, France, Mexico
and the United Kingdom. The company also
has operations in India, Malaysia and China, in addition to several joint
ventures with operations in China. Founded in 1833, Cooper Industries, Ltd.
is one of America’s oldest “large” companies.
The company is based in Houston, Texas. Cooper Lighting is a leading provider of innovative, high quality
lighting fixtures and related products to worldwide commercial, industrial,
residential and utility markets.
Additionally, Cooper Lighting is one of the leading manufacturer of
track and recessed lighting in North America, as well as one of the largest
fixture manufacturers of lighting sources, including incandescent,
fluorescent, high intensity discharge (“HID”), exit and emergency, vandal
resistant, sports, landscape, and complex environment lighting. Cooper Lighting is comprised of thirteen
strong brands with manufacturing facilities located throughout the world in
23 countries, including the United States, Canada and Mexico. Cree, Inc. World
Headquarters: Durham, North Carolina,
USA CEO: Charles
Swoboda CFO: John
Palmour Description: Pubic company (Nasdaq:CREE) Market
Cap: $1.9 Billion (Aug 20, 2008) Closing Price:
$21.44 (Aug 11, 2008) Financial
Profile Annual
Revenues: $394 Million (June 2007 Fiscal) Total
Assets $2.2 Billion(Jun. 30, 2008) Total Shareholder Equity $1.0 Billion (Jun. 30,
2008) Employees
2007: NA Web site: www.cree.com Cree, Inc. is
a leading innovator and manufacture of semiconductors used in LED solid-state
lighting, power and communications products.
The company's primary market advantage is its expertise in silicon
carbide with gallium nitride to deliver semiconductor chips and packaged
devices that can handle more power in a smaller space, while producing less
heat than other available technologies materials and/or products. Cree has
quickly developed into a market-leading innovator and manufacturer of
semiconductors that enhance the value of LED solid-state lighting and other
applications. The company sells its
products to a variety of customers ranging from innovative lighting fixture
manufacturers to defense-related federal government agencies. Cree’s product family includes blue and
green LED chips, lighting LEDs, LEDs for backlighting, power switching
devices, and radio frequency/wireless devices. The company’s mission is to accelerate the
adoption and evolution of LEDs into high-volume general lighting applications
in order to enable consumers to realize lower energy, installation and maintenance
costs, while at the same time creating a safe environment solution. Cree’s product
family includes blue and green LED chips, lighting LEDs, LEDs for
backlighting, power switching devices and radio frequency/wireless devices. Cree has
clearly developed into one of the leading companies focusing on LED
lighting. The company's lighting
solutions group was originally founded in September, 2005, by a group of
engineers, a significant experience in the LED chip components and systems
technologies markets. The lighting
group's mission is to accelerate the adoption and evolution of LEDs into
high-volume general lighting applications in order to enable consumers to
realize lower energy, installation and maintenance costs, while at the same
time creating a safe environment solution. The company’s
LR6 product, which is a six-inch, recessed down light, uses 6 W, compared to
65 Watts consumed by the average incandescent. The company claims significant long-term
cost savings through the use of the product.
For example the LR6 product, consuming only 12 W can operate for
50,000 hours at a cost of only $60 compared to the cost to run a 65 W
incandescent for the same period time of $325. Because of the extreme long life of the LR6
LED unit approximately $265 in electric cost savings alone can be gained. The longevity of the LR6 is approximately
55,000 hours, which is approximately 50 times the life of a typical
incandescent bulb and five times the lifetime of the average CFL. While the
company's technologies offer significant long-term cost savings compared to incandescents,
and even to CFLs, initial product acquisition cost is still very high at $130
per fixture compared to approximately $35.00 or less for the average
incandescent fixture. |
