by Shane Henson — February 8, 2012—American business owners and homeowners haven’t been slow in working to lower their energy costs through utilizing energy-efficient lighting products, according to a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) report that documents the increased adoption of energy-efficient lighting products in the United States over the last decade.
The report, 2010 U.S. Lighting Market Characterization, examines the current conditions and broad trends in the U.S. lighting market, broken down by technology and sector.
The publication also details specific products, including comprehensive and detailed estimates of the national inventory of installed lighting products, as well as their performance characteristics, associated energy use, and lumen production—a measure of brightness.
In addition, the document helps chart progress made toward the goal of transitioning to more energy-efficient lighting technologies across four sectors: residential buildings, commercial buildings, industrial buildings, and outdoor applications.
The new report is an update to a similar DOE report that modeled the 2001 U.S. lighting market inventory. According to the study and report authors, during the intervening decade, two overarching trends emerged:
- Push toward energy-saving lighting: Investment in more efficient technologies, higher efficiency standards, and public awareness campaigns helped shift the market toward more energy-efficient lighting technologies across all sectors. The average system efficacy—a measure of the amount of light provided per watt of power consumed—of installed lighting increased from 45 lumens per watt in 2001 to 58 lumens per watt in 2010, due mainly to a move from incandescent to compact fluorescent lamps in the residential sector, and from T12 to more-efficient T8 and T5 fluorescent lamps in the commercial and industrial sectors.
- Increased demand for light: The total number of light bulbs installed in U.S. stationary applications grew from just under 7 billion in 2001 to more than 8 billion in 2010. Most of this growth occurred in the residential sector, primarily because of an increase in the number of households, which increased from under 107 million in 2001 to more than 113 million in 2010, and a rise in the number of sockets per household from an average of 43 to an average of 51.
