by Brianna Crandall — April 8, 2015—The market of light-emitting diode (LED) lamps in Europe is moving much faster than was previously expected, according to an updated report from the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (eceee). LED “clear incandescent look-alikes” are several years ahead of price and performance projections, and an updated report reflecting 1000-hour tests confirm that the quality of the new products is acceptable.
The original November study—by the Swedish Energy Agency, the Belgian government, CLASP’s European Programme and eceee—was undertaken because new LED lamps were being introduced into the European market at low prices and with claims of very high performance levels. The updated report provides test results on the samples following 1000 hours of use.
“The findings of our original report still hold true” said Nils Borg, eceee’s executive director. “LED products are introduced into the European market at much lower prices and much better performance levels than the European Commission anticipated in June 2013. We see that approximately 50% of the LED lamps purchased and tested for this study already exceed the 2016 price and performance levels that were anticipated by the Commission, and one model available on the European market in 2014 already exceeds the anticipated 2018 level on efficacy and the 2020 level on price.”
When ecodesign regulation EC No 244/2009 was drafted, the Commission anticipated that compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) would replace the majority of frosted non-directional incandescent lamps, which were phased out starting in 2010.
Clear mains-voltage halogen lamps were allowed to remain on the market as a replacement for clear incandescent lamps and they were expected to constitute a relatively small share of total sales for non-directional lamps. New evidence has become available that has shown the market did not behave in this way, and instead halogen sales have quadrupled while CFL sales have declined.
This ECEEE graph shows the normalized price and efficacy projections from the June 2013 review study, with the red dots providing the actual price and measured efficacy of the LED lamps purchased in August/September 2014.(Click on image to enlarge)
The final stage of EC No 244/2009 (“Stage 6”) would take effect in September 2016 and phase-out D-Class clear halogen lamps in favor of more efficient technologies (e.g., B-Class halogens, CFLs and LED lamps). In June 2013, the Commission published a review study to assess the feasibility of Stage 6. Taking the findings of that review into account, the Commission proposed a two-year delay to Stage 6 in order to give LED technology more time to develop.
This June 2013 Commission review provided a projection of LED lamp price and efficacy in the EU from 2012 to 2030. However, in mid-2014 it became clear that these projections were too conservative, and that LED technology was already outpacing those expectations.
For this reason, Sweden, Belgium, CLASP and eceee launched this current study to look at price and performance of LED lamps, to provide a new evidence base for policy makers considering Stage 6. Because of the importance of creating a “sparkle” effect in certain light fittings, this study focused on clear LED lamps, such as the one shown on this page.
The updated report also provides a detailed discussion of LightingEurope’s critique of the original November report, which eceee concludes can mostly be resolved by compliance with packaging and informational regulations. As to issues with the actual LED lamps themselves, after 1000 hours of testing, the authors found 15 out of 17 (or 88%) of models tested are compliant with the product performance requirements of EU No 1194/2012 so far. On-going lifetime testing of these lamps continues, with a further 5000 hours to go.
