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Lighting and Appliances

Lighting

The advent of LED lighting is a major driver of energy efficiency. While the lighting market is transitioning to LEDs on its own, public support to accelerate the transition could save over 1.4 EJ of primary energy per year by 2030 1. Replacing all outdoor parking, roadway, and highway lighting with LEDs would save about 0.4 EJ of primary energy 2.

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Figures assess the prevailing efficacy (lumans per watt) of modern light sources, as well as future expected efficacies of laser diodes and organic LEDs (OLED). Both laser diodes and OLED are commercial technologies, but both are small segments of overall lighting and have not yet achieved technical potential. Sources: Guttag 3 for laser diodes, U. S. DOE 4 for OLED, and United 4 Efficiency 5 for all others.

Problem:
Energy Requirements of Lighting
Solution:
Lighting Technology R&D

Appliances

Household and commercial building appliances, such as refrigerators, dishwashers, clothes washers and dryers, and microwaves, typically improve in energy efficiency by about 4% per year 6, 7. Continuing to invest in appliance efficiency should save the United States about 1.6 EJ of primary energy per year by 2040.

Problem:
Energy Requirements of Appliances
Solution:
Updated Efficiency Standards

See also our analysis of cooking.

References

  1. Penning, J., Stober, K., Taylor, V., Yamada, M. "Energy Savings Forecast of Solid-State Lighting in General Illumination Applications". Prepared by Navigant Consulting, Inc., prepared for Solid-State Lighting Program, Building Technologies Office, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy. September 2016. ↩

  2. Navigant Consulting, Inc. "Energy Savings Estimates of Light Emitting Diodes in Niche Lighting Applications". Prepared for Building Technologies Program, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy. January 2011. ↩

  3. Guttag, K. "Diode Green Lasers (Part 1, Wavelength and Efficiency)". December 2011. ↩

  4. Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. "2019 Lighting R&D Opportunities". U. S. Department of Energy. January 2020. ↩

  5. United 4 Efficiency. "Accelerating the Global Adoption of Energy-Efficient Lighting". November 2017. ↩

  6. Boustani, A., Sahni, S., Gutowski, T., Graves. S. "Appliance Remanufacturing and Energy Savings". Environmentally Benign Manufacturing Laboratory, MIT Sloan School of Management. January 2010. ↩

  7. Michel, A., Attali, S., Bush, E. "Energy efficiency of White Goods in Europe: monitoring the market with sales data". Topten International Services, supported by ADEME and WWF. June 2015. ↩