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news digest ♦ LEDs LED technology


advancements slash fixture costs


As commercial & industrial LED lighting becomes mainstream, Precision-Paragon customers can take advantage of significantly lower costs


Lighting manufacturer Precision-Paragon [P2] has announced that in the past three years, the cost difference between LED and fluorescent lighting has shrunk dramatically, thanks to substantial reductions in the cost of LED technology.


“We’ve seen the installation costs for LED lighting cut by more than 60 percent since 2010,” says Joe Martin, [P2]’s vice president and general manager. “This drop has made the energy savings of a LED lighting retrofit attainable for many businesses.”


In 2010, the average cost per lumen of a commercial or industrial LED fixture was approximately 12 cents per lumen. Today, that cost has dropped to approximately 5 cents per lumen installed. While comparable fluorescent fixtures might cost 3 cents per lumen, the optical efficiency of LED lighting allows us to achieve the same lighting results with fewer lumens.


The cost reduction in LED lighting has been driven by several factors. “There are three primary sources behind the cost of a commercial or industrial LED fixture,” explains Martin. “The cost of the LED light engine itself, the cost of the mechanical heat sink and fixture body, and the cost of the LED driver. By taking advantage of reductions in all three cost-sources, we’re now able to offer LED lighting at significantly lower costs.”


As the market for LED lighting expanded dramatically over the past few years, economies of scale helped the costs of both LED light engines and drivers to come down. At the same time, new developments in LED technology made the light engines more efficient than ever.


The increased efficiency of a LED light engine not only increases the lumen output per watt of electricity; it also reduces the amount of heat produced by the fixture. This in turn allows for fixtures to be designed with smaller, less expensive mechanical heat sinks.


When they were originally introduced to the market, the high initial cost for LED fixtures meant that they were limited to specialty applications where the characteristics of LED lighting provided a notable advantage. Today, with the cost of LED lighting reduced significantly, the technology has become a viable option for many energy-efficient lighting retrofits.


“LED lighting still generally has a slightly higher initial cost than fluorescent lighting,” says Martin. “But to pick the right technology, you have to evaluate more than just the initial costs.”


Over the course of a fixture’s lifespan, LED lighting can often provide maintenance cost savings by requiring fewer relamp cycles than fluorescent systems. Also, some energy efficiency


74 www.compoundsemiconductor.net June 2014


Conducted annually since 2010, this year’s survey was distributed in December to over 5,000 energy-efficient lighting industry professionals. The survey’s topics covered the industry’s performance in the past year, as well as expectations for 2014.


“Our industry has seen steady growth in LED lighting performance and sales in recent years,” says Joe Martin, [P2] vice president and general manager. “Picking the right technology is an important part of any lighting retrofit, and LED technology has advanced to the point that it can compete with fluorescent lighting in many applications.”


Survey respondents indicated that in 2013, LEDs accounted for 37 percent of the fixtures they installed. That’s up from 27 percent in 2012, and 13 percent in 2011.


rebates can be tied to a specific technology, providing an incentive for business owners to pick one technology over another.


“Just a few years ago, LED lighting was a new technology with narrow applications,” notes Martin. “Today it’s something our customers consider in nearly every energy-efficient lighting retrofit they perform.”


Fixtures: LEDs to overtake


fluorescents for the first time Precision-Paragon survey shows lighting professionals expect LED fixtures should increase from 26 percent in 2013 to 49 percent in 2014


For the first time, lighting professionals expect to install more LED than fluorescent fixtures over the coming year, according to energy-efficient lighting manufacturer Precision-Paragon [P2].


This is estimated in [P2]’s recently released 4th Annual Lighting Survey.


When asked what is the dominant lighting technology they expect to install in 2014, 49 percent of respondents selected LED, and 46 percent indicated fluorescent. In last year’s survey, 26 percent of respondents selected LED, and 68 percent indicated fluorescent, as the dominant lighting technology they expected to install in 2013.


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