The Global Change in Energy Usage Thanks to LED Lighting

Lighting Supply has been in business since 1983 and we've seen plenty of changes in lighting along the way. Lights (and their ballasts) have gotten more efficient; fluorescent bulbs are using less mercury; CFLs began replacing incandescent and halogen bulbs; and now LEDs are replacing them all.

Along the way, we've continued reading about the promise that LEDs would lower a household's energy use, but we kept seeing people use the same statistics -- that lighting makes up 10 to 15% of a home's energy bill. While we've seen the question whether lower wattage lights would encourage more lighting use (for instance in landscape lighting), we just felt energy use should be falling as LED usage ramps up.

Now we've seen the data as Philips announced it was the first company to delivery one billion LED lamps and luminaires to the market. Their goal has been to deliver two billion by 2020, and they are ahead of schedule. We found some statistics from their announcement interesting:

In December 2006 ... lighting accounted for 19% of global electricity consumption. This level was down to 15% in 2015 ... and is on track to further decline to 8% by 2030.

Of course this isn't limited to household electricity consumption, but it definitely shows the shift taking place!

​We also can't assume that LEDs are solely responsible for this shift. Maybe parents everywhere have finally gotten their kids to turn off the lights when they leave a room. And maybe other areas of energy demand have been on the rise relative to lighting. But there's no question that moving toward LED lighting has played a big role in this change.

While Lighting Supply still carries older lighting technology and remains your source for replacing older lights when they go out, our LED options are growing by the day. So when you're ready to upgrade to LED lighting to drive down your own energy costs, we're here with a wide selection on hand.