Commentary: Residential lighting is a growing market for LEDs

I enjoyed the LEDs 2008 conference in San Diego, and not just because of the lunches outside in the sunshine. There was lots of positive talk about standards, and the progress being made by LED makers — see our report on p31. I also learned a lot about the residential lighting market, and why it’s different from the commercial lighting sector -- see p44.

LED-based residential light fixtures (RLFs) are now part of the EPA’s Energy Star RLF program, which dates back to 1997. Alex Baker, EPA’s Lighting Program Manager for Energy Star, spoke about RLF v4.2 at LEDs 2008, on the same day that the DOE’s Energy Star criteria (SSL v1.0) went “live” — see p15.

Baker explained that the inclusion of LED light engines in RLF v4.2 is a natural extension of the RLF program, which compares measured source performance against performance thresholds applicable to all technologies; this “enables consumers to make apples-to-apples product comparisons.”

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This article was published in the November/December 2008 issue of LEDs Magazine.

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