Lighting in is reported to consume as much as 21% of the total energy use in buildings (Levine et al., 2007), and to account for about 17.5% of global electricity use (Pike Research, 2010). A market shift to energy-efficient alternatives would reduce the world’s electricity demand for lighting by an estimated 18% (UNEP, 2009). Therefore, efficient lighting systems are one of the most important climate change mitigation measures for the building sector. Efficient lighting technologies include energy efficient lamps, ballasts and light fixtures. The requirements to implement efficient lighting system include incorporating natural daylight, zone control, user-control, and dual lighting circuit systems.
Energy efficient lighting technologies are among the technologies that are most feasible to implement at a large scale. This is due to their smaller investment cost, easy and straightforward installation, and the fact that they are a necessity for daily life. With such characteristics, energy efficient lighting technologies can be implemented from both bottom-up and top-down approaches. In a bottom-up approach, individual building/house owners can make a decision to adapt and use energy efficient lighting fixtures with a one time small investment cost, which will be paid back through savings from energy bills.
The decision to switch to energy efficient lighting systems from the bottom-up approach can be facilitated by top-down supporting policies, which include: Reducing/removing import tariffs on energy efficient lighting components
Initiating energy efficient lighting programs which provide or subsidise energy-efficient lighting
Supporting local manufacturers to produce energy efficient lighting components and systems, to further bring down the costs and to create new local jobs
Providing public education and campaign programmes to introduce energy efficient lighting technologies and their benefits
Providing safe disposal of CFLs at the end of their life due to the mercury used in the lamps. One measure is to establish a CFL recycling plant, which can handle mercury and other environmental safety issues.
Reduction potential The emission reduction potential is estimated from the total auxiliary engine consumption on normal residential housing and is assessed to be in the range of 0.25% to 5%.
