Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Life cycle assessment of light-emitting diode downlight luminaire—a case study

  • LCA FOR ENERGY SYSTEMS
  • Published:
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Light-emitting diode (LED) technology is increasingly being used for general lighting. Thus, it is timely to study the environmental impacts of LED products. No life cycle assessments (LCA) of recessed LED downlight luminaires exist in the literature, and only a few assessments of any type of LED light source (component, lamp and luminaire) are available.

Methods

The LCA of a recessed LED downlight luminaire was conducted by using the data from the luminaire manufacturer, laboratory measurements, industry experts and literature. The assessment was conducted using SimaPro LCA software. EcoInvent and European Reference Life Cycle Database were used as the databases. The LCA included a range of environmental impacts in order to obtain a broad overview. The functional unit of the LCA was one luminaire used for 50,000 h. In addition, the sensitivity of the environmental impacts to the life was studied by assessing the LED downlight luminaire of 36,000 h and 15,000 h useful life and to the used energy sources by calculating the environmental impacts using two average energy mixes: French and European.

Results and discussion

The environmental impacts of the LED luminaire were mostly dominated by the energy consumption of the use. However, manufacturing caused approximately 23 % of the environmental impacts, on average. The environmental impacts of manufacturing were mainly due to the driver, LED array and aluminium parts. The installation, transport and end of life had nearly no effect on the total life cycle impacts, except for the end of life in hazardous waste. The life cycle environmental impacts were found to be sensitive to the life of the luminaire. The change from the French to the European average energy mix in use resulted to an even clearer dominance of the use stage.

Conclusions

The case study showed that the environmental impacts of the LED downlight luminaire were dominated by the use-stage energy consumption, especially in the case of the European energy mix in use. Luminous efficacy is, thus, a relatively appropriate environmental indicator of the luminaire. As LED technology possesses generally higher luminous efficacy compared to conventional ones, the LED luminaire is considered to represent an environmentally friendly lighting technology. However, data gaps exist in the data in LED product manufacturing and its environmental impacts. The environmental impacts of different LED products need to be analysed in order to be able to precisely compare the LED technology to the conventional lighting technologies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aalto University (2010) Guidebook on energy efficient electric lighting for buildings. Aalto University School of Science and Technology

  • Association P.E.P. (2011) PCR Règles de définition des catégories des produits

  • AIMCC (French Construction Products Manufacturers' Association) (2009) Vademecum pour la réalisation des analyses de cycle de vie (AVC) dans le cadre de l'élaboration des fiches de déclaration environnementale et sanitaire (FDE&S) des produits de construction

  • Dale A, Bilec M, Marriot J et al (2011) Preliminary comparative life-cycle impacts of streetlight technology. J Infrastruct Syst 17:193–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EC (European Commission) (2011) Commission Staff Working Paper, Digital Agenda Scoreboard, SEC (2011) 708

  • EC, JRC (Joint Research Centre) (2008) European Reference Life Cycle Database (ELCD), version 2.0. http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu. Accessed 21 Mar 2012

  • Ecoinvent (2010) database version 2.2

  • EN 15193 (2007) Energy performance of buildings—energy requirements for lighting

  • Guinée JB, Gorrée M, Heijungs R et al (2002) Handbook on life cycle assessment, operational guide to the ISO standards. Kluwer, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • IEA (2006) Light's labour's los. Policies for energy-efficient lighting. IEA, Paris

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • IESNA (Illuminating Engineering Society of North America) (2008) LM-80-08, Measuring lumen maintenance of LED light sources

  • ISO 14040 (2006) Environmental management—life cycle assessment—principles and framework

  • ISO 14044 (2006) Environmental management—life cycle assessment—requirements and guidelines

  • Lim SR, Kang D, Ogunseitan OA et al (2011) Potential environmental impacts of light-emitting diodes (LEDs): metallic resources, toxicity, and hazardous waste classification. Environ Sci Technol 45:320–327

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Martinsons C (2009a) CITADEL lighting program targets LED longevity, optoElectronics Reports, March 15, 2009

  • Martinsons C (2009b) Lighting enters the nanotechnologies era, CSTB online journal, February 2009. http://www.cstb.fr/actualites/english-webzine/anglais/february-2009/lighting-enters-the-nanotechnologies-era.html. Accessed 3 Aug 2012

  • Martinsons C (2010) Latest results of the Citadel Project, Proc. ForumLED conference, Lyon, France, December 2010

  • Navigant Consulting Europe Ltd. (2009) Life cycle assessment of ultra-efficient lamps. DEFRA

  • NF P01-010 (2004) Environmental quality of construction products—environmental and health declaration of construction products

  • Osram (2009) Life cycle assessment of illuminants—a comparison of light bulbs, compact fluorescent lamps and LED lamps, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH

  • Pradal N, Chadeyron G, Potdevin A, Deschamps J, Mahou R (2012) Study of ce-doped Y3Al5O12 nanopowders dispersion. submitted to ChemPhysChem

  • PRé Consultants (2012) SimaPro LCA software, version 7.3.2

  • Quirk I (2009) Life-cycle assessment and policy implications of energy efficient lighting technologies. University of California

  • US DOE (2012a) Life-cycle assessment of energy and environmental impacts of LED lighting products—part 1: review of the life-cycle energy consumption of incandescent, compact fluorescent, and LED lamps. February 2012. US Department of Energy

  • US DOE (2012b). Life-cycle assessment of energy and environmental impacts of LED lighting products—part 2: LED manufacturing and performance. June 2012. US Department of Energy

  • XP P01-020-3 (2009) Environmental quality of construction products and buildings—part 3: evaluation of environmental performances of a building

  • ZVEI (German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association) (2012) Umbrella specification. http://www.zvei.org/Verband/Fachverbaende/ElectronicComponentsandSystems/Seiten/Umbrella-Specifications.aspx. Accessed 26 Mar 2012

Download references

Acknowledgments

The work is part of the Citadel research project carried out by CSTB (Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment) in Grenoble in collaboration with LAPLACE (Laboratory on Plasma and Conversion of Energy) in University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, and other French laboratories. This project is funded by ADEME, the French Agency for the Environment and Energy Management. In addition, the work is funded by the doctoral program in electrical energy engineering (DPEEE) in Finland.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Leena Tähkämö.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Roland Hischier

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tähkämö, L., Bazzana, M., Ravel, P. et al. Life cycle assessment of light-emitting diode downlight luminaire—a case study. Int J Life Cycle Assess 18, 1009–1018 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0542-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0542-4

Keywords

Navigation