GE Briefly Discusses the Current Status and Future Outlook of Road Lighting
On April 15, 2014, during the China Road Lighting Forum, reporters had the privilege of interviewing Wang Jun, Product Manager, and Li Mu, Technical Support Manager, both from GE Lighting and Home Appliances Asia Pacific.
Q: Do LED streetlights currently offer application and price advantages?
Li: Illuminance and luminance cannot fully represent road lighting quality. Currently, road lighting is dominated by high-pressure sodium lamps. With the introduction of LEDs, lighting quality parameters will be further refined. Professor Lin Yandan of Fudan University mentioned at this lighting forum that high color rendering will improve the recognition rate of the entire road. To improve road safety, brightness was previously used to distinguish objects, but now even at the same brightness, different colors can distinguish objects from the road surface, thereby improving overall road lighting quality and safety. Therefore, I believe that LED streetlights can operate at a lower brightness than sodium lamps and can theoretically achieve the same recognition rate. On this premise, when performing energy-saving replacements, we do not need to pursue the previous high brightness, thereby achieving improved social and economic benefits.
Wang: In the early days, streetlights were dominated by high-pressure sodium lamps, which had the advantage of high efficiency but poor color rendering; later, ceramic metal halide lamps and high-pressure (low-pressure) mercury lamps were introduced, with the advantages of high white-light color rendering and good adaptation to the human eye, but lower luminous efficiency than high-pressure sodium lamps. A new product we have recently launched combines the high luminous efficiency of high-pressure sodium lamps with the high color rendering of ceramic metal halide lamps. The biggest advantage of LEDs is energy saving. An approximately 80W LED streetlight can replace a 150W high-pressure sodium lamp. From the overall system perspective, the supporting electrical equipment of high-pressure sodium lamps itself consumes considerable energy, resulting in about 15% energy loss; LEDs use electronic drivers, and their losses can be reduced to 10% or even 5%. Therefore, at the same brightness, LEDs can halve the energy loss compared to high-pressure sodium lamps. Although LED streetlights may be slightly more expensive, they offer the advantages of being maintenance-free, dimmable, and controllable. Looking at the entire power supply system (including cables and transformers), the advantages of LEDs are even more significant. We have calculated that replacing existing streetlights with LED streetlights can recover the investment in about two years. For new projects, the initial investment is even lower than using traditional fixtures.
Q: Currently, LED technology is evolving rapidly, and when damaged LED streetlights need to be replaced, the products may have already been phased out. Also, LED streetlights now face the issue of incomplete standards. What is your outlook for the LED streetlight market over the next three years?
Li: Currently, many people are focusing on the standardization of product module dimensions, interfaces, drive currents, etc. I hope the same attention will be given to light distribution and application standards. Because product standards are not yet fully unified, it is currently somewhat difficult to promote standardization from a market perspective. With low barriers to entry in the industry, many enterprises will flood in. Therefore, once strict standards are introduced in the future, the barriers to entry will be raised, and the number of brands will decrease accordingly. Traditional fixtures have also experienced these growing pains, but as the market, prices, costs, and resources become increasingly stable, the advantages of standardization will emerge. As the saying goes, things that have been divided for a long time will unite; products will inevitably achieve standardization. At this stage, users are also confused about choosing products with different standards. The introduction of standards will be good news for both users and manufacturers. At the same time, in the future, not only lighting products but also lighting control systems will be standardized.
Wang: The entire industry is in a stage of rapid development and integration. Basically, all sizable enterprises, whether domestic or foreign, hope for the introduction of technical standards. Without rules, nothing can be accomplished. Everyone hopes to stand at the same starting line and compete in design, manufacturing, quality control, and maintenance capabilities on a relatively fair stage.
Q: Do LED streetlights currently offer application and price advantages?
Li: Illuminance and luminance cannot fully represent road lighting quality. Currently, road lighting is dominated by high-pressure sodium lamps. With the introduction of LEDs, lighting quality parameters will be further refined. Professor Lin Yandan of Fudan University mentioned at this lighting forum that high color rendering will improve the recognition rate of the entire road. To improve road safety, brightness was previously used to distinguish objects, but now even at the same brightness, different colors can distinguish objects from the road surface, thereby improving overall road lighting quality and safety. Therefore, I believe that LED streetlights can operate at a lower brightness than sodium lamps and can theoretically achieve the same recognition rate. On this premise, when performing energy-saving replacements, we do not need to pursue the previous high brightness, thereby achieving improved social and economic benefits.
Wang: In the early days, streetlights were dominated by high-pressure sodium lamps, which had the advantage of high efficiency but poor color rendering; later, ceramic metal halide lamps and high-pressure (low-pressure) mercury lamps were introduced, with the advantages of high white-light color rendering and good adaptation to the human eye, but lower luminous efficiency than high-pressure sodium lamps. A new product we have recently launched combines the high luminous efficiency of high-pressure sodium lamps with the high color rendering of ceramic metal halide lamps. The biggest advantage of LEDs is energy saving. An approximately 80W LED streetlight can replace a 150W high-pressure sodium lamp. From the overall system perspective, the supporting electrical equipment of high-pressure sodium lamps itself consumes considerable energy, resulting in about 15% energy loss; LEDs use electronic drivers, and their losses can be reduced to 10% or even 5%. Therefore, at the same brightness, LEDs can halve the energy loss compared to high-pressure sodium lamps. Although LED streetlights may be slightly more expensive, they offer the advantages of being maintenance-free, dimmable, and controllable. Looking at the entire power supply system (including cables and transformers), the advantages of LEDs are even more significant. We have calculated that replacing existing streetlights with LED streetlights can recover the investment in about two years. For new projects, the initial investment is even lower than using traditional fixtures.
Q: Currently, LED technology is evolving rapidly, and when damaged LED streetlights need to be replaced, the products may have already been phased out. Also, LED streetlights now face the issue of incomplete standards. What is your outlook for the LED streetlight market over the next three years?
Li: Currently, many people are focusing on the standardization of product module dimensions, interfaces, drive currents, etc. I hope the same attention will be given to light distribution and application standards. Because product standards are not yet fully unified, it is currently somewhat difficult to promote standardization from a market perspective. With low barriers to entry in the industry, many enterprises will flood in. Therefore, once strict standards are introduced in the future, the barriers to entry will be raised, and the number of brands will decrease accordingly. Traditional fixtures have also experienced these growing pains, but as the market, prices, costs, and resources become increasingly stable, the advantages of standardization will emerge. As the saying goes, things that have been divided for a long time will unite; products will inevitably achieve standardization. At this stage, users are also confused about choosing products with different standards. The introduction of standards will be good news for both users and manufacturers. At the same time, in the future, not only lighting products but also lighting control systems will be standardized.
Wang: The entire industry is in a stage of rapid development and integration. Basically, all sizable enterprises, whether domestic or foreign, hope for the introduction of technical standards. Without rules, nothing can be accomplished. Everyone hopes to stand at the same starting line and compete in design, manufacturing, quality control, and maintenance capabilities on a relatively fair stage.