Status and Development Trends of Decorative Light Sources in the United States (2015-2035)
Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released the latest biennial solid-state lighting energy-saving forecast for general lighting applications. This report focuses primarily on the U.S. general lighting market. The new report uses the latest 2015 U.S. lighting market model and extends the previous forecast horizon from 2030 to 2035. In this issue, the editors will begin with decorative bulbs and introduce the current status and development trends of related light sources in the United States.
Decorative bulbs refer to light sources shaped like candles, flames, bullets, and small globes, commonly used in decorative fixtures in home residences, such as chandeliers, crystal lamps, and decorative lanterns. Relatively speaking, decorative bulbs have low requirements for light output, but high requirements for light quality and color rendering. Since these bulbs are mainly used to illuminate and decorate target spaces, they generally have a 360-degree full beam angle. Currently, decorative bulb light sources in the United States include incandescent lamps, reflector incandescent lamps, halogen lamps, reflector halogen lamps, compact fluorescent lamps, fluorescent plug-in lamps, LED lamps, and LED fixtures.
Currently, U.S. energy efficiency standards have relatively few limits on decorative bulbs. Incandescent bulbs still account for the vast majority of decorative bulbs in the U.S. market, with usage of approximately 740 million units in 2015, accounting for about 89% of the total 840 million decorative bulbs. In contrast, the combined installed stock of other decorative bulbs in 2015, such as reflector incandescent lamps, halogen lamps, reflector halogen lamps, compact fluorescent lamps, fluorescent plug-in lamps, LED lamps, and LED fixtures, totaled less than 100 million units.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, as decorative LED lamps and LED luminaires continue to improve in technology and their prices continue to fall, the market for decorative incandescent lamps will be increasingly impacted in the future, although it will not be completely phased out. It is projected that by 2035, the in-use stock of decorative incandescent lamps will be approximately 165 million units, accounting for about 15% of the total 1.1 billion decorative lamps in use. Demand for decorative LED lamps and LED luminaires will increase significantly. By 2035, decorative LED lamps are expected to account for 68% of the total in-use decorative lamps, or approximately 748 million units, while LED decorative luminaires will grow more slowly due to price factors, with an increase of about 13%, or 140 million units.
Unlike A-type lamps, decorative lamps are mainly used in the residential sector and have limited operating hours. Consumers show little willingness to use smart LED lighting bulbs in decorative lighting. It is estimated that by 2035, smart LED decorative lamps will account for only about 11% of the total in-use decorative lamps, or approximately 120 million units.