A study on the life-cycle assessment (LCA) of LED lamps by OSRAM shows the latest generation of lamps achieves a very high score for environmental friendliness. This study involved a close look at their entire life-cycle – how much energy and raw materials the lamp consumes in terms of production, use and disposal and the environmental impact involved in the process. The result was that today’s LED lamps achieve the LCA values of compact fluorescent lights and are far superior to conventional incandescent lamps.

LEDs are not only forward-looking when it comes to power consumption. The total LCA also shows that the LED lamp is one of the most environmentally friendly lighting products.

Source: Image: OSRAM

The bottom line is that LED are efficient
In the first LCA, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors show that LED lamps are a genuine alternative to incandescent lamps, even when considering the cumulative energy input and environmental factors.

Conventional lamps with filaments are way behind diode lamps. A 40 Watt incandescent lamp, for example, can either be replaced by an 8W compact fluorescent light or, for some applications, by an 8W LED lamp, which means an energy saving of 80 percent.

In order to guarantee the comparability of results in the LCA, a lifetime of 25,000 hours was chosen as reference. The latest LED lamp generation (Parathom Classic A55 with Golden Dragon Plus LED) achieves precisely this rating. Therefore, 25 incandescent lamps (OSRAM Classic A 40W) with a lifetime of 1,000 hours and 2.5 fluorescent lamps (Dulux Superstar Classic A 8W) lasting 10,000 hours have to be used for a comparison.

Over 98 percent of the energy used to produce light
The study was done in collaboration with experts at Siemens Corporate Technology, Centre for Eco Innovations and shows that similar to compact fluorescent lamps with LED-based lamps over 98% of the energy used is consumed to generate light. Less than two percent is allocated to production. In contrast to the primary energy consumption of incandescent lamps of around 3,300kWh, LED lamps use less than 700kWh. The bottom line is that LED lamps are therefore definitely more efficient than conventional incandescent lamps. Apart from this, the ratings that indicate the lamps’ effects on the environment are consistently better than those for incandescent lamps. As the efficiency of LED continues to increase, LED lamps will be capable of achieving even better LCA results in future. Three independent experts are currently verifying the findings of the internal study. A summary of the study will be available in October at www.osram-os.com/life-cycle-assessment.

The latest LED lamp generation (Parathom Classic A55 with Golden Dragon Plus LED) achieves a lifetime of 25,000 hours which equals 25 incandescent lamps.
Source: Image: OSRAM