A study carried out by the Energy Saving Trust on LED light fittings says the new LED technology can deliver huge energy savings and reduce costs. A field trial was carried out monitoring the performance of 4,250 LED light fittings installed at over 30 sites so the organisation could carry out in-situ tests, which it prefers to do rather than relying on the energy efficiency claims of manufacturers.

At the sites in the field trial, the authors of the Lit Up report calculated that the LED fittings saved more than three million kilowatt hours (kWh) each year when compared with the previous lighting.

The EST has predicted the technology could dominate the lighting market by 2015 as the number of LED lights now commercially available is increasing and have cited they feel a revolution is happening within the lighting sector.

Of course light-emitting diodes have been around and in use for many years but as the technology continues to improve  (it has been suggested that LEDs can last for up to 100,000 hours, this compared with the 1,000 hours of traditional incandescent light-bulbs and compact fluorescent lamps’ (CFLs) 15,000 hours), the market for their use is now expanding.

Now being utilised more and more for general lighting, the long lifespans and low energy use make LEDs economically attractive outside the electronics market because even though the fittings cost more, the running and maintenance bills are lower. A spokesperson for the EST James Russill said regarding the new take up of LED use for general lighting “I am already aware of many people that have bought LEDs without any subsidy or incentive, as with any new technology, there is a higher initial cost – these products are new to market – but people seem to be looking beyond that and seeing they last much longer. LEDs will take over the market in due course because I think they are such better products, but I do think introducing them into a subsidy scheme would be a real benefit to speed things up.”