Why?
According to a recent report by global corporate research and growth
services firm Frost & Sullivan, due
to its reasonable cost, technology improvements and long life the LED lighting market
is poised to grow significantly over the next five years.
In their analysis of the North American LED Lighting Market, Frost & Sullivan found that the market earned total revenues of $1.15 billion in 2012 and estimates this to reach $3.63 billion by 2017.
The market is primarily segmented into indoor and outdoor LED lighting. Analysts surmised that the need to conserve energy by upgrading older systems to LED lighting is a key driver for the market and found that there is higher adoption of energy efficient lighting in the outdoor segment due to government funding for lighting upgrades in exterior applications.
Additionally, the report noted that the North American LED
lighting market has also got a leg up from supportive legislation, such as the
Energy Policy Act of 2005 and Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007,
which mandates greater energy efficiency of general service incandescent lamps.
The legislation also pushes the market introduction of efficient and high
performing solid-state lighting (SSL) products, including LED lighting.
While the U.S. federal government is pushing hard to incorporate these upgrades in buildings from Pennsylvania to Guam, the higher initial costs of LED lighting products compared to that of competing technologies are beating back full implementation. Not helpful as of late, is the economic downturn of the last few years that has tightened the grip on funds by building owners as they demand cost effective systems that also offer energy savings.
There is an upside.
The Frost & Sullivan report noted that while the operating costs of an LED lighting system are low, the capital expenditure or "first cost" of LED lighting products is often prohibitive to end users that do not have a clear vision of the short- to medium-term return on investment from energy savings.
In the islands where $0.26 per kWh is the norm and rising, this idea is certainly turning heads of even the most conservative of owners here and across the Western Pacific. We can take away from all of this that the technology will experience wider acceptance as ongoing research helps lower costs of production, making LED lighting more affordable. If we can continue to educate customers, including those reading this blog, about the life-cycle cost benefits of installing an LED lighting system and demonstrating the energy savings that are achievable with these systems-there will be market success.
To learn more about the LED products that GET, LLC provides,
please check out our website at www.get-guam.com or call us to discuss
solutions for your important lighting needs.