At present, the global lighting product market is changing rapidly. As we all know, the era of incandescent lamps has ended. Incandescent lamps may cause confusion when they withdraw from the historical stage, but they can save costs and protect the environment. Today, there are a variety of lighting products, including incandescent lamps, halogen lamps, compact fluorescent lamps (CFL lamps), and light emitting diodes (LED lamps), and their sizes, shapes, and colors are also varied. Brian Fortenbery, an energy-saving lighting expert at the National Non-profit Electric Research Institute, said: "Lighting products have a very broad space for market development, but they are by no means a technology game."

The driving force for the transformation of lighting products came from an energy independence and security bill promulgated by the U.S. Congress in 2007. This bill establishes energy-saving standards for lighting equipment and is scheduled to be implemented in stages from January 1, 2012. The Act requires that the energy consumption of new lighting lamps be reduced by at least 30%, and that incandescent lamps cannot meet this standard, so incandescent lamps cannot be used.

According to statistics, the energy consumption of American home lighting accounts for about 15% of the total household energy consumption in the United States. According to the energy efficiency advocates, according to the annual electricity consumption of 143 US dollars per unit of households, the standard set by the new bill will save more than US$10 billion for consumers in the United States each year, and the number of newly-built power plants will decrease by 30. In view of this, it is imperative to phase out incandescent lamps and switch to new energy-saving lamps. The following is a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of several incandescent alternatives.

Halogen

People have become accustomed to using incandescent lamps. Since halogen lamps are most similar to incandescent lamps, they may be the preferred alternative to incandescent lamps. Halogen lamps are used to inject halogen gas into the bulb. At high temperatures, the evaporated tungsten will resolidify on the tungsten filament to form a balance cycle to prevent the tungsten filament from breaking prematurely. Therefore, the halogen lamp has a longer service life than the incandescent lamp. Energy consumption has also been reduced by 25%. In addition, although the appearance and performance of the halogen lamp is similar to that of the incandescent lamp, the service life is two to three times that of the incandescent lamp. Compared with the CFL lamp, the price is lower and the light is adjustable.

CFL lamp

In addition to halogen lamps, compact fluorescent lamps, or CFL lamps, can be selected for energy savings. Although this type of lamp has been on the market for decades, it has been bulky and bulky, has a long start-up time, and is expensive. Therefore, the development speed is slow. . But so far, CFL lamps have evolved into cheaper, brighter lights, and the latest CFL lights can also be dimmed. Compared with incandescent lamps, CFL lamps reduce energy consumption by 75% and their lifetime is more than 10 times that of incandescent lamps. CFL lamps, like other fluorescent lamps, contain a small amount of mercury, so many large home stores offer mercury recycling services.

Most CFL lamps have a long startup time and take a few minutes to reach full brightness. US GE has just announced a Halogen-CFL hybrid lamp that can be fully bright immediately and is expected to be available this spring.

LED lights

Currently, LED lighting technology is in its early stages of development. LED lights are heavy and the light is dim. Compared with incandescent lamps, the energy consumption of LED lamps is reduced by 80% and their lifetime is 15 times that of incandescent lamps. In recent months, bulb giant Philips Lighting Co., Ltd. and Osram Sylvania of the United States have jointly released a 60-watt LED lamp with a warm tone and shape similar to a traditional incandescent lamp. As of now, the price of the new LED lamp is about 40 US dollars/only. According to Philips Lighting's marketing director, each LED lamp will save consumers $142 on average over their lifetime.

ESL light

The new lights also include ESL lamps invented by Vu1 New York, USA, but are currently limited to online sales. The ESL lamp can be started instantly with adjustable light and no mercury. The 19.5 watt ESL lamp is equivalent to a 65 watt incandescent lamp. Each ESL lamp costs less than $20, and the energy efficiency and price range between the CFL lamp and the LED lamp.

With the increase in the number of lights, its unit "Watt" will gradually become a thing of the past, and more types of lights will use "Lumen" as its unit. "Lumen" is used to describe the brightness of the lamp, and "watt" is used to describe the electric power of the lamp. Watt is suitable for a single type of lighting, but now there are a variety of lighting types. For example, a 60 watt LED lamp consumes only 12 watts. Watts cannot fully describe the power generation efficiency of multiple types of lamps.

According to another report, this summer, the U.S. Federal Trade Commissioner will introduce new rules for the latest lighting labels, including brightness, expected life, appearance, energy consumption, and annual energy costs.