The Effect of Consumer Behaviour on the Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Efficient Lighting Technologies

Energy efficient lamps offer significant energy savings throughout their life. However, there is a variety of energy saving lamps available and it is unclear which impacts the environment least throughout the lifecycle under different use patterns. Different use patterns have a significant impact on the lifetime of each light globe alternative and therefore affect the life cycle impact of each globe. This paper undertakes a series of Life Cycle Assessments on two alternative lighting choices (Light Emitting Diodes and Compact Florescent Lamps) under a range of use conditions. It was found that the environmental impacts were comparable for CFLs and LEDs, though significantly less than traditional incandescent, for a range of different use cases. The sensitivity analysis carried out shows that the variation in lamp parameters has a far greater effect on the lifecycle impact rather than the use patterns.