A new report from the lighting industry shows that the total energy efficiency of the new LED lights are just as efficient over their life cycle when compared with traditional incandescent. The survey from Osram Opto Semiconductors shows that "The result was that today’s LED lamps achieve the life-cycle assessment (LCA) values of compact fluorescent lights and are far superior to conventional incandescent lamps." LCA is important as it measures the total energy input in manufacturing, delivering, using and then disposing of the light bulbs. 

Quoting Osram's web site: "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.

"Often these fundamentally different lamps were compared based on their wattage. 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.

"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. This has dismissed any concern that manufacturing of LED particularly might be very energy-intensive. 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."