en-us Copyright 2008 LEDInsider.com http://www.ledinsider.com/Blog http://www.ledinsider.com/Blog/BlogEntries/Lightabrighterfuture1.aspx Wed, 16 Apr 2008 9:11 PM Glorious Good Day. Today is the first blog entry. Our focus is on helping create a brighter future for you and the planet. It is our intent to offer continual updates on the world of lighting. Your hosts will be David Steel and myself, Rand Pipp. We have joined forces to give a little back to humanity and the planet. We spend considerable time researching all things green, from bamboo to sustainable and renewable energy. In looking for a way to give a little back to the planet we discovered a few facts: * The US spent $326.5 billion on electricity in 2006. $140 billion just in residential electricity. (from Department of Energy, Energy Information Advisory) * 22% of the electricity consumption in the US is for lighting. (from the US DOE EIA) * The use of LED for lighting can reduce electricity consumption by 90 to 95% when compared to incandescent bulbs with a similar luminosity. At only a 50% savings in lighting the US could save $35 billion a year. This kind of savings results in a huge carbon offset for the country. The kind of results worth making happen. Our emphasis will be on those aspects of lighting that are energy efficient: healthy for you and the planet. As such you will see information on LED lighting, solar lighting, new lighting technologies, and light used for health care to name a few. We look forward to sharing more with you soon. With great belief in a greener tomorrow, David and Rand http://www.ledinsider.com/Blog/BlogEntries/USLightingIndustryStatistics.aspx Wed, 16 Apr 2008 9:12 PM Just how big is the US lighting industry? Well here are some interesting facts: * There are approximately 4 billion light bulb sockets in the US. This includes both residential and commercial. * Of the 2 billion residential sockets in the US, only about 10% are compact fluorescent. * The US purchases about 2 billion residential light bulbs a year or about 5.5 million bulbs a day. * The average US house has 45 bulbs in 30 fixtures, there are 116.9 million US households. (2006) * The US spends approximately $71 billion a year in electricity on lighting. That is 22% of the total US electricity bill. (2006) * The average US electric rate is $0.1008 / kWh or about 1o cents. (2006) * Average US household use for lighting: 1950 kWh per household (2002) * Philips passed GE as the largest US light bulb manufacturer with it's November 26th 2007 purchase of Genlyte. Prior to that GE, a company founded by Thomas Edison in the 1800's, was the largest manufacturer of light bulbs. * Philips has announced that they will phase out the manufacturing of incandescent light bulbs by 2016. The first large lighting manufacturer in North America to support the shift to more efficient lighting technologies. (2007) * In California, an estimated 73 million incandescent light bulbs and 6 million compact fluorescent are sold each year. (2007) These facts are compiles from various sources including the Department of Energy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Philips.