Global News

European Commission Initiates Public Consultation on SSL

European Commission has published a Green Paper on LED and OLED-based lighting, which will launch a period of public consultation on the future development of SSL in Europe. Titled  ‘Lighting the Future: Accelerating the Deployment of Innovative Lighting Technologies’, the Green Paper proposes a number of new Europe-wide policy initiatives that will help in wide deployment of SSL across the continent.

The publication of the Green Paper has also come up with a public consultation period, which is open now and ends on February 29, 2012. During this consultation period, the Commission will seek views of all interested individuals and organisations on the relevant issues involved by collecting replies on specific questions set out in the Green Paper.

The Green Paper is part of the Digital Agenda for Europe Initiative, under the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The EC believes that, while Europe’s SSL industry is both large and  ‘world-class’, its SSL market uptake is slow and SSL-related research, innovation and cooperative activities are fragmented. In this respect, Europe compares poorly with the USA and various countries in Asia.

Action on SSL has been immediate in Europe. The Green Paper will address policies targeting European users, helping to overcome existing challenges and promote wider market uptake. This includes raising awareness of and demonstrating the benefits of SSL, as well as proposing initiatives to prevent early market failure.

On the supply side, the Green Paper proposes policies that “foster the competitiveness and global leadership” of the European lighting industry. This, according to EC, will also create and grow jobs in Europe.
The public consultation invites participants to answer a series of questions (12 in total) included within the Green Paper. Moreover, the public consultation webpage also contains two background documents that can be downloaded. One is entitled ‘Energy-Efficient Lighting and Displays: Technologies and Applications’ while the second is a report on LED projects and economic test cases in Europe. 

South Africa Sees Boom in LED Lighting

With the joining of hands of the local power utility Eskom and global lighting and electronics major Philips, South Africa is going to see a boom in the use of LED lighting. Known to be the largest energy saving deal, Philips has taken it up under its policy to focus on new trends in society, especially in terms of coping with population growth and promoting good health.

According to Philips executive VP Ronald de Jong, with the help of Eskom, the company would be distributing 200, 000 lamps from its MasterLED range to commercial consumers such as banks, casinos, hotels and retail outlets, at a discounted price. “Each lamp uses 40W to 43W less power, so for companies with a lot of lighting, the cost reduction can be substantial,” says De Jong. “The 200, 000 lamps could potentially save as much as R 41 million (US$ 5.1million) per year, and prevent the emission of up to 50,000 tons of carbon dioxide.”

The announcement of the deal coincided with the COP17 climate change conference held in Durban. Eskom was involved in preparations for the conference, notably in the upgrading of street lights around the venue from halogen to LED. During COP17, Eskom worked with Philips, the Durban municipality and the national Department of Environmental Affairs to replace the lighting in six streets around the International Convention Centre with LEDs, using Philips’ Iridium2 street lighting technology. A total of 149 street lights were upgraded with a life of 60, 000 hours.

The roll out of these bulbs will be taken care of by engineering consultancy and distribution specialists Karebo Systems, located in Woodmead, north of Johannesburg. Karebo director Ravi Govender says that his company has worked with Eskom on previous roll outs, such as the CFL programme. Now, with LED lighting on the rise, Karebo will be contributing not only to a greener South Africa, but also to job creation. “There are many possibilities in training people to retrofit premises for the LED down lighters,” he adds.

Andrew Etzinger, Eskom’s senior GM for integrated demand management, says, “In South Africa 10% of the energy we produce is used for lighting. With our electricity supply often under strain, we want to encourage all electricity consumers to reduce their usage where possible.”

Although Eskom is building new power stations, Etzinger says that those are long-term solutions and people can begin to save electricity immediately if they switch to more efficient technology. In so doing they’ll reduce their impact on the environment, and help ease the burden on the national grid.

He adds that although the latest initiative is aimed at the commercial sector because of its extensive lighting use and potential for greater savings, residential properties will be included in future. The basic focus and priority for Eskom initially would be street lighting.