- Philips Lighting, the first company to cross the one billion LED bulb threshold, is taking firm steps to meet its commitment to sell 2 billion LED bulbs and fixtures by 2020
- – The savings achieved in this way are equal to the energy produced by 30 medium-sized coal plants and the carbon dioxide emissions generated by 12 million cars
- – Philips Lighting urges governments to commit to 100% energy efficient lighting target in buildings and street lighting
Philips Lighting (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, sold one billion bulbs and fixtures as part of the Clean Energy Platform's 'Global Lighting Challenge', a campaign to install 10 billion high energy efficiency lighting points to increase energy efficiency worldwide. Thus, it is halfway to its goal of selling two billion bulbs by 2020.
Philips Lighting was the first company to reach this threshold, and achieved the latest success within the framework of the global transition to energy efficient lighting, an important criterion for slowing climate change. In December 2006, Philips Lighting called for the gradual abandonment of the use of incandescent bulbs all over the world. At that time, lighting amounted to 19% of electricity consumption worldwide. This has fallen to 15% since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015, and is confidently moving towards the goal of reducing it to 8% by 2030.
Harry Verhaar, Head of Global Public and Government Affairs at Philips Lighting "This milestone we have achieved shows that we can successfully transition from traditional lighting technologies to LED lighting, thereby making a significant contribution to global climate change goals. Energy efficiency is improving by 1.5% every year, but if this rate doubles to 3% per year, then we have come a long way in terms of sustainability."
Verhaar added: "Led bulbs, compared to the lighting sources that have filled the miad, the energy savings obtained are equal to the energy produced by 30 medium-sized coal plants and thus the carbon dioxide reduction provided is equal to the carbon dioxide emissions generated by 12 million cars. The effect is real and measurable."
Even with a simple action such as switching to LED bulbs alone, a very important energy saving can be achieved. When these bulbs are combined with connected lighting systems, the savings can be increased further and the electricity used for lighting can be reduced by up to 80%.
The 1 billionth LED bulb was presented to a group of representatives of international government agencies and NGOs at a special ceremony in Bonn attended by influential advocates of environmental change, including officials from the UN, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Global Environment Fund, part of the Union for Efficiency (U4E) initiative.
"In Paris, many companies have made many commitments for a world where low carbon is possible. Philips Lighting, on the other hand, has turned its words into action and halved its target of selling 2 billion LED bulbs by 2020 in just two years. One billion LED bulbs sold is equivalent to the energy consumed by 300,000 households. Philips Lighting has shown us all that together we can go further, faster."
At the ceremony, Philips Lighting called on governments around the world to join the goal of making the world more energy efficient, saying:
- By 2020, all new buildings should use LED or equivalent energy-efficient lighting systems
- By 2025, all street lighting should be done with LED or equivalent energy efficiency lighting systems
- By 2030, all existing corporate buildings must be equipped with LED or equivalent energy-efficient lighting systems.
It is a campaign of the Clean Energy Platform and aims to sell tens of billions of high-efficiency, high-quality, low-cost advanced lighting products, such as LED bulbs, cumulatively all over the world. The transition to energy-efficient lighting may be one of the most important short-term initiatives in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
If energy efficiency had not been improved since 2000, the world would have used 12% more energy, according to a 2016 report by the International Energy Agency. This is equivalent to adding another European Union to the global energy market.
