Retail Showcase & Market Survey

Retail Showcase & Market Survey

CLTC partnered with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the California Energy Commission to create Lux, a retail lighting showcase that lets boutique owners see, firsthand, how LED lamps perform in a realistic store setting. The space includes information and demonstrations of LED parabolic aluminized reflector (PAR) lamps, primarily PAR 38 lamps, and smaller multifaceted reflector (MR) lamps, MR 16s, used most commonly for accent lighting in retail applications. The showcase allows visitors to compare different brands of LED replacement lamps to one another and to their less efficient but more commonly used halogen counterparts.

CLTC also conducted a detailed analysis of the commercial reflector lamp market in order to provide a recommended performance standard to PG&E for LED replacement reflector lamps commonly used in the retail sector. The project team analyzed data for nearly 1800 products, provided by approximately 15 manufacturers, to compare the performance of traditional and emerging lamp technologies (including LEDs). Metrics included power (W), light output (lm), center beam candle power (CBCP) and beam angle, correlated color temperature (CCT) and performance on the color rendering index (CRI), lifetime, lumen maintenance, and dimmability. The information and conclusions reached through data analysis will assist PG&E in establishing minimum performance standards for LED lamps, and may be used to inform financial incentives or rebates in PG&E's territory.

The LED PAR 38 lamps exhibited in Lux are 75% more energy efficient, on average, than their 75-watt halogen counterparts, representing a significant energy savings opportunity in a commercial sector that has, traditionally, been one of the largest energy consumers in the state and across the nation. LEDs can also last 25 times longer than incandescent sources, one of the many differences shop owners must consider when comparing the value of LED products with that of older technologies.

Outcomes from this study are published in the final report on the ETCC website.

Principal Investigator: Michael Siminovitch

Project Type