Environmental aspects of white LED lighting systems: Energy statistics, study parameters, rare earths

This work presents environmental aspects of LED lighting systems based on existing Life-Cycle-Assessment (LCA) studies in the context of different approaches: LEDs are a lamp group consisting of various materials, properties, and packaging designs. A variety of functional units are discussed followed by detailed lighting energy statistics of Austria representative for Central Europe. LCA studies should differentiate between private and commercial lighting due to different packaging and color temperature. During the last ten years a significant rebound effect can be observed in household lighting although energy-efficient lamp technologies were introduced to the market at the same time. The results of existing LCA studies of LEDs and other lamps are compiled and compared among each other and with the real market situation. It shows that for middle to long operation time all lamp types except for incandescent/halogen lamps the environmental impact is in a similar range and the variations largely depend on proper power data, the used LCA method, and the end-of-life management. The last part presents the deposition and environmental data of rare earths which are used in LEDs.