Life Cycle Assessment of Illuminants - A Comparison of Light Bulbs, Compact Fluorescent Lamps and LED Lamps

The overall Goal was to investigate what environmental impact lamps of three categories (incandescent lamps, compact fluorescent lamp and light-emitting diode lamp) have over their entire life cycle and how they rank in comparison to each other. The life cycle was broken down in (1) Raw material production, (2) manufacturing & Assembly, (3) Transport, (4) Use and (5) End of Life, whereas the results lead to conclusions mainly on resource consumption and primary energy input. In addition to the primary energy demand as key performance indicator, six environmental impact categories were applied to assess their impact on air, soil and resources including acidification potential, eutrophication potential, global warming potential, photochemical ozone creation potential, human toxicity potential and abiotic depletion potential. To ensure the comparability of the three different lamp types, a lifetime of 25,000 hours and a light output between 345 and 420 lumen during their whole lifetime were taken as a reference parameter. The location of use phase as well as the end of life was determined to be in Europe. The assessment was carried out in compliance with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 and was critical reviewed by an independent review panel.