Lighting accounts for around 10% of electricity usage in households. When looking to reduce the energy consumption of the home, Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps are the most efficient. However, energy is used throughout a product's life, from raw material acquisition to waste management.
Life Cycle Assessment evaluates the potential environmental impacts over the complete life cycle of a product. This study covered incandescent lamps, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and LEDs for indoor residential lighting in Australia and New Zealand.
It found incandescent lamps generate 3.3 times more CO2 emissions than CFLs and LEDs in New Zealand. LEDs with high efficacy are the best choice for New Zealand homes as they have the least environmental impacts and the lowest energy consumption over a complete life cycle.