LED Lighting Helps Mitigate Climate Change

Light-emitting diode (LED) is the fruit of energy-saving lighting technology that, unlike conventional lighting employing fluorescent lamps or incandescent lamps, directly converts electrical energy into optical energy. Under the Japanese government's plan to accomplish the greenhouse gas reduction targets specified in the Kyoto Protocol, widespread use of LED lighting is considered as one of the most effective measures. And yet, goals to be achieved by further technological development of LED lighting are energy consumption of less than 1/5 and a price differential of less than 3.8 times, in comparison with those of incandescent lamps.

In the Japanese lighting industry, E-CORE 60, Toshiba Group's highly efficient LED luminaire is the first product to have achieved these performance targets. With power consumption as low as 1/7 of that of an incandescent lamp and an exceptionally long life of 40,000 hours, the E-CORE 60 has won several prizes - including the “Energy Conservation Grand Prize” (Chairman Prize of Energy Conservation Center of Japan) - realizing both of outstanding environmental consciousness and superb economical practicality.

Under its Kyoto Protocol Target Achievement Plan, the Japanese government estimates that widespread use of LED lighting would reduce CO₂ emission by 3.4 million tons.