Test Report – Clear, Non-Directional LED Lamps

This study was undertaken because new LED products have been introduced into the European market at low prices which are claiming very high performance levels much earlier and at lower prices than was anticipated only a year ago. It was deemed necessary, therefore, to conduct a limited market study of the products available in the current European market and to present this new evidence, including test report results, to the Ecodesign Consultation Forum.
When ecodesign regulation EC No 244/2009 was introduced in 2009, the Commission forecasted that compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) would replace the majority of frosted non-directional incandescent lamps, which were phased out starting in 2010. Clear mains-voltage halogen lamps were allowed to remain on the market as a replacement for clear incandescent lamps and they were expected to make up a relatively small share of total sales for non-directional lamps. Much of the anticipated savings from this regulation were based on this market forecast. Recently however, GfK sales data became available for several major European economies that seem to indicate the nondirectional household lamp regulation has failed to move old frosted incandescent market toward CFLs, and instead has simply moved both clear and frosted incandescent lamp users to clear halogen lamps, eroding much of the anticipated energy savings.