In 2014, three Japanese scientists received the Nobel Prize in Physics for an invention that was recognised to have had a “great benefit to mankind”.1 That invention was Light Emitting Diodes (LED for short) which they have developed in the early 1990s.
It couldn’t have come at a better time: the price of a barrel of oil was hovering around $110, households were desperately trying to reduce their electric bills by replacing their appliances, climate change advocates were raising the alarm on the dangers of fossil fuels emissions, commodity importing countries (such as Jordan) were scrambling to find ways to cut their energy bills…
Then comes this perfect product, a once in a lifetime life altering invention that gave hope the world was moving in the right direction towards a greener world. In 2019, it was estimated that more than half of households in the world had installed LED lightbulbs with expectations it would reach 90% by 2030.2
The LED bulb’s market share went from 5% in 2013 to 50% in 2020.
Economic & Green Efficiency3
Efficiency is defined when you get the same (or higher) output when lowering input.
For the LED bulb, input (electricity) was lowered by 80-90% to get the same output (lumens) compared to the incandescent light bulb (where most of the input energy was transformed into wasted heat).
In fact, the LED has proved so efficient, that the US is slowly phasing out incandescent light bulbs4. This was evidently a very tough decision as that particular glass vacuum bulb was invented by Thomas Edison in 1879 and helped ground one of the biggest companies in the USA and the world: General Electric.5
Similar to how emails transformed the communication sector by cutting out letters and thus saving trees, the LED is leading the way to cleaner and greener energy.
Households, businesses and the public sector all are shifting to LED. It was the end of a century old invention, a product available since the industrial revolution with the combustion engine. The LED product proved not only to be more efficient, but its quality, durability, functionality and cost proved to be also an attractive and competitive element. It gave hope that going green did not mean going back to the Stone Age.
Government Switching Lights
It is no secret that Jordan is heavily dependent on foreign fuel to operate. 90% of our energy is imported. To cut reliance on external energy would help the government literally keep the “lights on”. The government started to encourage and incentivise households and factories to switch to LED to reduce the fuel bill.6
The government itself slowly started to make the switch both in their own buildings and in streetlights however these energy saving measures didn’t seem to save much (there is very little data published to support any claims).
For example the Ministry of Health receives the largest electric bill among its public peers at 11 million JODs per year (or 2% of Ministry’s budget). Forecasts show that this number is expected to keep increasing the following years. It is not clear what is used for lightning and what is for other medical machinery (X-ray, MRI etc.). It would be interesting if the Ministry conducted an internal study on this topic to find cost cutting and energy saving measures a should all other departments.
Another example is street lightning.
Street lightning barely represents 2% of total energy consumption compared to household’s 45%. However that share kept increasing since 2014 despite the recent policies to replace streetlights with LED.7
The Ministry of Energy should conduct a study on this topic as well.
Side Note
Although I have been praising LED bulbs and its revolutionary aspect, I want to shed light to 2 issues:
BIO-DIVERSITY. It has been proven that current LED installed street lights are proving detrimental to animal & insect ecosystems: please read this article by Nature on how the White Light from LED is destroying habitats.
2. AESTHETIC. Most consumers know by know that there are two main “colours” for LED bulbs (warm glow and white snow). All LED bulbs installed on our streets are of the white type. I personally hate that as it makes the city feel like a hospital. That white colour is changing the feel and identity of the city of Amman from a warm and “homey” place to a cold, strange and inhospitable capital.
Although I do hope we move towards 100% LED lighting to reduce our energy bill, let’s just make sure we phase out that ugly white light.
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2014/summary/
https://www.iea.org/reports/lighting
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/economic_efficiency.asp
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-us-is-phasing-out-incandescent-light-bulbs-180979992/
https://www.ge.com/news/reports/1093-light-bulb-moments-the-many-inventions-from-the-wizard-of-menlo-park
https://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/energy-efficiency-could-slash-gov’t-power-bills-40’
https://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/agreements-signed-replace-410000-light-units-energy-saving-leds