China - A Lighting Giant
China - A Lighting Giant
China is an immense lighting market. With nearly one-quarter of the World's population and the third largest economy (after the US and Japan), China has a hearty appetite for light and is already one of the world's largest producers and consumers of lighting products. Current growth in the lighting market will create an upward pressure on energy demand as well as associated costs and environmental impacts.
We estimate that 10-12% of China's total electric power production (815 billion kilowatt-hours in 1993) is devoted to lighting. This ~80 billion kWh is equivalent to the output of about sixty 250-megawatt electric power plants. On average, lighting energy use in China is nearing 100 kWh/capita-year, versus about 2000 kWh/capita each year in the United States-a clear signal that demand will grow rapidly as China develops.
Recommended light levels promulgated by the Illuminating Engineering Society in China are one-sixth to one-tenth of those seen in Japan and western industrialized countries. (For example, 75-100 lux is called for in Chinese hospital examination rooms versus 500-1000 lux in Germany). The combination of increased light levels and growth in population and building construction will cause lighting demand to grow quickly, perhaps even faster than electricity overall.
The escalating cost of building new power plants and competing needs for investment capital are two reasons why China is ripe for improved energy efficiency in lighting and other end-use areas. Moreover, power shortages are attributable in part to peak demands caused by lighting and air conditioning in the major cities. Electricity prices vary widely around China-typically from 3 to 12 US cents/kWh.However, consumers often view energy-efficient lighting as something that "saves energy but not money".
LAMPS
Electric light sources have been manufactured in China for over 70 years. China produced 3.2 billion lamps in 1992, and annual growth in production has been 10% to 15% in recent years-compared to about 1% per year in the United States. Only a small fraction of production-or growth in production-is attributable to net exports, which amounted to 65 million lamps of all types in 1992.
There are over 600 lamp factories in China today, employing 250000 workers. Most of this industry is in the eastern part of the country, especially around Shanghai where nearly 40% of the national production occurs. A wide range of lamp types are produced in China, including incandescent, halogen, metal halide, high-pressure sodium, linear fluorescent (including efficient 26mm "T8" lamps), and compact fluorescent lamps. Approximately 5 million energy-efficient T8 lamps are made in China today (4 million with halophosphors and 1 million with tri-phosphors).
Attempts have been made to establish about 10 CFL production plants in China with equipment imported from Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and South Korea. Each of these projects has been troubled with technical and marketing problems, and, as a result, production capacity greatly exceeds the actual production level. Nonetheless, estimates indicate that 20-50 million CFLs were produced in China in 1992-meeting or exceeding the consumption levels of any western country for that year. (Official estimates are at the low end of this range.) There is even more production potential, if the inoperative plants are considered. For example, the production in Guangdong is 3 million units per year, whereas the total capacity is 24 million units per year.
FIXTURES
Until recently, little attention has been paid to fixture design or efficiency. If fixtures are used at all, the main goal is to achieve a certain decorative effect without considering efficiency. Fixture production standards lag behind those used for lamps. Production is mostly in small factories (about 1500 in total). The highest quality fixtures are typically exported to markets that will pay relatively high prices.
IN PURSUIT OF QUALITY
Lamp quality-both in terms of efficacy and service life-is poorer in China than in many other parts of the world. Only 20% to 30% of the lamps produced meet international quality standards. For example, standard linear fluorescent lamp lifetimes in China range from 3000 to 5000 hours, compared with 10000 to 20000 for their western-made equivalents. Efficiencies are 25 to 40 lumens/watt versus 40 to 100 lumens/watt in the West. Good phosphor sources are present in China, but are not well developed. The lead glass used today loses ~20% of its transparency within the first 3000 hours of operation. An upcoming national conference on raw materials will address issues specifically related to lighting.
If China is to become a competitive exporter of lighting products, quality standards will have to be improved. The shift to a market economy will accelerate this process. The "high end" of existing products proves that China is capable of meeting the goal. As a not-so-successful example, however, the National utility in Ireland purchased Chinese-made CFLs for a pilot rebate program-they had the best power quality characteristics of anything they could find on the international market. Unfortunately, early failure rate was about 25% and the utility has rejected the CFLs until such a time that quality can be brought up to Western standards.
Ultimately, consumers and exporters will need an easy way of assessing the quality of lighting products. As a step in this direction, China's National Center for Supervision and Inspection issues the "Great Wall mark" for lighting products that meet IEC standards. The organization also spot checks products already in the market.
Today, there is a tendency for the best products to be exported, thus depriving China of the direct energy-saving benefits. For example, EBT's electronic ballast production is all exported. Another illustration is one plant which produces high-quality (10000-hour life) fluorescent tubes; 100% are exported. The pressure to export is driven by the higher likelihood of sales (versus unproductive inventories), hard currency, and higher prices per unit.
INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
One way to assemble the necessary technical expertise and capital and to achieve western quality standards is through establishing joint ventures (JV's) or other financial arrangements with foreign companies. About 100 JV's for lighting have already been established in China. Most are small to mid-sized and involve Taiwanese and Hong Kong companies.
IMPLEMENTATION
Manufacturers recognize that the "market pull" for efficient lighting products is still weak in China. Government policies to promote energy-efficient lighting are a new feature on the Chinese landscape. So far, most efforts have been based on information campaigns (admonishing consumers to "turn off the lights"), with less emphasis on educating energy users about efficiency options available to them. As a form of reward, some city governments have given CFLs to the departments that have achieved energy savings.
Today, some cities are considering rebate programs. More complex systems are also under consideration, in which loans would be made to companies wishing to invest in efficient lighting retrofits-loan payments would be indexed to the energy savings. The city of Wuhan has already implemented such a concept.
International cooperation may also prove helpful in this respect. The State Economic and Trade Commission has expressed interest in operating a "Green Lights" program in China, modelled after the successful US EPA's program.
Guan Fu Min
Evan Mills
See also: China: high quality means savings (IAEEL 3-4/95).
Mr. Guan is professor and Director of the Modern Physics Laboratory at the Marine University in Qingdao, China, and Regional Vice President of the IES Section for Shangdong Province.
Tel: +86 532 581 51 88 x1213
Fax: +86 532 581 51 98
Evan Mills is a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Associate Editor of the IAEEL Newsletter.
Tel: +1 510 486 6784
Fax: +1 510 486 5394
The authors wish to thank Chin Zhang for facilitating communication and data collection.
