The European Commission is currently evaluating ecodesign requirements, i.e., minimum efficiency performance standards (MEPS), and energy labelling proposals for directional lamps as the second part of the so-called domestic lighting ecodesign requirements (Lot 19). The original preparatory study on directional lighting requirements quantifies the electricity savings potential at 23.6 - 35.6 TWh electricity per year (by 2020) in the EU alone. The preparatory study, already more than two years old, recommends using infrared-coated (IRC) halogens as the benchmark technology for minimum energy performance requirements.

The new eceee-commissioned study analyses the potential of halogen incandescent technologies to contribute to energy savings through ecodesign requirements. The performance requirements and the strategies chosen to phase out inefficient technologies from the EU market are closely followed by policy makers in other regions, and the outcomes of the EU process will have an impact on the work done elsewhere in the world.

This technology has the potential to increase the minimum efficacy of directional lamps by up to four times (defined as functional lumens per watt), while still providing an affordable technology that will provide the same quality of light as existing inefficient technologies. Halogens could thus serve as a bridging technology until other more efficient technologies can take over, the report argues.

A common argument against such strict requirements is that exclusive patents would close some manufacturers out from the market. However, extensive patent research has revealed that no singular patent would act as a barrier to any manufacturer intending to produce IRC lamps.

The authors offer alternative MEPS and suggest improved EU energy labelling levels (and to some degree different labelling alghorithms) for directional lamps, based generally upon the original proposals in the preparatory study in 2008. However, advances in lamp technology in the past two years make it possible to clearly define a wider range of achievable performance, and to set more stringent requirements that could save significant lighting energy for Europe.

This research was commissioned and published by eceee with funding from the European Climate Foundation, the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Swedish Energy Agency, and is part of a series of reports on directional lighting requirements available at the directional lighting pages on eceee's ecodesign portal.

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For more information please see the eceee pages on directional lighting