Many cities are willing to adopt LED projects as it could result in power consumption savings ranging from 50 to 80 per cent. Measured in lumen/W, the efficiency and applications of LED downlights and LED tubes are projected to overtake conventional lighting by 2012, although price issues will play a key role in deciding whether LED lighting can become widely accepted across the globe. For example, the Japanese government has come up with a set of measures to subsidise companies or organisations willing to use LED lighting, with the highest level of subsidy hitting around 4 million Japanese yen (US$ 49,537) for a single entity. Countries like China and India are also likely to take the lead in the field of public space lighting.
Jiang Wen-hsing, director, Solid State Lighting, Delta Electronics, predicted that LED lighting will definitely become the dominant force globally by 2015 if the production costs for an LED bulb fall below US$ 3 by 2012, with a penetration rate of over 50 per cent of the world market.
