As reported in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)’s Life Cycle Assessment of Ultra-Efficient Lamps in May 2009, there are approximately 25.1 million homes in the UK, with slightly more than 750 million lamps actively in service. Electricity consumption for domestic lighting is slowly increasing, with Defra’s Market Transformation Programme projecting that the domestic lighting sector could reach 19.2 TWh by 2020 (Defra, 2008). Government and industry need to work together to transform the lighting market and encourage energy-efficient lighting, since this is one of the ‘easy wins’ in terms of carbon abatement.
The Technology Strategy Board and Defra are launching a £1.2million SBRI initiative to fund development work on ultra-efficient lighting (UEL) for the domestic environment. The competition is seeking the successful demonstration of compact UEL sources suitable for domestic use, so that business helps Defra reach its policy goals. These projects will provide prototypes which enable the direct replacement of incandescent lamps (non-directional light source – NDLS) or halogen reflector lamps (directional light source – DLS) or lighting fixtures without extensive re-wiring of the home.
More details of the challenge are listed on the Technology Strategy Board website.
The competition is open with a close date for applications of noon on 19 April 2010. Registration and access to the competition documents is via the Technology Strategy Board website. All applications must be made using the Application Form, which is available through the Technology Strategy Board website.