Shepherdstown, WV – Lighting-equipment demand fell 2.6% between the third and fourth quarters of 2015, according to data developed by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) for its Lighting-Systems Index (LSI), a seasonality- and inflation-adjusted composite measure of luminaires, ballasts, miniature lamps, large lamps, and emergency lighting shipped throughout the United States by NEMA members that manufacture lighting equipment. NEMA used 2002 data to create the LSI’s 100-point benchmark.
According to Laurie M. Miller, NEMA’s director of statistical operations, fourth-quarter-2015 shipments of fixtures, emergency lighting, and miniature lamps increased on a year-over-year basis; ballast and large-lamp shipments declined.
National Lighting Bureau (NLB) Executive Director John Bachner commented that LSI performance in the third quarter of 2015 was the best quarterly performance since the second quarter of 2008, making it “a tough act for 2015’s fourth quarter to follow. While it’s easy to attribute the decline to short-term negatives, like winter weather, it’s more likely that what we’re really witnessing is a fundamental shift in purchasing patterns as a consequence of new technology. Fourth-quarter-2015 shipments of T12 linear-fluorescent lamps were 17.4% below fourth-quarter-2014 shipments; fourth-quarter-2015 shipments of T8 and T5 linear-fluorescent lamps were down 13.4% and 9.3%, respectively, from fourth-quarter 2014’s. Likewise, shipments of high-intensity-discharge (HID) lamps declined in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to the fourth quarter of 2014. High-pressure-sodium- (HPS-) lamp shipments fell 15.6%, year-over-year; metal-halide-lamp shipments declined by 11.6%; and mercury-vapor-lamp shipments shrunk by 24.9%. While, arguably, America’s lighting needs continually increase, steadily more of those needs are being filled by LED lighting, which – with few exceptions – has a much longer lifespan than its legacy counterparts. As such, it may be many years before we return to the shipment levels required to keep older forms of lighting operating well.”
Established in 1976, the National Lighting Bureau is an independent, IRS-recognized not-for-profit, educational foundation that has served as a trusted lighting-information source since 1976. The Bureau’s services are provided to the public free of charge, thanks to the generous funding of the organization’s sponsors: professional societies, trade associations, labor unions, manufacturers, and agencies of the U.S. government, including:
- A.L.P. Lighting Components, Inc.;
- ATG Electronics;
- Forest Lighting;
- GE Lighting;
- Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES);
- Imperial Lighting Maintenance Company;
- interNational Association of Lighting Management Companies (NALMCO);
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers;
- International Landscape Lighting Institute;
- Jan & Brooke Luminae, LLC;
- Lighting Controls Association;
- Luceco;
- LumenOptix;
- Lutron Electronics Company, Inc.;
- National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA);
Obtain more information about the Bureau by visiting its website (www.nlb.org) or by contacting its staff at [email protected] or 301/587-9572.
A founding sponsor of the National Lighting Bureau, NEMA is the association of electrical-equipment and medical-imaging manufacturers, headquartered in Rosslyn, Virginia. Established in 1926, today’s NEMA comprises 400-plus member companies that manufacture a diverse set of products, including lighting systems, power-transmission and distribution equipment, factory-automation and control systems, and medical-diagnostic-imaging systems. Total U.S. shipments for electroindustry products exceed $100 billion annually.