Dongguan leads with new LED lamp, in effort to cut power use

Guangdong province is taking a leading role in China in developing LED for public lighting systems.

LED (light-emitting diode) is an electronic light source. It has lower energy consumption and a longer lifespan than traditional light sources.

Dongguan, a Guangdong city an hour's drive north of Hong Kong, plans to outfit its municipal lighting system with LED road lamps over the next three years. The city will start by replacing 22,000 old road lamps with LED ones this year, according to deputy mayor Liang Guoying.

The new LED lamp will save about 60 percent of power consumption compared to the currently-used high-pressure sodium lamps.

"Dongguan is a big electricity consumer," Liang said. "The LED lighting system will help reduce power consumption per unit of GDP."

The municipal government estimates that when its entire lighting system is upgraded, the city will save one billion yuan on power spending every year.

But LED lamps are expensive, costing almost 10 times as much as common lamps. The Dongguan municipal government said it will subsidize 30 percent of the equipment purchase cost, to offset the new lighting's higher price. The rest will be covered by construction contractors. The city government will spend more than 110 million yuan on the project

The city also wants to establish China's largest LED production base, which could prove a smart business decision since Guandong plans to upgrade 1,500 kilometers worth of road (or about 100,000 road lamps) with LED technology from 2009 to 2015, across the province (this figure includes the Dongguan municipal project).

Shenzhen, a Guangdong city neighboring Dongguan, also plans to develop a LED production industry.

DSD Lighting and Electronics Technology Corp, a company based in Shenzhen and focusing on LED lamp production and other alternative technology development, is a benefiting from these plans.

"DSD will probably see a significant profit increase this year thanks to various municipal government efforts to promote large-scale LED lighting systems," said Tony Yingxiang Hsiung, general manager of DSD.

Hsiung said his company has focused on the LED business for more than three years and that their products have been used in sports venues at the Beijing Paralympic Games, in Shanghai's downtown area and in Jiangxi, Anhui and Guangdong provinces.

The company is examining the commercial possibilities of residential use of LED lighting.

DSD signed a contract this month with Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School to jointly set up a LED research institute. DSD plans to invest $12.5 million in the institute.

Promoting energy-smart lighting systems is one of the country's ten key energy-saving projects during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10).

National Development and Reform Committee (NDRC) figures show that from the beginning of 2008 to January 2009, China has subsidized the use of 62 million energy-efficient light bulbs with 280 million yuan.

The move will save 3.2 billion kilowatt-hours of power consumption, 3.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions and 32,000 tons of sulfur dioxide emissions every year, said the NDRC.

(China Daily 03/30/2009 page3)