Summarize
- New EU energy labelling changes the classification of LED lamps
- A++ ratings removed, new A-G scale in use
- The energy efficiency has not changed, only the labelling
- New labels encourage better energy efficiency and circular economy
- Information on the lamps includes a QR code and energy rating
Have you read that the energy labels changed? Your LED light bulb used to have an energy label of A+, but now it’s no longer D? Don’t worry if the new energy label confuses the pack, because the energy consumption hasn’t changed, just the letter on the side of the pack. This is part of the EU’s new energy legislation. Energy labels look different because the way we classify has changed in Europe. Here I write briefly about the new energy efficiency labelling for LED lamps.
Some customers who have noticed this have wondered why the energy class is “only” E when it is an LED lamp? How is an A++ energy rated LED bulb now an E-rated bulb? Read more below about
New energy label
The reason why the A+++ – A+ labels no longer exist is that the energy efficiency labelling rules have been changed and a new energy label was wanted to replace them.
These are due to the new EU 2019/2020 Uniform Lighting Regulation and the new EU 2019/2015 Energy Labelling Regulation. These new settings override and merge the old settings.
Light sources means anything that produces light, such as LED lamps and LED lights.
The idea is to harmonise and above all encourage the lighting industry to develop lightand energy efficiency, and to increase the circular economy and thus reduce waste.
Products must now be designed to be more reliable and even upgradeable, as the right to repair is possible. In addition, luminaires must contain more recyclable material and be easier to dismantle. The legislation defines new energy labelling requirements for packaging, sales literature, websites and distance selling.
All products requiring energy labelling must be registered in the EPRLEL database and a QR code referring to the technical product information is mandatory. In 2021 all our LED bulbs will already be registered in the EU. Manufacturers and retailers have been given a 2-year transition period and products already in stock can keep their old labels, but new products must be registered.
Old energy label and new energy label: what is the difference?
The old labels no longer worked, as by 2021 virtually all lighting in the EU was already LED. The label was originally intended to educate citizens about the differences in energy efficiency between halogen, incandescent and LED bulbs.
In the table, led lights were invariably rated A, A+ or A++, while E and F ratings had become redundant as incandescent and halogen lamps are no longer allowed to be sold in the EU.
So better energy classifications were needed to make things clearer in the led world.
The old EU energy label included a colour scale from green to red and a letter scale from A+++ to E.
The new EU energy label still includes a scale from green to red, but the letters are A-G, the top end of the energy efficiency scale requiring a very high efficiency.
Many lights that were classed as A++ under the old energy label are now classed as C or D under the new energy label.
Content of the new energy label for Led luminaires
Under the new rules, the new energy label will contain the following information:
- Name and model number of the supplier.
- Energy rating on a scale from A to G.
- Power consumption, kWh/1000h figure rounded up to the nearest watt.
- QR code to access the detailed product information sheet registered in the European Commission’s EPREL database.
Labelling of Led luminaires
In future, useful information will be displayed on the side of the lights.
The new rules apply from 1. From 1 October 2021, manufacturers of luminaires will have to indicate, either in icons or text, information on the following characteristics:
- Energy label: energy consumption of the light source in kWh per 1000 hours.
- Power: In watts.
- Luminous flux (lm): how much light a light source produces around it.
- Kelvin (K): the colour temperature produced by the light.
- Outdoor use: can the light source be used outdoors.
- Beam angle: the angle of the light output in degrees or the range of the light output angle.
- Dimming: whether the luminaire is dimmable or not.
- Lifetime: the lifetime in hours from the start of use until the light output is reduced to less than 70% of the original output.
- Ra value: the Ra value indicates the ability of the light source to reproduce cool shades of light (R1-R8). So don’t confuse CRI with the value for the TOTAL light spectrum R1-15, or Colour Rendering Index.
- QR code: consumers can get more product information with the new QR code.
The importance of energy labelling in practice
The most significant change is therefore the linking of the energy label to the efficiency of the light.
That is, how many lumens per watt the light produces. If you don’t know the difference between the concepts, then read Lumen vs. Watt. The incandescent lamp gave 10 lumens per watt and the average output of Led lamps is around 100 lumens on the market.
But not everything is what it seems on the surface. Let’s look at the two main indicators, Ra and Lumen per watt.
Ra value
In other words, Ra-Arvo indicates the ability of a luminaire to reproduce the shades of light on a spectrum scale of R1 to R8, while the full spectrum is R1 to R15. R1-8 are specifically the cooler ends, which are easy for an LED and especially R9 which is red, is really hard for an LED to do. This is where mass manufacturers got the concession that these difficult R9-15s, which affect the actual quality of light, do not need to be declared but can mislead the consumer. Below is an example where you can see that the Traditional Ra figure gives the weighted average of colours 1-8. The CRI is the average of the whole scale from 1 to 15. So the CRI of this luminaire is closer to 70, which means that the luminaire does not reproduce all colours with high quality and the light is poor. We have written in more detail what is the colour rendering index
Lumens per watt
Here comes the next challenging point for the lighting industry. To make the luminaire durable, the heat output of the LED circuit should be controlled. The more light it produces per watt, the more heat it produces, which must be able to dissipate. Read here why Led can’t take the heat. So in practice this means that luminaires with a high efficiency, e.g. 160-200 Lumen per watt, will produce significant heat that needs to be dissipated to get anywhere near the 50,000 hours of life that an LED luminaire should have.
Also, the higher the colour rendering, the less proportionate the light we can get out of it to control the light and keep the colour rendering at the promised level. When more is taken out of a Led circuit than it is designed for, a circuit with good colour rendering performance will lose colour rendering capability if too much current is applied to the circuit.
So the manufacturer has roughly 4 options (these are just numbers to give you a relative idea):
- Take all the power out of the LED (160lm/w), calculate the colour rendering index (CRI80) and mount it in a fair aluminium cooler to get a lifetime of 50,000 hours.
- Take the designed power (85lm/w) out of the LED to maintain high colour rendering (CRI98) and mount it in a fair aluminium cooler to get a lifetime of 50,000 hours.
- Take the lower wattage (60lm/w) out of the LED, keep the high colour rendering (CRI98) and install it with minimal cooling and you get a lifetime of 25000 hours.
- Take all the power out of the LED (160lm/w), keep the high colour rendering (CRI98) and install it with minimal cooling and you get a lifetime of 15000 hours.
So in practice, the new energy label means that if you want a nice A on the energy label, the bulb will not have good colour rendering, or it will be short-lived.
A led bulb cannot technically be durable and efficient, for example an E27 filament bulb has no aluminium cooling the bulb, so it is REALLY short-lived if you take much power out of it just for the star of the energy label.
So it is a question of compromises. You have to remember that the LED is a semiconductor and the threshold temperature of the LED directly affects its lifetime. Read here how long do led strip last?
Lastly
There’s nothing to worry about if you buy an LED bulb with an energy rating of E or D under the new label; you just need to check the lumen output and make sure it’s low-power, and it will save you money on your electricity bill.
Led lighting expert
LedStore has been an expert in LED lighting and lighting design since 2010. We have our own product design, so our products are technologically state-of-the-art. We are also very familiar with outdoor lighting design.
We focus on light colour temperature controlled and high colour rendering index lights. We do around 500 lighting designs for our clients’ sites. Read more here or order a lighting design
We offer a service of custom-made led strips, i.e. custom-made led strips in aluminium profile. Also installed. Did you know?
LedStore offers lighting design from 169 euros for the whole house!
Remember that we are always ready to offer our help to you along the way, by email (myynti@ledstore.fi) and by phone (045 251 4510). As always, feel free to share photos of your own projects on social media at ledstore.fi at Instagram and ledstore.fi at Meta. We love to see the cool things done by our LEDs, and it also helps to provide inspiration for those who are not sure about the power and awesomeness of LEDs. Did you know that we already have over 3500 pictures of our LED installations in our Gallery!
Photo gallery of Led lights:
Product gallery: Pictures of products in different installation locations
Indirect light: Indirect light in different spaces
Room-specific: Light in different rooms
References: Complete houses that have been photographed
