Utility and consumer-oriented multi-criteria assessment of residential light bulbs available on the Australian market

Abstract

ABSTRACTUtilization of light-emitting diodes and compact fluorescent lamps instead of the traditional incandescent ones in residential applications are strongly recommended by the Australian Building Codes and is very attractive for households because of their higher energy and luminous efficiency. However, they are mostly non-linear loads, injecting harmonic currents and drawing reactive power, because of the ballast and power electronic circuits. The accumulated impact of thousands of them can be very adverse on maintaining power quality and losses in a grid. Due to an increase in the emergence of such lamps from different brands and in various ratings, a detailed study of these lamps is required to identify the potential adverse effects. Through this research, the currently available residential lamps on the Australian market are evaluated from utility and consumer-oriented perspectives. First, they are juxtaposed from cost and illumination and lifespan perspectives, as significant criteria for the consumers when purchasing lamps. Then, using detailed laboratory measurements, they are compared from power quality criteria such as current harmonics and total harmonic distortion, as well as other aspects such as their fundamental and non-fundamental components of apparent power consumption, stabilisation time, deviation of actual power consumption from rated power and power factor, which are important for the utilities. The compliance of lamps with the relevant standards is evaluated where applicable.