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LED Lighting (Commercial)

Buildings and Cities

Lighting accounts for 15 percent of global electricity use. LEDs (light emitting diodes) require less energy and create less waste heat than other bulbs.

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Rank and results by 2050 #44

LED Lighting (Commercial)

Reduced CO2: 5 gigatons
Net cost (Billions US$): $-205.05
Net operational savings: $1,089.63 billion
What do these numbers mean?

TOTAL CO2-EQ REDUCTION (GT)

Total CO2-equivalent reduction in atmospheric greenhouse gases by 2050 (gigatons)

NET COST (billions US $)

Net cost to implement

SAVINGS (billions US $)

Net savings by 2050

Impact:

Our analysis assumes that LEDs will become ubiquitous by 2050, encompassing 82 percent of commercial lighting. As LEDs replace less-efficient lighting, 5.0 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions could be avoided in commercial buildings.

Vs

Cogeneration

Electricity Generation

Power plants produce large amounts of waste heat. Cogeneration systems capture that thermal energy and put it to work — for district heating or additional electricity.

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Rank and results by 2050 #50

Cogeneration

Reduced CO2: 4 gigatons
Net cost (Billions US$): $279.25
Net operational savings: $566.93 billion
What do these numbers mean?

TOTAL CO2-EQ REDUCTION (GT)

Total CO2-equivalent reduction in atmospheric greenhouse gases by 2050 (gigatons)

NET COST (billions US $)

Net cost to implement

SAVINGS (billions US $)

Net savings by 2050

Impact:

In our analysis cogeneration refers to on-site CHP from natural gas in commercial, industrial, and transportation sectors. In 2014, industrial cogeneration using natural gas comprised approximately 3.2 percent of global power generation and 1.7 percent of heat generation. If adoption grows to 5.4 percent of power and 3.3 percent of heat by 2050, 4 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions can be avoided. At an average installation cost of $1,851 per kilowatt, total installation would cost $279 billion. By replacing grid-based electricity and on-site heat generation with more efficient and less costly technology, the growth in cogeneration could produce operational savings of $567 billion over thirty years and lifetime savings of $1.7 trillion.

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