Effect of LED lighting on the cooling and heating loads in office buildings

LED lighting has the potential to provide energy savings, and in many countries, there are policies to encourage its use owing to its higher efficiency and longer life in comparison to other lighting fixtures. However, since 75-85% of the light electric power in LED lights is still generated as heat, the sole use of LED lighting in a building could have a negative effect on the cooling load. In this paper, we study the heating properties of LED lighting and establish a management strategy to exploit these properties to reduce the energy used for heating and cooling of buildings. Using a simulation program, the energy consumption of the Green Building in Daejeon, Korea, and the virtual building provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) was computed according for different light fixtures. A control strategy is more applicable to LED lighting than to general fluorescent lighting, especially for the cooling of a building, because the use of a return-air duct and the heat sinks on the LED fixtures allow the heat to be better directed. Deployment of LED lights in combination with such a control strategy can help to increase the energy efficiency of a building.