2026-10-13T00:53:58Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34037160 2026-09-30T23:06:24Z category_915 category_19 category_24 category_272 category_873 category_39 category_734 category_69 category_122 portal_63 item_type_6 month_year_09_2026

Energy-Efficient Lighting Transitions Create a Material-Climate Trade-Off Xueyue Hu (25146963) Mengyuan Dang (25146966) Ayman Elshkaki (4786671) Zhi Cao (614116) Cong-Qiang Liu (2021584) Physical Sciences not elsewhere classified Pharmacology Evolutionary Biology Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified Ecology Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Inorganic Chemistry Mental Health replacing simple incandescent increasingly important component decouple service provision structural transition burden operational efficiency gains examine china ’ efficient lighting transitions rising material intensity increase emissions due increased material demand energy system decarbonization lighting ’ lighting transition wide decarbonization product demand excluding operational efficacy increase critical system achieve system lighting stocks technology substitution results highlight quantifying changes prevailing emphasis minor metals lifetime extension lifecycle footprint level trade intensive recovery grids decarbonize fluorescent technologies emitting diodes embodied impacts dynamic stock driven model complex light climate trade Energy-efficient lighting transitions are central to energy system decarbonization, yet the prevailing emphasis on operational electricity reduction obscures a critical system-level trade-off. We show that replacing simple incandescent and fluorescent technologies with complex light-emitting diodes (LEDs) creates a material-climate trade-off: operational efficiency gains are accompanied by rising material intensity and material-related embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As grids decarbonize, these embodied impacts are expected to become an increasingly important component of lighting’s lifecycle footprint. Using a dynamic stock-driven model, we examine China’s lighting transition from 2000 to 2060 by quantifying changes in lighting stocks, material flows, and material-related embodied GHG emissions, excluding operational-phase emissions. We assess four decoupling strategies: technology substitution, efficacy increase, lifetime extension, and improved recycling, to decouple service provision from product demand, material consumption, and emissions. Rapid LED deployment generates a structural transition burden through increased material demand and embodied emissions, while recycling of minor metals can increase emissions due to energy-intensive recovery; by contrast, efficacy improvements deliver substantial reductions. These results highlight that energy-efficient transitions require explicit integration of material dynamics to achieve system-wide decarbonization. 2026-09-30T00:00:00Z Text Journal contribution 10.1021/acs.est.6c06987.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Energy-Efficient_Lighting_Transitions_Create_a_Material-Climate_Trade-Off/34037160 CC BY-NC 4.0