Sector: Lighting

Market Overview: As one of quickest ways to realize energy savings in any setting, lighting will always be one of the first products people turn to for greening new construction and retrofit projects. Companies in this industry manufacture a range of products, including electric light bulbs, halogen and fluorescent lighting (compact and otherwise).

But it is LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, that appear poised to take off as they achieve better functionality and lower pricing. Industry estimates project a $122 billion global lighting market by 2025, mostly from increased interest in solid state, or LED, lighting. Many newer U.S. companies are coming online who are developing innovative product lines.

However, U.S. manufacturing in the lighting industry has declined in the last 15 years due to imports and product input costs. CFLs and LEDs that would be used in a residential/multifamily setting are almost entirely manufactured overseas and imported to the United States. Though a small number of LED bulbs are assembled here, key supply chain pieces such as the diodes, are manufactured exclusively in Asia.

U.S. manufacturing in lighting remains steady for commercial, industrial and high-end specialty markets.