Artificial Lights Market Trends

Market Driver - Increasing Emphasis on Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

The artificial lights market has been witnessing a strong emphasis on sustainability and energy efficiency in recent years. There is a growing recognition globally that energy usage needs to be curtailed and transition towards more eco-friendly alternatives is critical to curb the impacts of climate change. Strict government regulations around energy usage have compelled lighting manufacturers to invest heavily in the development of energy efficient products.

Lighting solutions based on LED and other emerging technologies offer significant energy savings compared to conventional incandescent or CFL bulbs. Sustainability has become an integral part of corporate strategies and branding across sectors. Companies want to showcase strong ESG (environmental, social and governance) credentials to investors and customers alike.

The artificial lights market is increasingly prioritizing eco-friendly product innovations and customizing solutions to meet evolving sustainability needs of varied end-users. Emergence of zero-energy buildings concept and initiatives like net zero carbon goals are compelling players to integrate sustainability at the core of their business strategies. This presents massive opportunities for next-generation energy efficient lighting systems that can aid global transition towards a low carbon future.

Market Driver - Rapid Urbanization and Infrastructure Development

Urbanization trends have been rapidly rising across both developed and developing regions over the past few decades. As per estimates by 2050, nearly 70% of world population will reside in urban settings compared to just 30% in 1950. This unprecedented rate of urban growth has necessitated massive infrastructure expansion worldwide to accommodate the needs of surging city residents.

Urban development involves construction of multi-story residential and commercial buildings, malls, hospitals, educational institutions, roadways, metro rails and other public facilities. All such infrastructure development leads to huge demand for various types of lighting equipment such as artificial lights, required to illuminate indoor and outdoor spaces adequately.

In tier 1 and 2 cities of developing nations, the pace of new construction activities is particularly high owing to agglomeration of economic opportunities and amenities in urban centers. Residential projects like housing societies, group housing complexes with thousands of units respectively require large scale installation of outdoor and indoor lightings. These factors are expected to play an important role in growth of the artificial lights market in the coming years.

Market Challenge - High Initial Cost of Adopting Advanced Lighting Technologies

One of the key challenges faced by the artificial lights market is the high initial cost of adopting advanced lighting technologies. LED artificial lights and other energy efficient solutions provide significant savings over the long run due to lower power consumption. However, their upfront costs are considerably higher compared to conventional lighting products such as incandescent bulbs and fluorescent tubes. This high initial investment acts as a barrier for many commercial and residential customers looking to upgrade their lighting infrastructure.

The installation and procurement costs for LED lights can be up to 3-4 times higher than traditional lighting technologies. Additionally, transitioning entirely to a new lighting system requires replacement of lighting fixtures, which further increases expenses. The higher costs have prevented many potential customers, especially in price sensitive regions and cost-constrained industry segments, from shifting to more sustainable artificial lights. This remains a major challenge before players in the artificial lights market.

Market Opportunity - Expansion of Smart Lighting Systems Integrated with IoT

One of the major opportunities in the artificial lights market is the expansion of smart lighting systems that are integrated with Internet of Things (IoT) technology. With improved connectivity and automation capabilities, smart lights allow lighting to be controlled remotely through smartphones and other devices. This provides benefits such as energy savings through intelligent brightness adjustment based on ambient lighting conditions, automated schedules and occupancy detection.

Additionally, smart lights also enable collection and analysis of lighting usage data which can be used for various applications such as facility management. The convergence of lighting with IoT is expected to drive significant adoption of these lighting systems across commercial, industrial, and residential sectors.

Major manufacturers in the artificial lights market are investing heavily in developing smart and connected lighting products integrated with platforms. Furthermore, smart cities initiatives worldwide are promoting large-scale implementation of smart street lights. This growing demand is poised to unlock new revenue streams for lighting OEMs and open up opportunities for IoT platform and solution providers.