The market for high-bay lighting in commercial buildings is undergoing a rapid shift from traditional, fluorescent luminaires and lamps to LEDs. While fluorescent lights are expected to remain the best-selling technology for high-bay applications over the next seven years, falling prices and rising efficacy of LEDs will create a tipping point for the large-scale adoption of LEDs in this segment. According to Navigant Research, worldwide revenues for LED luminaires and lamps in high-bay applications will grow from US$2.6 billion in 2014 to US$7 billion in 2021.
"High-bay LED lights are still considerably more expensive than their non-LED counterparts, but payback periods have shrunk to the point where decision makers are choosing this lamp type based on cost savings and payback alone," said Jesse Foote, senior research analyst with Navigant Research. "The energy and cost savings of LEDs will make them the dominant technology for high-bay applications within the next 10 years."
Sales of high-bay luminaires and lamps are not expected to rise and fall in parallel within every building segment. The largest two building segments, warehouse and industrial buildings, will see negative compound annual growth rates for luminaire and lamp revenues of -0.8% and -0.9%, respectively, between 2013-2021. Those declines will be due to the longer lifespans of LEDs, as well as the decreasing stock of the two building types in North America and Europe, the firm said.
