Efficient lighting saves consumers an average of €30 per year
There are numerous incentives now supporting the adoption of smart lighting in Italy. But how much of the funds made available by the various measures have been spent? Not all initiatives have given the awaited results, and many investments are delayed compared to the desired timeline. This is one of the aspects at the heart of the Survey “Analysis of the market smart lighting solutions potential in Italy” carried out by the Politecnico di Milano and presented at the General Assembly of ASSIL, the National Association of Lighting Manufacturers.
For the indoor lighting and public lighting sectors, the scenario envisaged by the PNIEC for the achievement of the EU objectives provides for 5 billion in investments: “Although there is still a lot to do, the investment program shows how much the commitment of institutions, bodies and associations is strengthening at European but also at a national level” – underlines Carlo Comandini, President of ASSIL. “The revision of the EPBD directive will stimulate new improvements in the energy performance of buildings. Alongside that, the updating of the Minimum Environmental Criteria – of which our association, in the discussions with the Ministry, has supported, viewed and endorsed the rewarding criteria relating to issues related to lighting – can represent a strategic opportunity to enhance the contribution of the lighting sector in the context of the renewal of the real estate heritage and urban regeneration. Lighting is thus evaluated not only for the benefits of energy saving but also for those related to the improvement of people’s life quality“.
The survey also examines the introduction of advanced lighting control systems, highlighting the energy savings achievable in sectors of interest such as museums, schools, hospitals, hotels, offices, retail, industry and public lighting. Considering the highly energy-intensive sector of hospitals, the introduction of 2,150 lighting points with an advanced management system against an investment of € 1.6 million, 6,350 operation hours could offer energy savings of 83%, 861 MWh per year, and 221 tons of CO2 emissions. The expected time to recover the investment is around 2.3 years. Economic analyses related to investments confirm the solidity of this type of transition, which proves to be advantageous in all sectors and represents a strategic choice to contain operating costs, thanks also to the short return on investment times. Despite some variations in the prices of technologies, the constant and continuous increase in the electricity cost makes the savings obtainable through high-efficiency lighting systems even more significant.
Speaking about public lighting, with a 9.9 million euro investment for 10,000 lighting points of advanced lighting systems and 4,380 annual activity hours, the attainable energy savings could be around 67%, 2.4 MWh. CO2 savings would be higher than 980 tons, and the expected time to recover the investment is around 4.8 years. According to estimates by the European Commission, switching to energy-efficient lighting products will save the individual consumer an average of around €30 per year and lead to the avoidance of around 7 million tons of CO2 per year (thanks to energy savings of about 34 TWh).
The advantages of advanced lighting systems are measured in terms of environmental sustainability, visual comfort, well-being and quality lighting, all elements to consider and, therefore, integrate into every design intervention. “We are strongly convinced that ensuring adequate levels of visual comfort must be an objective to be taken into consideration right from the design of the building, immediately integrating lighting choices consistent with the needs of users, the characteristics of the type of space and the environmental quality requirements” – concludes Comandini.
The Italian lighting industry, after two years of decline, closed in 2024 with an increase in industrial production of more than 5%. The sector was more dynamic than the average of electrical engineering (+1.1%). The recovery in output observed in 2024 did not generate any comparable turnover recovery growth: 4 consecutive decline quarters led to a negative annual change of -7.5%, and brought the sector’s turnover to 2021 levels. The decrease in the industry turnover primarily concerned the domestic market (-10%), compared to a more modest reduction on the foreign front (-4.1%). The foreign turnover decrease is caused by the weak performance of exports in 2024. The end of the year showed a drop in Italian exports of almost 3 percentage points, an overall decrease of about 50 million, and 50% in quantities.
The first quarter of 2025 also confirmed downward trend dynamics, both in euro values (-7.8%) and above all in quantities (-24.4%). Geographically, the trend contractions in Italian lighting exports mainly concerned the markets of Germany (-15.9 million euros compared to the corresponding period in 2024) and France (-5.2 million), respectively the 1st and 2nd destination markets for Italian exports in 2024. Moderately positive results from South Korea (+€2 million), Spain (+€1.5 million), Hungary and China (+€1.4 million in both cases), Saudi Arabia and Turkey (+€1.3 million in both cases).
