How much household electricity consumption is actually saved by replacement with Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs)?

Many countries have promoted the replacement of conventional lamps with next-generation lamps to reduce electricity usage for lighting. In Japan, the majority of the lamps sold at home appliance mass merchant shops have been changed from incandescent lamps to energy-saving lamps. All conventional lamps are planned to be replaced with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) by 2020. Although the energy saving effect of LEDs has been stressed in many engineering studies, studies have not examined how much electricity has actually been saved by the installation of LEDs. Using micro-level data from the Survey on Carbon Dioxide Emission from Households (SCDEH), we compare monthly electricity usage between households using conventional lamps and those using LEDs. Our empirical result demonstrates that the installation of LEDs can reduce household electricity usage by 2.3%-2.8%. However, this saving rate is smaller than that expected from the engineering calculation. This result suggests the possibility of a rebound effect associated with LED installation. The empirical result further demonstrates that middleincome households have higher price elasticity of electricity demand and are more likely to receive greater benefit from LED installation.