CFLs resume growth; HID “robust;” incandescents continue decline

NEMA’s CFL Lamp Index showed a return to growth in sales of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) after a year of successive quarterly declines. CFL sales grew about three percent in the first quarter of 2010 while sales of incandescent lamps continued to fall. NEMA’s incandescent lamp index fell to its second-lowest level on record, showing a year-over-year decline of 2.2 percent during the first quarter of 2010. This maintains a 3.5-year streak of deterioration for this market segment, NEMA said.

Medium screw-base CFLs regained market share against the incandescents they replace, increasing to 24.2 percent from 22 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, which NEMA attributed to the economic recovery. “Consumers appear to be more willing to absorb the higher up-front costs of CFLs versus incandescent lamps, due in part to the U.S. economy remaining on a path of recovery.”

NEMA’s index for high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps, meanwhile, showed decent year-over-year growth. HID sodium lamps posted a 7.5 percent gain while mercury lamps gained 1.3 percent. Metal-halide lamps rebounded from a record low set in first quarter 2009, increasing by a robust 16.8 percent.