Electricity is very convenient and useful energy, because it could be easily converted other types of energy like a light, a heat, or a motive power. However it produces lots of CO_2, which causes the earth to be warmer, when it is generated. Though Electric Power Companies make efforts to decrease CO_2 at generating the electric power, it is required to decrease CO_2 more. In this situation, trying to save energy more in the lighting field, where 16% of the electric power supplying to the residential area is spent, is very important. In this chapter, we will mention the recent regal restriction and the new technology in order to reduce CO_2 regarding the light source and systems.

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This article provides an overview of current status of lighting-related standards in the Revised Law Concerning the Rational Use of Energy, which will be enforced in April 2009, for non-residential buildings and residential buildings. The scope of energy saving standards will be extended to smaller buildings, and the specification standards will be simplified. New evaluations for single-family homes will be introduced in the standards for residential lighting system.

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Households account for a large portion of CO_2 emissions in Tokyo prefecture in comparison with nationwide levels, and reduction of this share is an urgent challenge. The prefecture promotes the elimination of incandescent bulbs and supports the popularization of bulbshaped fluorescent lamps in cooperation with industry organizations such as the Japan Electric Lamp Manufactures Association and the Japan Luminaire Association, as well as convenience stores, supermarkets, and electronics stores.

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The Japan Electric Lamp Manufacturers Association(JELMA) published proposals for energy saving in lighting, and worked on realizing these proposals. The Energy-efficient Lighting Forum was established based on government requests in last year. In the forum, promotion of energy saving lamps was pushed forward by JELMA and lamp manufacturers cooperated with distributors and consumer's union. JELMA also promoted energy saving lighting with lighting-related organizations. This article introduces these efforts.

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The spread of LED lighting is expected as one of the effective means of the prevention of global warming. It can contribute not only to reduce CO_2 emission to replace incandescent lamps with white LED sources, but also effective means on economy. By this report, the characteristic comparison of the luminaires is performed and technical issues for the LED lighting are examined. In addition, the latest LED luminaire is introduced. The performance enhancement of the white LED continues, and the application to the general lighting is expected.

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The demands for energy-saving and prevention of global warming are growing now. One of our choices for that is to replace incandescent lamps (ILs) by self-ballasted compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). The CFLs have another advantage of about 6 times longer life times than ILs. In the paper I introduce the feature and history in development of the self-ballasted CFLs with hoping the progress in consumer's correct understanding and the spread to the market.

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As the reduction of greenhouse gas is an urgent task, it is necessary not only to improve luminaire efficiencies, but also to promote energy saving using lighting controls. This article introduces basic energy saving techniques using lighting controls, as well as recent developments in energy saving luminaires.

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Recently, CO_2 reduction is attracting attention as a countermeasure for global warming. An effective way to reduce the CO_2 generated by a fluorescent lamp is to replace a traditional lamp with a high frequency fluorescent lamp, and light it by way of an inverter. In this way, it is possible to improve lamp efficiency, suppress power consumption, and reduce CO_2 emission. In order to achieve higher reduction in the future, it is important to further popularize the high frequency fluorescent lamp, and measures are necessary to achieve this goal.

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As global warming is worsening and people are becoming more conscious about the situation every year, streetlights using natural energies are attracting attention, not only as an energy saving solution, but also as anti-disaster outdoor lighting. This article introduces basic specifications for an environmentally-friendly streetlight, and discusses this new role of the streetlight.

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Approximately 1.19 million traffic lights were deployed across Japan as of March, 2006. Incandescent lamps have long been used as light sources for traffic lights, but recently they are being replaced by LED elements. Advantages of using an LED as a light source for traffic lights include energy saving, long life, and improved safety by preventing pseudo-emission. This article estimates the CO_2 reduction effect under the current trend towards LED deployment, and introduces our future plans regarding this matter.

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People cannot live without illumination. However, illumination makes use of limited resources, and therefore, we must lead our lives using limited resources effectively. One of the ways to make effective use of resources is to reduce usage directly by for example reusing resources or saving power. Another way is to reduce usage indirectly, such as by reducing the number of light sources in use by improving efficiency, reducing usable light source capacity, and taking advantage of dimming.

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The Tokyo Headquarters of Takenaka Corporation is continuously making a wide range of efforts from planning to execution to reduce CO_2 emission from illumination facilities. As a result, they achieved a 308-ton reduction in CO_2 emission in one year.

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