Home CR LIGHTING TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD

US Navy told to ‘buy American’ when it comes to LED

LUX Magazine | posted:April 28, 2017-14:57

The US Navy is in the process of retrofitting its bases with LED in an attempt to reduce costs. President Trump is asking that all products used in US government projects be made in the USA.

Earlier this month President Trump signed an executive order in Wisconsin, which compels government agencies to buy domestically produced products.

President Donald Trump is laying down the law when it comes to ensuring that the federal government, which is one of the largest employers in the world, buys American. This means it is boom time for US manufacturers when it comes to securing major lighting contracts.

The Navy is currently in the process of retrofitting its bases with LED light sources, in an attempt to reduce energy costs. This was a long term goal set at a time when military spending was being squeezed under the Obama administration.

The scheme has since had to adapted to suit President Trump’s demand that the US military should only ‘buy American’.

It was recently announced that US lighting manufacturer, Orion, has signed a multi-million-dollar deal to retrofit two naval bases.

This is just more cash to throw on the pile for Orion, which has already secured $13.8 million in lighting retro fit projects for US Navy facilities, before this most recent announcement was even made.

President Trump has promised to prevent US government agencies from seeking to buy cheaper lighting alternatives from foreign companies.

Earlier this month the president signed an executive order in Wisconsin, which compels government agencies to buy domestically produced products.

Selling lighting products to the US government is a massive business and last year alone the Navy installed more than 219,000 LED tubes on 168 ships in its fleet.

Earlier in April the US Navy certified that T8 LED tubes developed by US-based company Revolution could be used aboard ship and the firm has now opened up a new production centre in Simi Valley, California, in order to cope with an influx in demand.

Other US LED manufacturers have also moved to public back Trump’s executive decision.

‘The US Federal Government uses a massive 3.4 billion square feet of real estate,’ US LED manufacturer Independence LED commented in a statement released in response to Trump’s action.

‘By changing their lights to US made light emitting diode (LED) technology, the annual savings will be over $1.1 billion, with over 20,000 new jobs and over 11 billion lbs of CO2 emissions reduction.’

Not everyone has been so welcoming to the ‘buy American’ rhetoric coming out of Trump’s White House though. Some economists worry that other nations make act in response to American protectionism, by encouraging their own government agencies to buy locally and steer clear of American goods, something that would hurt the American economy, and US lighting manufacturers, in the long term.