Opinions on Accelerating the Application of Thermally Conductive Materials in the Semiconductor Lighting Energy-Saving and Environmental-Protection Industry

1. Overall Approach: Keeping Pace with the National Energy-Saving and Environmental-Protection Industry

To implement the State Council's Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Energy-Saving and Environmental-Protection Industry, Shenzhen RenJie Plastic Materials Co., Ltd. holds that the semiconductor lighting energy-saving industry must keep pace. The industry's structure and product positioning should be adjusted, with the focus on driving technology and product innovation through market application. In response to market demand, digital semiconductor lighting should be developed, the existing structure of the semiconductor lighting industry optimized and upgraded, and semiconductor lighting products that meet market demand launched — breaking through market bottlenecks and promoting the sound, rapid development of the semiconductor lighting energy-saving industry.

2. The Eight Advantages of Digital Semiconductor Lighting

Digital semiconductor lighting has eight advantages that will become important elements in raising product application value and breaking through market bottlenecks, and that are key to removing user doubts and earning market trust. They are as follows:

A. High cost-performance. Users gain higher product value and application value, which raises their tolerance of price, increases their desire to buy and expands market purchasing power. It also eases the pressure on government fiscal subsidies, helps adjust the direction and intensity of subsidy policy, relieves the stagnant situation of a market waiting for subsidies, breaks through the current bottleneck and promotes the healthy operation of the lighting market. This is the most prominent advantage of digital semiconductor lighting.

B. High luminous efficacy and comprehensive functions. Strong compatibility and scalability allow it to meet users' diverse needs for direct lighting, decorative lighting, dynamic light effects and more.

C. Strong service-life assurance. The paired application of a digital management system and digital lighting fixtures substantially raises the assurance factor for product service life, enabling lighting products to reach their designed service life.

D. Integrated operation and maintenance management. A digital management platform provides users with integrated operation, maintenance and management services for their equipment. It is convenient to use and greatly reduces maintenance and management costs — an excellent configuration and a shortcut for bringing the operation of large public building equipment into digital management.

E. High energy-saving rate. At equal luminous efficacy, the energy-saving rate can reach more than 65% compared with conventional lighting.

F. Non-toxic and harmless. Compared with fluorescent lamps — the most widely used and most urgently retrofitted type in China's large public buildings — it is non-toxic and harmless, making it a high-value product and system configuration for energy-saving lighting retrofits in large public buildings.

G. Strong anti-counterfeiting capability. Supported by digital and networked system technology, the market entry threshold for the product is raised and anti-counterfeiting capability enhanced, which largely restricts counterfeiting and the mixing of inferior goods in the market, plays a major role in protecting users' interests, and increases the market's and users' trust in semiconductor lighting products.

H. Alignment with national industrial policy. The product responds to market demand, conforms to the state's guiding policy for industrial development, and promotes the optimization, upgrading and sound, rapid development of the semiconductor lighting industry.

3. Product Value Originates in the Market: the Market Is the "Greater Self," the Industry the "Lesser Self"

3.1 Change the mindset: the industry cannot place itself above everyone else and decide on its own

The industry cannot sit high above and decide everything on its own; users will not argue the merits with you — you build your "atomic bomb" and it has nothing to do with them, and they will not pay for it. The industry must genuinely create value for the market and for users, and provide good service.

As a product of the development of a market economy, an industry's development direction and stage-by-stage positioning are inseparable from market demand and user requirements. First, product functions should be designed and positioned according to user requirements; second, product cost should be positioned according to national and public conditions. Only by satisfying market demand and user requirements can a product's value truly be realized. Before any product goes into production, the market demand for it and its acceptance should be considered, users' requirements analyzed, and the product's market direction and stage-by-stage market-entry positioning clarified; only by launching a valuable and realistic product can a company win the market's favor and earn profit from it — and only then should the enterprise, or the industry, talk about development.

For example, the "atomic bomb" is powerful enough and technologically advanced enough, but for the vast majority of ordinary Chinese users who still have to worry about fuel, rice, oil and salt, a carefully processed free-range egg may better match their sense of value — which is why chicken farms are everywhere and doing a roaring trade. Market demand is the key to the survival of an industry or an enterprise; if the market says no to you, you count for nothing. This is the same principle behind the Chinese distribution industry's practice of treating the customer as God. If the semiconductor lighting energy-saving industry is to develop, it too must change its mindset — perhaps this is the starting point for creating value for itself. Only by following market rules and satisfying market demand and user requirements can the industry achieve steady, rapid development.

3.2 Analysis of the value needs and usage requirements of China's lighting market

Lighting products are indispensable necessities in people's work and daily life. As the national economy and per-capita income rise, the market's demand for lighting products has gradually shown the following basic requirements:

1. Product diversification, covering indoor, outdoor, decorative and other application ranges;
2. High application value, with comprehensive and multi-purpose functions;
3. Comfortable application, a high degree of automation and convenient operation;
4. Moderate price, affordable to most users;
5. Fiscal subsidies that are real rather than nominal, and open and fair;
6. Products that save energy and protect the environment, in line with national policy and social requirements.

Compared with the product demand reflected by the market, buyers' requirements for lighting products are more specific: comprehensive yet optional functions; a configuration that is suitable without wasting resources; energy and money savings; environmental protection with no toxic or harmful effects on the environment or the human body; convenient use and a high degree of automation; durability and a sound warranty service system; and a stylish product that offers value for money.

RenJie Plastics has launched a thermally conductive plastic for heat-dissipation fins that reduces cost by 20%–30% compared with conventional aluminum heat-sink fins. Its emissivity is 7–8 times higher than that of aluminum, giving excellent thermal performance; combined with the lower cost and higher mass-production efficiency of plastic injection molding versus metalworking, overall system costs are expected to keep falling. It is good news for the semiconductor lighting energy-saving and environmental-protection industry.

3.3 Market stage-by-stage positioning of digital semiconductor lighting products and prices

The early-stage market positioning of digital semiconductor lighting products will be determined by the application volume of product types in China's current lighting market, energy saving and environmental protection, the length of lighting hours, the prominence of existing product defects, differences in user needs, and the varying degrees to which those needs are met.

At present, China's lighting products mainly have the following defects:

• First, high energy consumption that fails energy-saving and environmental-protection standards. Some lighting fixtures even consume large amounts of non-ferrous metal resources, seriously contradicting the national concept of energy saving and low carbon. Some fixtures reduce electricity consumption yet incur after-sales service costs far greater than the electricity saved — the loss outweighs the gain.
• Second, neglect of lighting efficiency and low light utilization. Energy-saving lamps emit light over a 360-degree angle with a utilization rate below 70%; metal halide lamps, because of excessive glare, reduce glare by blocking light. According to related news investigations, neglecting lighting efficiency has become an unspoken rule in the lighting industry, and the resulting economic losses are countless.
• Third, high product failure rates and high maintenance costs. Streetlights in particular are difficult and costly to maintain — maintenance costs exceed the product cost — so consumers often abandon them and buy new ones, causing enormous waste of resources.
• Fourth, single function and no support for management systems. This is a major obstacle to cities achieving highly intelligent management.

4. FAQ

Q1: Why does the semiconductor lighting energy-saving industry need thermally conductive materials? A: The heat-dissipation performance of lighting products directly determines service life and energy-saving results. Thermally conductive plastic can replace metal in heat-dissipation parts, cutting cost by 20%–30% versus conventional aluminum heat-sink fins, with emissivity 7–8 times that of aluminum.

Q2: What is digital semiconductor lighting? A: Digital semiconductor lighting is semiconductor lighting supported by digital and networked system technology. It offers high luminous efficacy, comprehensive functions, integrated operation and maintenance management, strong anti-counterfeiting capability and an energy-saving rate of more than 65%.

Q3: How much energy does digital semiconductor lighting save compared with conventional lighting? A: At equal luminous efficacy, the energy-saving rate can reach more than 65%.

Q4: Why should fluorescent lamps be the first target for energy-saving retrofits in large public buildings? A: Fluorescent lamps are the most widely used and most urgently retrofitted type in China's large public buildings; compared with them, semiconductor lighting is non-toxic and harmless, making it a high-value retrofit product and system configuration.

Q5: What basic requirements must lighting products meet? A: Product diversification, high application value, comfort and convenience, moderate price, open and fair fiscal subsidies, and energy saving and environmental protection — six aspects in total.

Shenzhen RenJie Plastic Materials Co., Ltd. is a well-known specialized manufacturer of thermally conductive plastics in China and holds a leading domestic position in the development and production of thermally conductive materials. Sales hotline: 18681139818; Contact: Tang Jihua.