06 Nov 2026
Oxford researchers join Academics for Circular Economy and Signify to develop a white paper on advancing the circular economy in lighting
Researchers from the University of Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science have contributed to a new white paper exploring how the lighting sector can move beyond energy efficiency towards greater resource efficiency through circular economy approaches.
The white paper, From Energy Efficiency to Resource Efficiency: Advancing the Circular Economy in Lighting, was developed through a research collaboration between Academics for Circular Economy e.V. (ACE) and the Circular Economy and Sustainability Lab at the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, with funding from Signify.
ACE is a global network of students and early-career researchers studying the circular economy. Its cross-university community supports members’ research and creates opportunities to exchange knowledge and engage with the public as well as industry and policymakers.
The research examines how circular economy principles can be translated into practical decisions for the lighting sector, an industry undergoing significant technological and regulatory change as conventional lighting systems are increasingly replaced by LEDs.
The project brought together students and early-career researchers from different universities to work alongside experts from the lighting industry. Professor Lucia Corsini and doctoral researcher Priya Saikumar participated from Oxford’s Circular Economy and Sustainability Lab, based in the Department of Engineering Science. They worked alongside ACE researchers Lucas Tzemos Meneguim, Paniz Baradaran Kazemian, Alessio Landi, Richard Asante, and Mrinali Kakamare.
“I am really pleased to see the publication of this report in partnership with Academics for the Circular Economy and Signify. Transitioning to a low-carbon, circular economy is one of the key challenges in the coming decades and working closely with industry is critical to develop actionable research that can be applied, tested and further developed in practice.”
Professor Lucia Corsini, Circular Economy and Sustainability Lab
Looking beyond energy efficiency
The transition to LED lighting has substantially reduced the electricity required to provide lighting services. However, improvements in energy efficiency do not eliminate the environmental impacts associated with producing, maintaining, and replacing lighting systems.
The white paper identifies three areas in which circular economy approaches could support the sector’s transition towards more resource-efficient lighting.
Understanding the resource dependencies of the lighting sector: Lighting relies on materials that are also increasingly in demand across the energy and digital sectors, creating potential exposure to supply constraints and price volatility. The white paper examines how extending product lifetimes and retaining existing components can reduce demand for new resources while strengthening the long-term resilience of essential lighting infrastructure.
Making circular economy strategies easier to apply in practice: The white paper translates circular economy principles into a practical decision-making framework for organisations. It guides users through an assessment of their existing assets and lighting requirements to help them identify circular interventions suited to their technical capabilities and operational circumstances.
Recognising the wider economic value of circular lighting decisions: Drawing on 50 publicly documented business cases, the research examines the financial value of circular lighting beyond electricity savings. It considers how extending asset lifetimes can avoid replacement expenditure and reduce operational disruption.
Exploring the wider implications of the LED transition
An additional strand of the research examined the potential waste implications of the transition from conventional lighting technologies to LEDs.
As older lighting systems are phased out, an important question is how much of the existing infrastructure can be retained, reused, or retrofitted, rather than being discarded and replaced entirely. Although this investigation was not included in the final user-facing white paper, it informed the team’s understanding of the relationship between technological transitions, waste generation, and resource retention.
This raises a question of particular relevance to circular economy research: “How can the environmental benefits of adopting more efficient technologies be realised without unnecessarily losing the material and functional value embedded in existing infrastructure?”
A different approach to academic–industry collaboration
Beyond its findings, the project also provided an opportunity to explore a different way of organising collaborative research.
The research adopted an agile approach, structured around three-week research sprints. At the end of each sprint, emerging findings and new research questions were reviewed against the original research objectives. Questions were then collaboratively prioritised with industry experts according to their relevance, novelty, and urgency. This iterative process enabled the research team to respond to emerging issues while maintaining a clear focus on producing a practical, user-oriented publication.
Priya Saikumar, doctoral researcher at the Department of Engineering Science, reflected on the experience: “Having transitioned from industry to academia, one of the differences I have observed is how differently time is understood in the two environments. Research timebox in academia can look very different from one in industry. At Oxford, I had the opportunity to follow the work of the Oxford Agile Initiative, and this project gave us an excellent opportunity to put some of those principles into practice. Bringing together academic researchers, students and industry experts through short, focused research sprints allowed us to collaborate, learn and deliver a tangible research output”.
The project illustrates how collaboration between universities, student researchers, and industry practitioners can support the development of research that is both academically informed and practically relevant.
By connecting circular economy concepts with the needs of lighting users, the white paper aims to help organisations consider not only how much energy their lighting systems consume, but also how much resource value can be retained throughout their lifetime.
About the white paper
From Energy Efficiency to Resource Efficiency: Advancing the Circular Economy in Lighting was prepared by researchers from Academics for Circular Economy e.V. and the Circular Economy and Sustainability Lab, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, with funding from Signify. The white paper and accompanying research resources are available through the University of Oxford’s research repository.
