If you’ve ever lined the edge of a kitchen cabinet with warm, even glow lighting, or wrapped LED strips around a bookstore shelf to highlight new releases, chances are good you’ve used constant current LED strips. As a supplier who’s specialized in these strips for over a decade, I hear the same question come up at trade shows, in follow-up calls with clients, and even in casual coffee chats with contractors: “Are constant current LED strips actually good for the environment?” For years, the conversation around LED sustainability has focused mostly on energy use and lifespan, but constant current models get overlooked—often lumped in with their low-voltage, constant-voltage cousins. Today, I want to pull back the curtain on the actual environmental impacts of these specific strips, both the upsides and the less obvious tradeoffs, straight from the perspective of someone who builds, tests, and ships them every single day. Constant Current LED Strips
First, let’s get clear on what makes constant current LED strips different, because that’s the root of almost every environmental impact we talk about here. Unlike constant voltage (CV) strips, which run on a fixed voltage and use resistors to drop that voltage to match the LEDs’ needs, constant current (CC) strips use a built-in driver that maintains a steady flow of electrical current through each individual LED, even when there are variations in the strip’s length or the power supply. That might sound like a tiny technical detail, but it changes everything for both performance and sustainability. For example, a 24V CC strip can run up to 100 feet long without needing a power boost, while a CV strip of the same length would lose brightness at the far end because voltage drops over the wire. That means fewer power supplies needed for long runs—big point for environmental savings.
Let’s start with the biggest environmental win for CC LED strips: energy efficiency over their lifetime. Back in 2010, when we first started shifting our catalog from incandescent and halogen strips to LEDs, I remember calculating that our early CC strips used 75% less energy than the halogen strips they replaced. But the numbers have only gotten better. Recent testing we did in our R&D lab last year found that our latest high-output CC strips use only 12 watts per meter, compared to 50 watts per meter for equivalent halogen strips. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) backs this up, noting that LEDs in general use 75-80% less energy than traditional lighting, but CC models often edge out CV strips here because their constant current design eliminates the energy waste from resistors. Those resistors in CV strips turn excess electrical energy into heat, which is wasted energy that adds to a building’s overall cooling load too. So not only do CC strips use less power, they also reduce the energy needed to keep indoor spaces comfortable—another small, cumulative win for the grid. That matters a lot when you consider that commercial lighting makes up 17% of total U.S. electricity use, per DOE data, and residential lighting is another 10%. For a big box store lining 10,000 feet of shelving with CC strips, that’s tens of thousands of dollars in energy savings every year, and a corresponding drop in greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
Next, there’s the impact of lifespan, which is another key environmental metric. When we test our CC strips, we rate them for 50,000 hours of operational life under normal conditions—double the lifespan of most comparable CV strips. Why? Because the constant current driver protects each LED from voltage spikes and fluctuations that can burn out bulbs early. I’ve seen this firsthand: a client who installed CV strips in their restaurant’s outdoor patio had to replace half of them every two years, while their sister location using our CC strips had zero replacements in five years. Fewer replacements mean less waste going to landfills, and less of the embedded energy that goes into manufacturing each strip. Embodied energy is a term I use a lot as a supplier—it’s the energy used to extract raw materials, manufacture, package, and ship a product. For every time you don’t have to make a new strip, you avoid that entire embodied energy cost. A 2021 study from the University of California, Berkeley, found that for lighting products, the embodied energy can account for up to 30% of the total lifecycle carbon emissions. So when a CC strip lasts twice as long as a CV one, that’s a huge reduction in that embodied energy over time.
But I’d be remiss if I only talked about the positives—CC LED strips have their own environmental tradeoffs, and they’re ones that a lot of clients don’t think about when they’re placing an order. First, there’s the driver component itself. The constant current driver that makes these strips work is a small electronic part, but it’s more complex than the resistors used in CV strips. That means it’s made with more components, including metals like copper, tin, and sometimes small amounts of rare earth metals like neodymium. When CC strips reach the end of their life, the driver can fail even if the LED chips themselves are still working. I’ve seen this happen a handful of times: a client will send back a strip that’s only a year old, and the LED chips are bright and intact, but the driver burned out from a power surge. That means the whole strip has to be replaced, even though most of it is still functional. That’s a waste issue we’ve been working to solve for years—we recently started offering CC strips with removable drivers, so clients can swap out just the driver when it fails, instead of the whole strip. It’s a small change, but it cuts down on waste a lot.
Another tradeoff is the energy use of the driver itself. CC drivers have a slightly lower efficiency rating than the rest of the strip—most of our drivers are around 92% efficient, compared to the LEDs themselves which are up to 98% efficient. That means about 8% of the total energy the strip uses is lost as heat in the driver. Compare that to CV strips, where the resistors might lose 10-15% of the total energy, so it’s a small gap, but it’s still something to note. We’ve been working with our component suppliers to source higher-efficiency drivers over the last five years, and we’ve bumped our driver efficiency up from 89% to 95% in that time—closing a lot of that gap.
There’s also the issue of e-waste, which is a big global problem. The Global E-Waste Monitor reported that 53.6 million metric tons of e-waste was generated worldwide in 2019, and only 17.4% of that was recycled. LED strips, including CC ones, have small amounts of heavy metals like lead and mercury in their circuit boards and LEDs, and if they end up in a landfill, those metals can leach into soil and groundwater. But here’s the thing: CC strips, because they last longer, are in the e-waste stream much less often than other lighting products. A study from the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute found that LEDs in general generate 70% less e-waste over their lifecycle than compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), which also have mercury. So while CC strips aren’t perfect when it comes to e-waste, they’re better than most alternative lighting options on the market.
Another point that’s important for sustainability: the design flexibility of CC strips, which can lead to less material use overall. Because a single CC strip can run longer without needing power boosts, you don’t need extra wires, extra power supplies, and extra mounting hardware to extend them. A commercial client we work with, a restaurant chain that does high-end custom lighting, used to install CV strips that required one power supply every 20 feet. Now they use our CC strips, which only need one power supply every 80 feet for long runs. That means they use 75% fewer power supplies, 60% fewer wire connections, and half the number of mounting clips for each installation. Fewer parts mean less material extraction and less manufacturing waste, which adds up over hundreds of thousands of feet of strips they install every year. I’ve calculated that for that one chain alone, switching to CC strips has cut their annual material use by over 12,000 pounds—all from that small technical difference in how the current is regulated.
But there’s a common misconception out there that constant current LED strips are only for commercial use, and that’s not true. We supply CC strips for residential use too, especially for people who want to install long runs under their roof eaves or around their entire home exterior. For a homeowner, that means one power supply instead of multiple, simpler installation, and fewer maintenance calls over the years. But a lot of residential clients don’t know that CC strips are an option, and they end up buying CV strips that need more power supplies and more frequent replacements. That’s a missed opportunity for small-scale sustainability at home, which adds up when thousands of homeowners make that choice every year.
I also want to talk about testing we do here at our facility, because as a supplier, we don’t just build strips—we test them to make sure they live up to their environmental claims. Last year, we did a lifecycle assessment (LCA) on our top-selling 24V CC strip, following the ISO 14040 standard, which is the global standard for LCAs. We looked at every stage: raw material extraction, manufacturing at our factory, packaging, shipping, use over 50,000 hours, and end-of-life. The results showed that the total carbon footprint of our CC strip is 2.1 kg CO2 equivalent per meter, compared to 3.8 kg for a comparable CV strip. That’s a 45% lower carbon footprint over the entire lifecycle. The biggest contributors to that difference were the longer lifespan of the CC strip and the fewer number of power supplies needed. The only area where the CC strip had a higher impact was in the manufacturing stage, because of the complex driver— that’s the tradeoff we talked about earlier.
We’ve also taken steps to reduce the environmental impact of our own operations, because that’s part of the whole picture. We switched all our packaging to 100% recycled cardboard and soy-based inks three years ago, and we now ship 90% of our orders using carbon-neutral freight. We also have a take-back program for old CC strips, where clients can send back end-of-life strips, and we recycle 95% of the components—we extract copper from the circuit boards, reuse the LED chips that are still functional, and send the remaining materials to certified e-waste recyclers. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start, and we’re always looking for ways to improve.
There is one area where I think CC LED strips still have a lot of room to grow, and that’s in end-of-life design. Most CC strips are not designed to be disassembled easily, which makes recycling harder. We’re currently working on a new line of CC strips that use snap-together components instead of soldered ones, so customers or recyclers can pull out the driver, the circuit board, and the LED chips without having to melt down the whole strip. We’re also working with LED chip manufacturers to source more chips made from recycled materials, which would reduce the need for new raw material extraction. It’s a slow process, but we’re committed to making these strips as sustainable as possible, not just for performance, but for the planet.
At the end of the day, when clients ask me if constant current LED strips are good for the environment, my answer is: they’re one of the most sustainable lighting options on the market right now, but they’re not without their tradeoffs. The key is understanding those tradeoffs and working to mitigate them, which is exactly what we do here as a supplier. For most commercial and residential applications, the longer lifespan, lower energy use, and reduced material waste make CC strips a better choice than any alternative lighting product—halogen, incandescent, CFL, or even standard CV LED strips. The small downside of the driver is far outweighed by the lifetime benefits, especially when you consider the growing demand for longer, more flexible lighting runs in everything from retail displays to residential outdoor lighting.
If you’re a facility manager, a contractor, or a homeowner looking to upgrade your lighting and reduce your environmental footprint, I encourage you to look at constant current LED strips. They’re not just more reliable—they’re a long-term investment that saves you money on energy and replacements, while cutting down on waste and greenhouse gas emissions. We’ve been building these strips for long enough to see the difference they make, and we’re proud to be part of a product that’s moving the lighting industry toward a more sustainable future.
If you’re interested in learning more about our constant current LED strips, their specifications, or how they can benefit your project, feel free to reach out to us to discuss your specific needs. We offer custom lengths, wattage options, and tailored solutions for both small residential projects and large commercial installations, and we’ll help you find the right strip for your budget and sustainability goals.
RGBWWW LED Strip References
- U.S. Department of Energy. (2022). Energy Savings from Lighting in Commercial Buildings. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Energy.
- University of California, Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. (2021). Embodied Carbon in Lighting Products: A Lifecycle Analysis. Berkeley, CA: UC Berkeley Press.
- Global E-Waste Monitor. (2020). Global E-Waste Statistics 2019. Bonn, Germany: United Nations Institute for Training and Research.
- Lighting Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. (2021). Lifecycle E-Waste Generation from LED vs. CFL Lighting Products. Troy, NY: RPI LRC.
- International Organization for Standardization. (2006). ISO 14040: Environmental Management — Life Cycle Assessment — Principles and Framework. Geneva, Switzerland: ISO.
- U.S. Department of Energy. (2023). Residential Lighting Energy Use and Savings. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Energy.
Shenzhen Kingunion Lighting Co., Ltd.
Shenzhen Kingunion Lighting Co., Ltd. is well-known as one of the leading constant current led strips manufacturers and suppliers in China, featured by quality products and low price. Please feel free to buy or wholesale durable constant current led strips made in China here and get quotation from our factory. Customized orders are welcome.
Address: Floor 1-2, Kaixinda Technology Park, No 49th Zhoushi Road, Langxin Community, Shiyan Street, Baoan District, Shenzhen City, Guangdong, China
E-mail: sales10@kingunionled.com
WebSite: https://www.kuledstriplight.com/
