Posts Tagged ‘Commercial’

Reduce Energy Costs By 80% With Commercial Led Lighting

A new EU directive has banned the use and production of traditional style filament light bulbs, businesses across the continent and in the UK are looking for alternative lighting solutions. With the advancement in commercial LED lightin, the technology has been gaining in popularity thanks to an array of benefits over incandescent and halogen light bulbs.

Nowadays LED lights are available in all forms of traditional lighting and can be used for indoor or outdoor business lighting. LED lighting not only reduces energy consumption considerably but they also have a much longer life span than traditional light bulbs, which could bring a reduction in annual maintenance cost of between 70% to 90%.

Energy consultants and energy management experts state that energy efficiency is the biggest step businesses can take towards reducing their CO2 consumption and carbon footprint. Investing in LED lighting should be considered as a long term investment that will bring significant long term savings for your business. There is even a scheme from the Carbon Trust that allows you to obtain an interest free loan to invest in commercial LED lighting, contact your energy consultancy firm and they will assist you in obtaining this interest free loan.

Did you know that lighting accounts for 40% of businesses electricity bill? With LED lights you can save between 60% to 90% of that cost and reduce your carbon footprint not to mention that LED lights last on average 50,000 hours, that’s right 50,000 hours, making LED lights’ lifespan 5 times longer than the best fluorescent bulbs and up to 30 times longer than halogen bulbs.

Low energy LED lighting can bring quantifiable savings to your business from day one. But before installing LED lights on your premises it is advisable to schedule a complete audit to highlight inefficient areas that will need more attention, again an energy consultancy firm can assist you with that.

LED Lighting Cost Saving Example 1

Lets consider the following situation. A business replacing 100 x 6 foot fluorescent tubes with their lights on 18 hours per day, 7 days per week, paying £0.10 per KWh will save:

£3,931 in electricity every year and another £630 in maintenance cost. Over 5 years this will generate a net saving of £16,274.

LED Lighting Cost Saving Example 2

If the replacement of all interior and exterior lighting of a given commercial building would cost £6,000 with a mixture of incandescent and fluorescent bulbs, with LED lights it could cost up to £12,000 but using LEDs the company could save nearly £7,000 a year in their energy bill and will not have to change a light bulb for 20 years and investment could be recouped in less than 2 years.

In London, a city wide scheme implemented last year is changing the capital’s top sight-seeing attraction lighting to reduce energy consumption as well as their carbon footprint. The London eye was one of the first attractions to change their lighting system to a brand new LED lighting system reducing power use by 69%

Some of riverside London’s most iconic landmarks have been lit up by energy efficient lighting in a festival of light. Tower of London, HMS Belfast and Southwark Cathedral are among buildings that have been bathed in low energy LED lighting.

Commercial Grade Lighting System

If you own a business, you will sooner or later need to update the way you light it. There are several reasons why you will need a new or updated commercial grade lighting system. One of the most important reasons is that older systems are much less energy efficient. You are wasting money every month in electric costs with older, inefficient lights. You also might note problems in some lights such as flickering or humming, or constantly needing to replace the bulbs. There are many applications for commercial grade lighting systems. You might need interior lamps, security lights, or exterior lights for a parking lot or open space. All of these require a different type of lamp and possibly different bulbs in those lights. General advice and tips can help you to narrow down your many options. Once you have fine-tuned your choices, you can ask an expert if you have specific questions about your project.

If you have a commercial grade lighting system that is ten years old or more, it will be time for more modern replacements. Today’s parking lot lights are able to light larger areas, have truer coloring, and lack flickering and humming seen in older models. The most common commercial grade lighting systems several years ago used incandescent and commercial fluorescent lights for indoor lighting. Incandescent are not very energy efficient, since much of the energy they require ends up generating heat. Fluorescents and their fixtures of decades gone by were one of the few options. While they were more efficient, they would often flicker and hum, and everything under them often had a yellowish hue. The flickering and humming have been solved by modern fixtures with newer magnetic and electronic ballasts to control the electricity going to the lights better. Today’s fluorescents also have a different mixture of gases in them, so their coloring now is truer.

Security lights for your commercial grade lighting system will likely be tied into a motion detector. This will save energy costs by only turning the lights on when they are needed. A bright security flood light with a motion detector is a good way to deter criminal activity in and around your business at night. You should choose long-lived halogens or cool fluorescents for motion activated flood lights. If your flood lights are going to be lit all night long, such as for a parking lot, then you also have the option of high intensity discharge (HID) bulbs such as high pressure sodium, mercury vapor, and metal halide bulbs. These can be wired to a timer or light sensor to turn on at dusk and off at dawn, but since they take a few seconds to warm up before lighting, they should not be used with motion detectors.

If you are still uncertain about any aspect of choosing or installing your commercial grade lighting system, you will need to consult with an expert. A professional electrician can be hired to do the job as a contract worker, or you could talk to the experts at the lighting products retailer. Many reputable light stores are staffed by current and former electricians. These people can help to guide you to choosing the right lights and hardware if you want to install your commercial grade lighting system on your own.