LED Lighting, like ENLIGHTEN’S other Energy and Water Saving Solutions, can save your business money by reducing its utility costs. LED is the most efficient source of lighting that exists today, using less energy to illuminate a space than any other technology. Although not necessarily the cheapest light type to purchase, the cost of LEDs have recently come down dramatically making them the lowest life-cycle-cost option available.

LED provides a phenomenal return on its cost to convert from a traditional lighting. The savings can pay for the cost in as little as a year which translates to a 100% annual rate of return on your investment. Even at the higher end of the spectrum, most conversion scenarios will be less than 5 years or a 25% return.  Compare that to investing in a mutual fund, bond, or CD which all usually provide returns of less than 10%, and LED looks like a terrific investment!

Two main factors affect how much electricity converting to LED lighting will save and thus how quickly the savings will pay for the cost of installation.

Current Lighting System Efficiency: The more inefficient the current lighting system the more electricity an LED system put in its place will save.  Incandescent lights are some of the most inefficient and so provide the most savings as a result of a conversion to LED. More savings means a quicker payback and higher return on the investment. Other technologies such as fluorescent and high intensity discharge (HID) are more efficient than incandescent but still not nearly as efficient as LED.

Hours of Operation: Buildings that operate their lights for longer periods of time will save more energy and pay off their LED investment quicker. For example, buildings than run 24 hours per day use more lighting energy than those that run 9 hours per day and thus stand to gain more savings from reducing their lighting power.

LED lighting provides benefits beyond just saving money.

Lighting Quality: Converting your lighting system to LED provides a good opportunity to improve the lighting quality on your property. Lighting quality can impact security, worker productivity, and marketing appeal. Spaces that were previously too dark may be able to be lit better, and spaces that were previously too bright may be able to be dimmed (thus saving even more energy!).

Maintenance: LEDs have the longest warrantied periods of any lighting technology decreasing replacement costs and maintenance time.

Sustainability: Reducing your energy use shows your environmental commitment to investors, customers, and employees. In addition to energy reduction, the components used in LED lights are more environmentally friendly than those used in traditional ones.

There are a lot of elements important to an LED conversion. The first is probably an expertise in lighting design. Understanding factors like luminous efficacy, foot candles, color temperature, and photometrics all play an important role in generating a quality result. Being aware of which manufacturers make not just low-cost products but quality products with meaningful warranties is also vital. Also knowing when it’s it best to convert just the bulb, the ballast, or the entire fixture is key to helping maximize the value of your investment and achieve your project goals. These are just a few of the important elements to a achieving the full benefits of an LED lighting conversion. ENLIGHTEN is expert in all of these aspects and more so CONTACT US today to start your LED conversion!