How Much Can You Save by Switching to Commercial LED Lighting?

Energy Savings with Commercial LED Lighting

If you’re a business owner, building manager, or facilities engineer you’re always on the lookout for an opportunity to save money. Switching to commercial LED lighting can be a great solution.

While LED light bulbs cost around $8 compared to traditional incandescent light bulbs that cost only $1, the long-term savings are significant. By switching to LED, commercial building owners can cut their costs by more than 75% over a 25 year period!

If a full lighting retrofit isn’t in your budget, here are some alternatives that can help you reduce your bottom line:

Free: Always turn lights off when rooms are unoccupied and utilize natural light when possible.
Moderate Cost: Install motion sensors to reduce unnecessary energy expenditures.
Investment: Implement an energy management system (EMS) that will track your usage and help to identify potential cost savings and optimize your energy use. This is especially effective for production facilities, distribution centers, and factories.

Implementing a robust energy-savings initiative may seem overwhelming at first, but our dedicated electrical service manager, Luis Alvarez, and skilled commercial electricians can help! While we’d love to offer a one-size-fits-all solution, it is best to build a custom commercial LED lighting plan that meets your specific needs and budget. Reach out to our service department to schedule your consultation today.

Lighting Options

One of the biggest expenses to small businesses today is lighting [1], accounting for more than 40% of energy consumption in commercial buildings [2].

Energy-Saving Incandescent

Incandescent lighting is the original form of electric lighting. This type of lighting typically consists of a glass enclosure containing a tungsten filament. An electric current passes through the filament, heating it to a temperature that produces light [3]. More recently, a new generation of halogen bulbs has replaced the traditional incandescent, allowing for more energy efficiency and a longer life span.

If you’ve ever burned yourself while unscrewing a light bulb, you were likely dealing with an incandescent bulb.

CFL

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) were originally designed to replace the incandescent light bulb. This type of lighting uses electricity emitted from cathodes to excite mercury vapor contained within the glass envelope, using a process known as inelastic scattering. The mercury atoms produce ultraviolet (UV) light, which, in turn, causes the phosphors in the lamp to fluoresce or glow, producing visible light [4].

This type of lighting uses between 50-80% less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and can last up to 10 times as long [5].

LED

LED stands for “light-emitting diode.” A diode is an electrical component with two terminals that conduct the electricity only in one direction. With an electrical current, the diode emits a bright light around the small bulb. Typically, diodes have been used in many technologies such as radios, televisions, and computers as an electrical component for conduction [6].