Top Benefits of LED Lighting

LED lighting is one of the newer forms of illumination to hit the mainstream. Most people know that these bulbs need less power to operate, but this is really just the start of how they save energy. They actually conserve power and help both the environment and your company’s wallet at many points after leaving the factory. Here are a couple of the top ones:

They Last Longer Than Most Alternatives

This has the obvious benefit of saving you from having to have them replaced as often, but it also has ecological benefits. Less-frequent replacement means that fewer new bulbs have to be made, so fewer resources are used over time. There is also less air pollution produced because fewer bulbs need to be trucked from manufacturing plants to sellers, fewer raw materials have to be obtained and sent to plants, and more.

They Can be Safer

Many LED bulbs are made with plastic diffusers to get the “soft white” appearance and hide the individual LED lights that make them up. Plastic covers don’t shatter if dropped, so liability brought on by missed broken glass shards is a thing of the past. These bulbs also don’t overheat and blow up like some incandescent ones used to.

LED lights are also safer because they don’t generate a lot of heat. It was easily possible to get burned by touching a running incandescent bulb, but you can put your hand on most LED bulbs with only a minimum of discomfort. This doesn’t just minimize the chance of personal injury at displays with low lights. It also reduces the risk of fire. The reduction in fire risk is important in commercial settings where the bulbs may be positioned in places where they can’t easily be reached.

These are just some of the reasons you should give your business an LED lighting upgrade. To learn more, just contact us.

Tips for Exterior Lighting and How to Keep Safe During the Winter

As the days get shorter and the nights longer, having exterior lighting is more important than ever. Whether you own an office building or an apartment building, you need to make sure that the office workers or apartment tenants stay safe. People will be leaving work when it’s dark, and ice and snow can create dangerous situations.

Exterior lights should be placed along all walkways around your building, by steps, and near the entrance. Having lights near the entrance will make the building look more welcoming. You also want lights in the parking lot so that people can enter and leave their cars safely, and so that they can see where they are going (around one in five collisions occur in parking lots).

Lights should also be installed all around your building, especially near any entrance points. This will keep your building safe at night from intruders.

When installing exterior lighting, you need to consider a number of things. First of all, the outside surroundings usually don’t reflect light as much as indoor furniture. This can cause the light to shine heavily on one area without lighting up other areas. You want the light to cast a glow over a large swath of land. You also don’t want the lights to be too bright and end up shining through the building’s windows.

Of course, all exterior lights must be able to withstand the outdoor weather conditions such as rain, snow, heat, and frost.

Smart Interior Lighting

With the exception of kitchens, interior lighting is too often an afterthought in our homes. Besides ambient lighting, such as recessed overhead fixtures, we also need low-level accent lighting to create a mood, navigate through areas we’re not using to get to a room we are using, and so forth. And of course, we need plenty of task lighting for food prep, grooming, reading in bed, indulging in hobbies, and working in our home offices. Besides being functional, we also want our lighting to add to the beauty of our homes through our choice of lamps, fixtures and placement. To that end, let’s explore some of the smart, functional and beautiful ways we can use interior lighting throughout our homes …

Ambient Lighting

This is the type of light you’re most likely to flip a switch for as you enter a room. It usually comes from overhead and can include chandeliers, pendants, sconces and architectural lighting such as cove, soffit or recessed lights.

Task Lighting

Task lighting is designed to illuminate a specific function. It’s important to choose task lighting based on what you do that requires a focused light, because everybody’s task lighting needs are different. Do you need more light for reading in bed? For doing paperwork in your home office? For food preparation? Make a list of the places you’re likely to need good task lighting before you buy.

Accent Lighting

Accent lighting is used to highlight a particular area, a piece of art or a special feature in a room, or to set a mood or provide atmosphere indoors and out. It’s a powerful and creative design-enhancing tool too often overlooked.

Go LED with Homeowners Association Lighting to Eliminate Unnecessary Spending

Maintaining the premises is an essential part of managing a homeowners association. It is ideal to keep the residents satisfied, especially because they are paying the association. When it comes to maintenance and repairs, you want to avoid unnecessary expenses, such as replacing light bulbs on a regular basis.

Investing in LED for homeowners’ association lighting will help you accomplish this goal.

People Need the Lights, So Make Them Energy-Efficient

Illuminating an entire community requires a substantial amount of lights, so you should make the right investment the first time around to maximize the value. Whether it is time to replace the lights or you want to upgrade them, LED lights will give you energy-efficient lighting for the homeowners to enjoy.

Less Maintenance to Disturb Homeowners

When you invest in other lighting types, you have to perform additional maintenance compared to LED lights. Other light bulbs do not last as long as LED lighting solutions and will raise overall costs. While installing new lights might only be a minor disturbance, you are better off when you do not have to disturb the your residents.

Reduced Costs in the Long Run

An important quality to consider with LED lights is the fact that they cost less in the long run. While the initial costs generally come out to around the same price, you will end up using significantly less energy which leads to a reduction in electricity costs.

LED lighting is an excellent choice for all of your homeowners association lighting needs, which makes it quick and easy to get a complete installation of new lighting at once.

An Introduction to the World of Designer Lighting

There’s a great variety of designer lighting available today. They range from contemporary to more traditional and from those that attach to your wall to those that hang from your ceiling. You’ll even find ones made of recycled materials. Some of the most popular types of designer lighting include:

  • Pendant lighting has a long, thin stem hanging from your ceiling with the lighting unit attached to it. They work well in dining rooms and foyers.
  • Recessed lighting gives off more light than pendant fixtures, but they’re not as decorative.
  • Rectangular sconce lighting produces diffused brightness, creating images on your wall that changes the atmosphere completely.
  • Chandeliers ranging from Baccarat inspired to Murano are typically safely and securely shipped to your home because they’re very difficult to take home yourself.

What makes these designer lighting options so great is the new technology that manufacturers are using to change the room’s ambiance and appearance. This technology makes designer lighting really user-friendly because you no longer have to get up to turn the lights off since it’s all connected to a single control similar to your TV remote. With this system, you’re also able to program when your lights turn on and off. Just imagine how big of an improvement this lighting is in your home, especially if you’re working to update the overall look and feel of your home. Take some time to consider what you really want to achieve.