Investing in proper LED lighting is one of the most important decision for any business owner. This lighting solution reduces the business’s energy costs, enhances productivity and provides a cleaner and greener environment. LED lighting is far more durable, efficient, longer lasting and versatile when designed well. The cost of making the change over is reimbursed through the energy savings it offers.
1. Cost Savings
When comparing office LED lighting to traditional incandescent solutions, there is no comparison. When it comes to the incandescent bulbs, replacing the bulbs, the time to replace them and the labor expense is where the true cost lies. These are major factors, particularly in the office setting where there are a large number of bulbs installed. When you consider office buildings and skyscrapers, the costs for replacing the bulbs and maintenance are enormous. LED lighting virtually eliminates these issues.
The Clinton Climate Initiative, back in February 2009, replaced over 140,000 Los Angeles street lights with energy-saving LED lighting. Today, the city of Los Angeles is now saving over $5 million annually because of this investment, and it is expected to increase to a $7.5 million annual savings once there is an upgrade to the LED fixtures.
The following two case studies will show different applications of LED lighting in office buildings and how the change affected each organization. In Belgium, the third largest insurance company in the country, GENERALI Group, recently installed 350 Philips MASTER LED 7-watt GU10 lamps in corridors, lift areas, and hallways in the offices.
They were impressed that the LED lamps burned 45,000 hours, while their previous halogen lamps only lasted 3,000 – 5,000 hours. Didier Gason, real estate manager, even said the lighting “makes employees and visitors feel like they are at home.” According to the case study, if the lamps burn 18 hours per day, the GENERALI Group will see a return on investment in one year.
Another case study was conducted in Oakland, California, on the 9th floor at the University of California Office of the President. They were looking to replace task-ambient halogen lamps with LEDs. According to the case study, if office buildings replaced their task-ambient lighting statewide, there is a potential energy savings of 2,000 – 3,000 GWh per year.
What’s even more exciting is that there is also a potential energy savings of 15 – 25 cents per square foot of building space, which translates to $300 – $400 million of annual savings for California. Now that’s a lot of money that can be spent elsewhere! The university replaced its 32-watt linear fluorescent lamps with LED task lighting equipped with occupancy sensors. They also replaced overhead troffers with LED task lights. They are expecting to save 44% annually on energy bills with a 3.8-year simple payback.
With savings seen in the University of California President’s Office and GENERALI, companies can’t afford to continue to use old lamps. We offer our customers the most efficient and best valued products to lower energy costs and nearly eliminate maintenance expenses, all while reducing their carbon footprint.
2. Power Consumption
Reduced power consumption is one major strength of LEDs. A LED circuit, when designed correctly, will reach around 80% efficiency, meaning that 80% of this energy converts to light energy. The other 20% is a loss in heat energy. With the incandescent bulbs, it is the opposite; you get 80% lost to heat energy and only 20% efficiency.
The US Green Building Council provides verification that a building attains the threshold in energy savings, water efficiency, environmental quality, and other metrics that aim at improving performance. This means that by upgrading your lighting systems, you stand to gain international recognition, which can work to market your business or services.
3. Non-toxic and Greener than Other Sources
Aside from the remarkable efficiency, energy savings and lifespan, office LED lighting is also a greener solution for today’s market. First, LEDs do not contain Mercury like the CFLs which is highly toxic and very harmful to our health and environment.
Second, LEDs are 100% recyclable and made with toxic free materials. They also help reduce up to a third of your carbon footprint. When it comes to environmental change and global warming, LED lighting releases significantly less CO2, nuclear waste and sulfur oxide. When compared with 30 incandescent bulbs which releases around 2500 kg’s of these emissions annually, the LEDs only release around 200 kg’s a year.
4. Reduce Office Worker Eyestrain
Eyestrain is a common problem faced by many office people who work in front of a computer monitor for hours at a time. It causes tired eyes, headaches, blurred and sometimes double vision. Although some of the symptoms seem serious such as double vision, the effect is temporary and only requires rest to eliminate the problem. However, long hours in front of a computer are unavoidable for many workers and therefore, constantly taking long rests is not an option.
Fortunately, computer monitor eyestrain is greatly reduced by adjusting the surrounding workspace lighting. There should be no bright lighting in front of the monitor screen because this will cause glare-like reflections off the screen that cause eye fatigue and strain. In addition there shouldn’t be bright sources of light behind the monitor that shine directly into the worker’s eyes. These also produce glare.
Once these glare sources are taken out, there remains another source of glare: the monitor screen itself. The reason for this is that the screen is a bright source of light set against a darker backdrop. The problem is the contrast between the brightness of the screen and the background.
This is easily solved by using bias lighting against a wall behind the monitor. That is, you want to backlight this wall enough so that its brightness matches that of the monitor. A simple strip of LED lights placed on the backside of the monitor that illuminates the wall does the trick. These lights don’t shine directly into the worker’s eyes because they’re behind the monitor and are aimed in the opposite direction toward the wall.
LED brightness is easily adjustable so that the backlit wall brightness is readily made to exactly match the monitor screen’s brightness. Why does this work? Because the eye’s pupil adjusts to the average brightness of whatever is in front of it. When the background behind the monitor is dark, the pupil is enlarged and allows more light into the eyes. This makes the monitor a harsh source of light.
When the background is as bright as the monitor, the pupil contracts and allows less light into the eyes. This effect is similar to stepping outside in the sunlight and allowing the pupils to adjust. Everything has the same illumination level, so there is no glare source. Glare is essentially big contrasts in brightness.
For more information on LED lighting and other energy saving solutions, please contact us.
