Hospitals: a building that absolutely needs to be illuminated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is no better and cost effective choice for lighting than LEDs. Hospitals see the usual benefits from solid state lighting, including a decrease in electricity and maintenance costs, plus more! In MRI rooms, LED lights are optimal because they aren’t affected by the magnetic fields of the machines and have long lifetimes so that hospitals do not have to worry about the room being occupied constantly by maintenance workers. Many LED lamps are dimmable, which is perfect for CAT scan and ultrasound rooms. Many hospitals have just opted for duller LEDs. Hallway lamps are on 24-7, making them perfect candidates for solid state lighting. For night lighting in patient rooms, a 2-watt LED lamp can produce the same light as a 15-watt incandescent! LED lighting is also ideal for operating rooms because the high quality, white light helps surgeons see their patients better. Furthermore, LED lamps do not contain mercury. With all these places to save, it’s hard to find a reason not to switch to LEDs!
Luis Hospital in the city of St. Croix in the Virgin Islands recently installed 285 LED lights in their building. The hospital currently owes more than $3 million to the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority and is hoping the new lighting will help them pay their debt quicker. Though the initial costs of the new LED lighting were high, said Radclyffe Percy, supervisor of engineering for the V.I. Energy Office, the hospital will see a return on investment in a little over a year. Luis Hospital is anticipating saving $14,000 annually with the LEDs it has installed now, and plans to retrofit the entire hospital once it has the money to do so.
