Energy-Efficiency: Importance, Technology and Ways to Improve Energy-Efficiency

Energy efficiency is the practice of using less energy for a task while getting the same—or better—result, whether that’s lighting a building, cooling a space, running equipment, or powering your home. 

For businesses and property owners, energy efficiency is about lowering operating costs, reducing strain on the grid, improving comfort and productivity, and shrinking your environmental impact. 

In this article, we’ll go back to basics: what energy efficiency really means, why it matters, the key benefits for your facility and community, and practical ways to improve it—at home and at work—while also highlighting how Relumination supports efficiency through smarter, customized lighting solutions.

What is the meaning of energy efficiency?

Energy efficiency has become one of the buzzwords associated with reducing the impact of commercial activity on the planet. From time to time, it’s helpful to return to basics to reflect on the substance behind the hype.

As a reminder, true energy efficiency is simply using less energy for a task to get the same result.

• If you can light a space with less electricity but the same light level, that’s energy efficiency.
• If your building stays just as comfortable while your HVAC runs less often, that’s energy efficiency.
• If your equipment or appliances do the same job while drawing fewer kilowatt-hours, that’s energy efficiency.

In other words, it’s not about “doing without”—it’s about doing the same work (or more) with less waste.

Every business and building is unique, and as such the solutions for making that building more energy-efficient are also unique. In some instances that might mean something as basic as replacing old lamps with high-efficiency options. In other instances it might mean re-designing whole systems so that fewer devices can be used to deliver the same performance to the same area.

Energy efficiency is best thought of as an investment rather than a one-time purchase. Like all investments, it may require some upfront cost, but it will pay off in the long term through reduced bills, less maintenance, and a more resilient operation.

Why is energy efficiency important?

Energy efficiency matters on three levels: your bottom line, your building, and the bigger picture.

1. Your bottom line: Businesses have to keep a firm eye on both their bottom line and their overhead in order to maximize their profits. For example, say a business could reduce its monthly electricity bill by one-third without losing any current operations. That’s an obvious win-win situation.When a facility finds ways to improve energy efficiency, that business saves energy and money through reduced utility costs. Since lighting costs alone can represent up to 30 percent of a facility’s electric expenses, and HVAC often accounts for another large share, efficiency upgrades can yield significant savings.
2. Your building’s performance and comfort: Energy-efficient buildings are usually more comfortable and functional. Better control of lighting, temperature, and air movement creates a safer, more productive environment for employees and a more pleasant experience for customers and guests.
3. National and global impact: While one facility’s switch to energy-efficient systems is of great benefit to that company, it’s a drop in the bucket for the nation. Yet, if most facilities in the country choose energy-efficient options, the country would experience a tremendous positive impact.

The United States Department of Energy reports that widespread use of efficient technologies (such as LEDs for lighting) would save the country billions of dollars in electricity costs and hundreds of terawatt-hours of electricity in the coming years. 

• $30 billion in electricity costs
• 348 TWh of electricity by 2027

That means fewer power plants needed, less fuel burned, and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

What are the benefits of energy efficiency?

Energy efficiency touches almost every part of your operation and lifestyle. The main benefits fall into a few key categories.

1. Reduced operating costs

Your business is booming, but your bank account is suffering. As you look around your busy restaurant or warehouse, you wonder why. Often, it’s the steady, invisible drain of inefficient systems—old lighting, aging HVAC, poorly sealed buildings, and equipment that runs harder than it needs to.

Energy efficiency directly reduces monthly utility bills:

• In commercial facilities, lighting is the largest use of electricity. Upgrading to efficient lighting and controls can cut lighting-related consumption dramatically. For example, Relumination’s lighting solutions decreased Southern Glazer’s lighting energy consumption by 91.5 percent.
  
• Many Relumination customers see a return on their lighting investment in less than three years.
• Relumination has helped our customers save more than 4 million dollars to date, simply by designing and implementing better lighting systems and controls.

The same principle applies to HVAC and equipment: when systems don’t have to work as hard, they cost you less every single month.

2. Better comfort, productivity, and customer experience

Energy efficiency isn’t just about how much you spend—it’s also about how your spaces feel.

• A well-designed restaurant, for example, will have bright, efficient lighting in the kitchen so staff can work safely and quickly, and warmer, lower-brightness lighting in the dining area so guests can relax.
  Offices that take advantage of natural light and use efficient interior lighting often report reduced eye strain and higher productivity.
• Comfortable temperature control—made possible by good insulation, sealed windows, and smart thermostats—helps employees and visitors feel at ease and stay longer.

Energy-efficient solutions can actually improve the atmosphere of your business while cutting costs.

3. Lower maintenance and longer equipment life

When systems are efficient, they usually run less and last longer:

• Efficient lighting and controls reduce the number of fixtures and the hours they run at full power, lowering replacement and labor costs.
• Programmable thermostats and sealed ductwork mean HVAC units cycle less frequently, reducing wear and tear.
• Well-insulated and sealed buildings protect interiors and mechanical systems from extreme temperature swings.

It’s important to remember that energy efficiency is an investment, and like all investments it will pay off in the long term. For example, systems that use far less power and last for additional years will allow you to spend a lot less money several years in the future, even if it feels like a burden to pay for upgrades today.

4. Environmental and community benefits

Efficient buildings demand less from the grid and from the planet:

• Lower energy use means fewer fossil fuels burned and fewer greenhouse gases emitted.
• Large-scale adoption of efficient technologies could save tens of billions of dollars nationally in electricity costs and avoid hundreds of terawatt-hours of consumption.
• Communities that invest in efficient infrastructure—like smart traffic lights, upgraded street lighting, and better building standards—enjoy cleaner air and reduced strain on public utilities.

When your facility becomes more energy efficient, you’re not just helping your own business—you’re contributing to a larger shift toward sustainability and resilience.

How Does LED Lighting Help with Modern Energy Efficiency?

For most buildings, the single biggest lighting upgrade you can make is straightforward: switch to LEDs.

Energy Savings and Lower Bills

LED lighting is up to 80% more efficient than traditional lighting. Depending on what you’re replacing:

• LED bulbs can use around 50% less energy than typical older lamps
• In many high-bay or industrial applications, they can cut lighting power by 70–80%

LED lights are cheaper to run because they use significantly less electricity than traditional bulbs, which in return will cut out a large chunk of the electricity bill.

Longer Lifespan and Reduced Waste

LED bulbs:

• Can last tens of thousands of hours, often 50,000 hours or more
• Last far longer than incandescent or even compact fluorescent lamps
• Require far fewer replacements, which reduces both material waste and labor costs

This durability is especially important in commercial spaces with high ceilings, outdoor poles, or difficult-to-access fixtures where a simple bulb change can turn into a costly service call.

Less Heat, More Comfort

LEDs give off a lot less heat, so you don’t have to run the air conditioning as much. In restaurants, offices, retail stores, and warehouses, this means:

• More comfortable employees and customers
• Reduced cooling loads and lower HVAC energy use

Because they don’t radiate intense heat, LEDs can also be used safely in tight spaces and sensitive areas.

Better Quality Light and Control

Early LEDs had a reputation for cold, blue light. Today’s LEDs are anything but limited—you can get them in a wide range of color temperatures and lumen outputs for every part of your building.

They are also:

• Easy to dim
• Available in many shapes and beam patterns
• Compatible with advanced controls like daylight harvesting, motion sensors, zoning, and smart building systems

All of which make LED lighting a powerful tool for both efficiency and design.

Designing Energy-Efficient Lighting for Real Spaces

Energy efficiency doesn’t mean sacrificing atmosphere. With the right design, you can have beautiful, comfortable lighting that also saves money.

Consider a busy restaurant as an example.

The Kitchen: Bright, Efficient, and Functional

This is the place you want those bright LED lights. Relumination can work with you to understand your employees’ needs and design the best lighting system for your kitchen.

Maybe:

• The prep station in the corner has always been a bit dim
• Your walk-in freezer could use a light or two
• You need better visibility over cook lines and plating areas

Relumination can add lighting wherever you need while cutting your energy bills and making sure fixtures are safe and durable for a hot, demanding back-of-house environment.

The Lobby: Welcoming, Not Blinding

When your customers walk in, you want to amaze them—but not blow them away with bright, harsh light.

Using LED bulbs with mid-level lumen output and strategic placement, your customers will be drawn in by an inviting, comfortable atmosphere that still feels clean and professional.

The Dining Area: Warm and Relaxing

For the dining room, the goal is usually to lower the lumens and warm up the color temperature to create a relaxing, intimate space. Instead of blue-toned brightness, you get:

• Soft, warm light that flatters people and food
• Enough illumination to read menus and see faces
• A consistent look across the room, without dark corners or overly bright spots

All with LEDs that are quietly saving energy in the background.

The Bar: Flexible and Fun

Are you paying more for colored incandescent bulbs to give your bar a little pizzazz? Then the switch to LED lighting will save you money.

• LED bulbs can last tens of thousands of hours longer than incandescent
• Many LEDs are color-adjustable

Having a special on Appletinis? Change the backlighting color of your bar to green to celebrate the special—without having to change the bulb.

With the right design, you stop worrying about which light bulb you’ll have to change next and start enjoying a space that works harder for you.

How to improve energy efficiency?

There’s no single “magic switch” for efficiency. Instead, it’s a combination of smart planning, better technology, and small everyday habits. Here’s how to approach it.

Start with an assessment and a plan

Before you can improve, it helps to know where you stand.

Businesses have to keep a firm eye on both their bottom line and their overhead in order to maximize their profits. That’s why it helps to bring in professionals who can look at your facility with fresh eyes.

The way the process works at Relumination is that our professionals will consult with clients, and examine the buildings in question. Once experts have examined the system that’s currently in place they can lay out options for the client, along with predictions on how much new systems or changeovers will cost initially, and how much they’ll save over time.

Relumination uses an effective 6-step approach to give each unique facility the best energy-efficient lighting solution. By determining your needs and creating a custom lighting plan, Relumination can increase your energy savings and provide you with a more efficient system. The same logic can be applied to HVAC, building envelope, and controls—start with data, then design around your real-world needs.

For homes, a similar principle applies: a simple walk-through, energy audit, or even careful self-inspection can help you spot the biggest opportunities.

Improve your building envelope and HVAC

A surprising amount of wasted energy is simply due to heat moving where it shouldn’t. The good news: many fixes are straightforward.

Here are some simple energy-efficiency tips that help keep your spaces cool in summer and warm in winter while lowering your bills:

1. Dial down (or up) the thermostat when you’re away: Do not cool or heat an empty home or office. A programmable thermostat can adjust the temperature so the space is comfortable when people are present, and more relaxed when it’s empty. When you are only in the building 12 to 14 hours of the day there is no need to condition it 24 hours.
2. Cover the windows: When the sun comes through your windows it heats your space and fades your furnishings. Install curtains, shades or blinds to block the heat in the summer while protecting your flooring, paintings, and other furnishings. In winter, insulated window treatments help keep warmth in.
3. Seal the heat out (or in): Hot air leaks through the cracks and crevices around windows and doors in summer; in winter, warm air escapes the same way. Add insulation around window and door frames where gaps allow heat entry or escape. Remove trim, push strips of insulation around the frame, and replace.
4. Close the gaps around pipes and ducts: Your heating and cooling pipes with gaps require added insulation to keep cool air from escaping in summer and hot air from leaking in winter. Inspect all your furnace and air conditioner pipes and connectors. When a connector is loose, tighten it and insulate around it.
5. Use fans to increase comfort: Ceiling and stand-up fans are less expensive to run than air conditioning. Set ceiling fans to circulate air in an efficient way. Placing floor fans around your home or office increases airflow, increasing the cooling effect so you can set the thermostat a bit higher.
6. Adjust water heating habits: Reduce your water heater temperature or reduce the water temperature of showers and laundry loads. Your clothing lasts longer with cooler water temperatures. A cooler, shorter shower makes you more comfortable in warmer temps and saves energy year-round.

These measures don’t require major construction, but they can make a noticeable difference in comfort and energy use.

Make your lighting more efficient and better controlled

Although you’ll have a separate article focused specifically on lighting efficiency, it’s impossible to talk about energy efficiency in general without mentioning that lighting is the largest use of electricity in many commercial facilities.

Here are the key principles:

• Upgrade to efficient lighting technology
  As a business owner, you want to do everything you can to save money while ensuring your employees and customers have what they need. One of the ways that you can do this is by switching to energy-efficient lighting. Modern LED options can be up to 80% more efficient than traditional lighting and last much longer, which is also better for the environment.
  They also give off a lot less heat, so this means you don’t have to run the air conditioning as much.
• Choose the right light for each task and area
  Match your lights to your tasks. You don’t need the same lighting in every room:
  • A restaurant kitchen needs bright, clear light for safety and speed.
    The lobby should feel welcoming, not harsh, using mid-level brightness and warm tones.
  • The dining area can use lower brightness and warmer color for a relaxing atmosphere.
  • The bar can use accent lighting and color to create “pizzazz” without wasting energy.
• Simply find the right type of lighting for the area and you’ll save money while improving the experience.
• Take advantage of natural light
• If your business has large windows or skylights, take advantage of sunny days and you will see that your electricity bills are going down. When you are using the sunshine rather than lights, you are using a lot less energy. Strategic layout changes—like moving workstations closer to windows—can increase this benefit.

Relumination specializes in designing systems that are not only efficient, but also beautiful and functional, so you don’t have to choose between performance and ambiance.

Use sensors, controls, and zoning

Controls are where a lot of easy savings live.

• Sensors and automation
  Lighting sensors and controls will help you save money by turning the lights off automatically when you are not using them. Using sensors in infrequently used spaces such as restrooms or storage spaces can save money by only running the lights when needed.
  Advanced controls can also offer daylight harvesting, zone control, task tuning, dimming, temperature/humidity monitoring, and energy monitoring. That means your systems run at just the level they need to, no more.
• Zoning your systems
  Most commercial buildings have the lights arranged in the original layout that they were when the building was built. Updating the layout of the lighting can help reduce costs. By rezoning your lighting layout, you can take advantage of different types of lighting—low hanging fixtures, dimmable zones, and separate control areas—to reduce costs and provide each area with the ideal lighting.
  The same idea applies to HVAC zoning, allowing different parts of a building to be conditioned based on use and occupancy instead of treating the whole building the same way.
• Powering down phantom loads
  Use power strips to turn off appliances and electronics when not in use. Phantom energy—devices that draw power even when “off”—increases your bill. Centralizing and switching them off is a simple win.

These tools let you fine-tune where, when, and how energy is used, instead of relying on all-or-nothing switches.

Everyday operational and behavioral changes

Technology alone isn’t the whole story. Small changes in behavior add up.

For homes and businesses alike, consider:

• Spending more time outdoors or in naturally lit areas instead of relying on artificial lighting during the day.
• Scheduling heat-producing activities (like baking or large equipment runs) for cooler times of day during the summer. Using your grill or microwave keeps the heat outside and reduces the cooling load inside.
• Keeping people hydrated and dressed appropriately for the season so you don’t have to over-condition spaces.
  Training staff to use controls properly, close doors and windows when HVAC is running, and report comfort issues that may signal inefficiencies.

None of these cost much, but together they reinforce the gains from your equipment and system upgrades.

Partner with specialists like Relumination

Because every building and business is unique, there’s real value in working with experts who focus on efficiency in complex systems.

Relumination provides energy-efficient LED lighting solutions and services for commercial and industrial facilities, including warehouses, distribution centers, transportation facilities, restaurants, and more. Our role is to:

• Analyze your current systems and usage
• Identify the highest-impact opportunities for savings
• Design a custom, efficient lighting and controls plan that fits how you actually use your spaces
• Implement the upgrades with minimal disruption
• Help you understand expected savings and payback so you can treat efficiency as the investment it truly is

With the current economic climate and unpredictable future, saving money is more important than ever. Relumination has helped customers save millions of dollars and dramatically trim energy use—while also improving lighting quality, comfort, and safety.

If you’re ready to trim a bit of your electricity and add to your savings, contact Relumination today to get in touch with one of our professionals.

Conclusion

Conclusion

Energy efficiency is not just a buzzword—it’s a practical, measurable way to improve your business:

• It means using less energy to get the same result, starting with lighting.
• It can cut lighting energy use by 50–80% or more in many facilities.
• It reduces maintenance, improves comfort, and supports safety and productivity.
• It pays for itself—often in just a few years—and continues to pay dividends for the life of the system.
• Scaled across many buildings, it saves billions of dollars and massive amounts of electricity nationwide.

From simple bulb swaps to full LED conversions with advanced controls and zoning, there’s a path for every building and budget.

The key is to see energy efficiency as an ongoing process, not a one-time project. When you do, every upgrade, every control, and every better habit becomes part of a larger picture: a building that costs less to run, feels better to be in, and does less harm to the planet.

Relumination is here to help you take that next step—especially when it comes to lighting, one of the biggest levers you can pull on the road to true energy efficiency.