Retrofit Lighting: How LED Upgrades Transform Energy Use and Sustainability in Commercial & Industrial Settings.

Retrofit lighting is the process of upgrading existing light fixtures, lamps, and controls to newer, more efficient technologies—most often LEDs—without rebuilding your entire facility from scratch. Done well, a commercial lighting retrofit can dramatically cut energy use and power bills, improve safety and productivity, reduce maintenance headaches, and help you meet modern sustainability and ESG goals.

In this article, we’ll walk through:

• How to tell when your building is ready for a retrofit
• Why LED retrofits are such a powerful long-term investment
• The full range of business, safety, and environmental benefits
• Planning, design, and funding strategies (including incentives)
• Common pitfalls like “lamps-only” tube swaps—and better options
• Real-world case studies and how Relumination supports you end-to-end

If you manage a commercial or industrial facility, this is your roadmap to a smarter, safer, and far more efficient lighting system.

What Is a Lighting Retrofit?

A lighting retrofit involves more than just swapping a burned-out bulb. It’s a planned project in which you renovate or replace existing lighting fixtures and systems to improve performance, efficiency, and safety.

In practice, a retrofit can include:

• Replacing legacy fluorescent, metal halide, high-pressure sodium, or incandescent fixtures with new LED fixtures
  Adding intelligent controls such as occupancy sensors, daylight harvesting, and task tuning
• Repositioning fixtures and redesigning layout to match how your facility actually operates today
• Integrating new technologies that reuse existing infrastructure (for example, dimming and control over existing power lines)

As one of our articles puts it, retrofitting “involves renovating the fixtures in specific premises to improve performance.” When it’s conducted well, you notice better lighting output, reduced long-term energy costs, lower light pollution, and greater eco-friendliness.

Retrofits are particularly powerful because you’re not starting over—you’re upgrading what you already have for the next 10–20+ years.

5 Signs Your Commercial Property Needs a Lighting Retrofit

Every commercial building has its quirks: the spooky bathroom, the dim hallway, the flickering light over that one workstation. These aren’t just annoyances—they’re structural clues that your lighting system is aging and costing you more than it should.

Here are five signs your property is due for a retrofit:

1. Flickering lights that don’t stop with bulb changes

If your lights flicker even after replacing the bulb, it’s often a sign that circuits, ballasts, or wiring are getting old. When the electrical connection is inconsistent or the circuit can’t support the current, you get flicker—and potential safety issues. At that point, a retrofit isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a safety concern.

2. Expensive or hard-to-find bulbs

If the bulbs your fixtures require are:

• Costly
• Hard to source
• Or being phased out altogether

…you’re throwing money at old technology. If replacing bulbs for the next 1–5 years will cost more than upgrading the fixtures, the choice is obvious. Why keep buying expensive, obsolete lamps when you could upgrade to long-lasting, energy-efficient LEDs?

3. Frequent bulb replacements

If you’re replacing bulbs more often than once a year, that’s too much. Old fixtures with unreliable electricity burn out lamps faster and sometimes even cause lamps to crack or explode. Those frequent replacements cost money, time, and disruption.

Modern LED fixtures are designed to last tens of thousands of hours. High-quality commercial LED systems can be rated for 50,000 hours and beyond, and some fixtures are rated for up to 250,000 hours, or over 20 years of continuous 24-hour use.

4. High power bills with poor lighting

An old, inefficient lighting system can:

• Draw more electricity than the light output justifies
• Produce dim or uneven illumination that causes eye strain and safety hazards

In many facilities, lighting can account for a significant portion of total electricity costs. Retrofitting to LED often leads to 70–90% reductions in lighting-related energy usage, and sometimes more when combined with controls.

5. Rusting, damaged, or corroded fixtures

If you see rust, corrosion, broken lenses, or missing screws, malfunction and potential danger aren’t far behind. Retrofitting at this point becomes preventative maintenance and good building management—before a fixture fails, falls, or drops components from the ceiling.

If any (or several) of these signs sound familiar, it’s time to start planning a commercial lighting retrofit.

Why Retrofit Now? Cost, Safety, and Stakeholder Benefits

Many objections to retrofits sound like: “It’s too expensive,” “We just upgraded 12 years ago,” or “There isn’t a business need.”

The reality is the opposite. A well-designed lighting retrofit is one of the simplest, fastest, and most measurable improvement projects you can undertake.

Powerful cost savings and fast ROI

Today’s highly energy-efficient lighting solutions decrease both energy and maintenance costs. Many organizations realize a return on investment in less than three years—and often sooner.

Real-world examples from retrofit projects:

• An Oregon grocery distribution center saved $189,811 in annual energy costs and $47,000 in annual maintenance costs after its lighting retrofit.
• A cost-benefit analysis at Southwestern Oklahoma State University found that switching from fluorescent lighting to LED would save over $930,000 cumulatively over 10 years.
• Relumination’s customer Maax Spas in Chandler, AZ upgraded lighting across a 120,000 sq ft facility and is projected to save nearly 550,000 kWh of electricity annually—almost 90% savings on lighting-related electricity use, with an estimated payback of less than two years thanks in part to a utility rebate from Salt River Project (SRP).

Payback periods differ depending on what you’re retrofitting:

• Incandescent → LED fixtures: often < 1 year payback
• Fluorescent tube fixtures → LED tubes: around 2 years
• Older fluorescent fixtures → new LED fixtures: around 3 years

Rebates, grants, and other incentives can shorten these paybacks even further.

Lower maintenance and hassle

Older lighting systems demand constant attention:

• Frequent lamp changes
• Hard-to-reach fixtures requiring lifts
• Obsolete bulb types that are difficult to source

Longer-lasting LED fixtures practically eliminate this hassle:

• LEDs last 35–50 times longer than traditional bulbs in many cases
• No more rushing to replace a critical lamp in a hard-to-reach spot
• No more changing out working bulbs just to avoid bringing in equipment again next week
• No more hunting down obsolete lamps from specialty suppliers

That translates into lower material costs, lower labor costs, and fewer disruptions in operations.

Safety, visibility, and productivity

Retrofits aren’t just about saving money—they’re about protecting people and improving performance.

Better lighting:

• Reduces trip and fall hazards by clearly illuminating steps, cords, spills, and protruding objects
• Makes it easier to see shelving, equipment, and stock—especially in areas where new racks or machinery may be blocking light from old fixture locations
• Enhances security by eliminating dark corners and deterring criminals who might otherwise take advantage of poor lighting

LED fixtures provide a clean, crisp, and more natural-looking light, especially compared to older yellowish or greenish fluorescent and sodium lamps. This:

• Reduces eyestrain and headaches associated with flicker and poor color
• Helps employees stay alert and accurate
• Makes customers feel more comfortable and confident in your space

A dim workspace becomes miserable to work in, and nobody wants to patronize an establishment that feels like it’s trying to hide something in the shadows.

Environmental and ESG benefits (including Scope 2 emissions)

Lighting retrofits are also a straightforward way to lower your carbon footprint and improve ESG scores, especially around Scope 2 emissions.

Quick definitions:

• Scope 1 emissions: Direct emissions from sources your company owns or controls (e.g., company vehicles, onsite fuel burning)
• Scope 2 emissions: Indirect emissions from purchased energy (electricity, steam, heating, cooling)
• Scope 3 emissions: All other indirect emissions in your value chain (commutes, product transport, purchased materials, etc.)

Since lighting is a major driver of purchased electricity, reducing lighting loads with efficient LEDs and smart controls directly reduces Scope 2 emissions.

For manufacturers and distributors, this has an added bonus:
Your customers are increasingly scrutinizing the sustainability of their supply chains. When you can show data on reduced energy use and lower emissions from your facility, you become a more attractive partner—sometimes the deciding factor in winning a contract.

Planning a Successful Lighting Retrofit

A retrofit that will serve you for 10–20+ years deserves careful planning. Here’s how to approach it.

Evaluate your facility’s specific needs

Start by assessing how your spaces are actually used today:

• Are some areas too dark, causing safety issues or errors?
• Are others uncomfortably bright, creating glare on screens or work surfaces?
• Have you rearranged equipment, shelving, or cubicles since the original lighting was installed, blocking fixtures and creating shadows?
• Do certain tasks (inspection, picking, assembly, patient care, office work) need higher or lower light levels than they currently have?

Optimal lighting provides sufficient and comfortable illumination for the current and future use of each space. During your retrofit planning, walk the building and note specific problem areas.

Audit energy waste and fixture types

Next, evaluate energy usage and identify sources of waste:

• Outdated fluorescent, metal halide, high-pressure sodium, or incandescent fixtures
• Lights left on in unoccupied spaces (restrooms, storage rooms, corridors)
• Exterior lighting on fixed schedules instead of photocell or astronomical time clocks

A lighting audit will help you:

• Understand exactly how much energy your current system uses
• Identify which fixtures consume the most power
• Target the highest-impact upgrades first

Avoid older fixtures that “consume a significant amount of power and generate excessive heat.” You can reduce your total costs significantly by installing energy-saving LED options paired with controls.

Build a budget and leverage incentives

Lighting retrofits can be substantial projects, but they don’t have to be a financial burden.

When preparing your budget:

• Determine if you’re eligible for rebates, grants, or tax incentives
• Explore programs from the U.S. Department of Energy, local utilities, and state or municipal clean-energy funds
• Look at federal tax incentives such as Section 179D (where applicable) for energy-efficient commercial buildings

There are powerful examples of government and program support:

• Potawatomi Bingo Casino (Wisconsin) replaced 1,700 parking garage fixtures with LED fixtures in a $918,000 project, offset by a $500,000 DOE grant and financing. They expect to save $120,000 annually on maintenance and $101,000 on energy—a combined $221,000 in yearly savings.
• In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an $816,105 grant is funding the replacement of 40,000 high-pressure sodium fixtures with LEDs. The project is expected to save $110,000 on electricity and maintenance initially and over $2.5 million each year for taxpayers long-term.
• The city of Wilbur, Nebraska is replacing 150 HPS fixtures with LEDs using a $122,145 DOE Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, plus $30,536 in local matching funds.
• Cary, North Carolina is replacing 34 HPS fixtures with LEDs to save $5,000 annually on energy, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

These kinds of incentives are designed to encourage businesses and municipalities to adopt better lighting and reduce energy waste. Relumination’s team specializes in identifying and securing these opportunities as part of your project.

Choose the right retrofit partner

Retrofitting your entire commercial lighting setup requires specialized skills and experience. Swapping bulbs alone is not enough—you need:

• A thorough site visit and lighting/energy audit
• Photometric analysis to ensure proper light levels and uniformity
• A proposed layout and product selection tuned to your facility’s needs
• Expertise in controls, code compliance, and safety ratings
• Assistance in navigating rebate and funding paperwork

An ideal partner will provide comprehensive assistance from initial concept to final commissioning and measurement of savings.

Relumination does exactly that—offering free lighting consultations to determine the viability of a lighting upgrade, designing custom solutions, and working with utilities and funding agencies to maximize your incentives.

Why LED Technology Is the Foundation of Modern Retrofits

While a retrofit is about more than just swapping technology, LED lighting is at the heart of nearly every successful modern project.

Massive energy savings

LED lighting is much more efficient than fluorescent, metal halide, or incandescent lighting:

• LED fixtures can use 70–90% less energy than conventional bulbs
• In many applications, LED parking garage fixtures are up to 75% more efficient than the previous standard
• For some customers, replacing old technology with LED has delivered upwards of a 90% reduction in energy consumption

These savings often pay for the retrofit on their own, even before considering maintenance reductions and incentives.

Long life and reliability

LEDs are known for their impressive lifespans:

• Many LED fixtures are rated for 50,000 hours or more
• Some high-quality commercial fixtures are rated for 250,000 hours (20+ years of 24/7 operation)
• LEDs are solid-state devices, far more durable than fragile glass bulbs and filaments

This dramatically reduces the frequency of replacements and the labor required, especially in high-bay or hard-to-access areas.

Reduced heat and lower HVAC costs

Older lighting technologies waste a large portion of their energy as heat. LED fixtures:

• Convert a much higher percentage of energy directly into light
• Produce far less heat
• Reduce the load on your HVAC system, particularly in warm climates or heavily lit facilities

Several analyses show that in warmer months and climates, LED’s lower heat output can significantly reduce cooling costs—another layer of energy savings on top of the lighting itself.

Safety and environmental advantages

LEDs offer multiple safety and environmental benefits:

• No harmful gases or mercury to worry about (unlike many fluorescent and HID lamps)
• Constructed from plastic and solid-state components, so they’re less likely to shatter into sharp shards
• Cool to the touch after operation, reducing burn risk
• Very low infrared and zero ultraviolet emissions, making them easier on the eyes and safer for sensitive materials

Less electricity used means less fossil fuel burned and fewer carbon emissions. Retrofitting your lighting may not be the most dramatic sustainability action you can take, but it is one of the lowest-cost, highest-impact steps toward a more carbon-neutral footprint.

Retrofit Options: Why Complete LED Upgrades Beat Tube-Only Swaps

If you’ve looked into upgrading your lighting in the last decade, you’ve almost certainly heard about “lamps-only upgrades” or LED tube replacements—swapping fluorescent tubes for LED tubes inside existing fixtures.

On paper, they look appealing: LED savings without the cost of new fixtures. In reality, they often don’t live up to the hype.

Common problems with LED tube replacements:

• Fixtures weren’t designed to hold the weight or geometry of LED tubes, leading to tubes falling from fixtures.
• Rewiring or modifying fixtures to work with LED tubes can void safety listings and introduce fire risk or electric shock hazards.
• Many facilities have reported premature failures, the polar opposite of what is advertised about LED lifespans.
• The money saved by avoiding a full fixture upgrade is often burned up later in damage repairs, troubleshooting, and early replacements.

These issues are surprisingly frequent for sites that chose tube-only upgrades. As one of our articles puts it, “older lighting fixtures aren’t made to accommodate new technology,” and modifying them introduces unacceptable risk.

By contrast, complete LED fixture upgrades:

• Are engineered as integrated systems for thermal management, optics, and safety
• Deliver more reliable performance and longer life
• Make it easier to integrate controls and networked lighting systems
• Typically deliver far greater energy savings, especially when paired with controls

You might save 40% with a partial upgrade—but 80%+ with a well-designed full fixture retrofit. Over the lifetime of a project, that difference dwarfs the initial cost savings of a tube-only approach.

Designing for the Future: Why Your LED Retrofit Should Include a Redesign

Switching to LEDs doesn’t just make your building more energy-efficient. It changes what’s possible with lighting in your space.

That’s why your LED lighting retrofit should almost always include a redesign, not just a like-for-like swap.

Managing brightness and glare

LEDs can be extremely bright. Each LED source can produce far more light than the older fixture it replaces—some LEDs can reach approximately 3% of the sun’s brightness.

If you simply drop new LED fixtures into the old layout:

• Your workspace might become too bright, causing excessive glare
• Employees may experience discomfort or visual fatigue
• You might waste energy by over-lighting areas that don’t need it

A redesign allows you to redistribute fixtures, select appropriate lumen packages, and tune light levels so your employees don’t have to worry about glare or light pollution as they work.

Taking advantage of directionality and controls

Traditional bulbs emit light in every direction, and fixture housings or lenses try to shape that output. LEDs, by contrast, are inherently directional:

• You can aim light exactly where it’s needed—on the floor, on shelving, on task surfaces—without lighting empty ceiling space.
• You can specify different optics for aisles, open areas, loading docks, and offices.
• With smart LEDs and controls, you can adjust brightness and even color throughout the day.

Your current lighting setup was designed based on the limitations of older technology. A retrofit is the perfect time to update the configuration to match new opportunities, especially in retail, public, or mission-critical spaces.

Keeping up with evolving codes and regulations

Just like lighting technology advances, safety and energy codes evolve:

• Refrigerated spaces have tighter limits on heat runoff
• Worker safety standards address issues like glare, light levels for overnight shifts, and emergency egress illumination
• Energy codes increasingly require controls, automatic shutoff, and daylight response in many spaces

While retrofitting, it makes sense to redesign for current and upcoming compliance rather than just meeting yesterday’s rules.

Smarter wiring with technologies like Lumentalk

One of the practical barriers to advanced controls has been extra wiring for dimming and communication—tearing into walls and ceilings is expensive and disruptive.

New technologies help solve that problem. For example, Lumentalk is a system that uses existing power lines for both power and data so LED lamps can be dimmed and controlled over the wiring you already have.

That means:

• You can deploy smart, dimmable LEDs without tearing out walls for new control wiring
• You can integrate LEDs with virtually any dimmer or control system

For businesses that hesitated to switch to LED because they didn’t want construction chaos, solutions like this remove that excuse and further reduce installation costs.

Case Studies: Retrofit Lighting in Action

To see what’s possible, here are a few standout examples from projects highlighted across your content.

Arizona State University

Arizona State University (ASU), home to 80,000 students, faculty, and staff, joined Cree’s LED University program by retrofitting its parking structures and public spaces.

• Replaced 2,000 150-watt metal halide fixtures with 78-watt LED low-bay fixtures in six parking garages.
• Decreased energy consumption by 1.5 million kilowatt-hours, equivalent to the annual emissions from 208 vehicles.
• New LED fixtures are anticipated to last 50,000 hours, three times longer than the metal halide fixtures they replaced.
• Brighter, more uniform lighting improves visibility for motorists and helps pedestrians feel safer.
• Incandescent downlights in the Sandra Day O’Connor rotunda were replaced with LED downlights that consume 85% less energy, also rated for 50,000 hours.
• ASU expects to save $127,000 from the parking garage LED retrofit alone.

ASU has been recognized as one of the “greenest” universities in the country—these lighting projects are a big part of why.

Maax Spas (Chandler, AZ)

As noted earlier, Maax Spas selected Relumination to upgrade its 120,000 sq ft office and manufacturing facility.

• Upgrades include LED exterior lighting, high-efficiency fluorescent with occupancy sensors in offices, and intelligent LED lighting in production and manufacturing areas.
• The project will save nearly 550,000 kWh annually, about 90% of lighting-related electricity usage.
• With a significant utility rebate from SRP, the estimated payback is less than two years.

Municipal and casino projects

• Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Wisconsin is saving a combined $221,000 annually on energy and maintenance after replacing 1,700 parking garage fixtures with LED, thanks partly to a $500,000 DOE grant.
• Pittsburgh, PA, Wilbur, NE, and Cary, NC are all upgrading their street and public lighting to LED using a combination of grants, settlements, and federal stimulus funds. These retrofits will save thousands to millions of dollars per year and significantly reduce carbon emissions.

These examples demonstrate the range of retrofit benefits—from cost savings and safety to sustainability leadership and public perception.

How Relumination Helps You Retrofit with Confidence

Relumination specializes in turnkey commercial and industrial LED lighting retrofits that deliver:

• Significant energy and maintenance savings
• Improved safety, visibility, and worker comfort
• Measurable reductions in Scope 2 emissions and stronger ESG positioning
• Streamlined access to utility rebates, grants, and tax incentives

Our process typically includes:

1. Free lighting consultation and site visit
2. Detailed lighting and energy audit, including current light levels and fixture types
3. Custom photometric design and layout tailored to your facility and tasks
4. Product selection for fixtures, sensors, and controls that match your goals and budget
5. Installation and commissioning, including programming of controls and fine-tuning light levels
6. Incentive management, helping you navigate utility and government funding paperwork

Because high-quality LED retrofits are long-term investments—often staying in place for 10–20+ years—Relumination emphasizes doing it right the first time: selecting the right products, designing for the future, and maximizing your return on every dollar.

Conclusion

A lighting retrofit is one of the simplest and most impactful ways to improve your facility:

• It cuts energy use and utility bills—often by 70–90% for lighting
  It reduces maintenance and hassle for years to come
• It improves safety, visibility, comfort, and productivity
• It strengthens your environmental performance and ESG story
• It positions your business as modern, forward-thinking, and customer-focused
  

At the same time, government programs, utility rebates, and tax incentives are making retrofits more affordable than ever. For many organizations, the question is no longer whether to retrofit, but why they haven’t started yet.

If your facility is dealing with flickering fixtures, high power bills, frequent lamp changes, or just a dated look and feel, it’s time to explore a retrofit.

Relumination is ready to help you evaluate your options, estimate your savings, and design a retrofit that serves your building—and your bottom line—for decades.