Large Scale Lighting Upgrades

Technological developments have enabled us as energy efficiency experts to provide our clients with a wider and more effective range of options when it comes to reducing the levels of energy consumed by a business. We work with large and small clients to reduce their energy consumption. Many businesses don’t know where to start when they begin looking to reduce their energy bills. We recommend you start somewhere which may be overlooked: lighting.

This is a simple but important upgrade which you can complete for your business. Small businesses may be able to complete this upgrade without outside support. Quality Energy has experience implementing larger-scale lighting upgrades for medium and large businesses.

LED stands for light-emitting diode. They are solid-state lights in which a semiconductor converts electricity to light but without producing heat (unlike other lightbulbs), a waste by-product. The diode itself may only be one square millimetre so some bulbs include multiple diodes. Another benefit to LEDs is that the light is emitted in one direction. Therefore, LED bulbs do not require diffusers and reflectors.

The development of LED bulbs was slow, after the initial discovery of electroluminescence in 1907. It wasn’t until 1962 that LED lights were created for market. However, they were not immediately successful and it took many years for the general public to recognise the value of LED bulbs. Over the years, however, developments and improvements were made to further the benefits of the LED bulb and make them a desirable alternative to traditional bulbs.

Today, LED’s continue to be more expensive than other bulbs on the market. This puts some people and businesses off investing in this technology. It is important to look beyond the initial cost of the bulbs (which we predict will be driven down over the coming years as demand rises). However, for large businesses, we recognise that the current price difference can be hard to ignore. If you are implementing a large scale lighting upgrade and each LED bulb costs four times as much as its traditional equivalent, this may be a significant deterrent.

After decades of experience, we can say that this is an investment worth making. While a traditional bulb uses 150W of power, a LED bulb only requires 50W. Within months, businesses are able to recoup the additional costs of the lighting upgrade and all subsequent months simply see money back in your pocket. While some private homeowners are switching to LED lighting for lower energy bills, for large scale properties, the savings are even more pronounced.

In addition to saving money, LED bulbs have a longer lifespan than traditional bulbs. Traditional bulbs typically require maintenance or replacement after 8,000 hours (or every three and a half years). LED bulbs need to be maintained or replaced every 50,000 hours (or every ten years). Therefore, not only does a business save money monthly but the ongoing costs associated with electrical equipment such as large scale lighting systems are reduced too.

In 2020, LEDs are the most energy-efficient lights on the market. Beyond this, not only do LEDs out-perform their competitors, but the technology is developing further. If you upgrade your business lighting system in 2020, by the time you need to replace some bulbs (in 2030), we predict that the technology available will be saving you even more money, without the hassle of going through a full system upgrade again.

While businesses are primarily motivated to save money, there is a secondary reason to upgrade lighting systems and that is to be more environmentally friendly. Lower energy bills mean you’re using less fossil fuels and therefore minimising your impact on the environment. For many businesses in 2020, this is an important factor in their business making decisions.

If you would like to learn more about the implementation of an LED lighting system within a large business, speak with Quality Energy today to discuss how our experts can help assist you with this recommended energy-saving project.

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