Economics of Lighting

GREENandSAVE STAFF
Posted on Friday 6th January 2012

Today there are more and more businesses switching to energy efficient lighting. Examples of major companies making that change are Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Caesars Entertainment, The Intercontinental Hotel in San Francisco, Home Depot, etc. So, why the sudden surge in energy efficient lighting retrofits?

It seems that larger corporations have one particular interest that sparked them to take on light emitting diode (LED) lighting. That one thing was the huge amount of savings recognized during maintenance cost reduction. LED lights are lasting up to and over 10 times longer than the older fluorescent technology. Which, for companies with tall ceilings, can end up being a lot of money. Many of these companies have to have people go up there and change a bulb that is 40-50 feet in the air once a year. This can come out to be about a $50 maintenance charge per bulb per year. “The big payback number is on the maintenance,” said Charles Zimmerman, Wal-Mart’s vice-president of international design and construction. After factoring in the gigantic amount of energy savings realized with LED technology there is not much reason to keep those old fluorescents around.

LED companies, such as Independence LED, are helping companies across the country and around the world keep their energy costs down and their maintenance crew focused on more important things than replacing bulbs all year long. With energy costs where they are today, the sooner companies make the switch to LEDs the more money they can save.

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