The benefits of upgrading to LED lighting

LED lighting uses up to 80% less energy than a standard incandescent bulb.

By David Manney August 22, 2017

There are certain areas within industrial facilities that don’t get the attention that they deserve. An example of this is lighting. Nobody pays attention to lighting because while it is working, nobody needs to do much to keep it going.

Looking at the numbers, lighting in any facility uses a lot of energy. On average, lighting in industrial plants within the US uses about 10% of the power consumption. Reducing this amount of use becomes a logical step to save money.

LED lighting

Switching to LED lighting is something that saves money. The ROI occurs soon after the upgrade takes place. After all, LED lighting uses up to 80% less energy than a standard incandescent bulb. Soon after installing LEDs, utility bills drop very fast.

As energy rates continue their climb, the energy-saving benefits of LED lighting become more and more apparent.

LED quality

Comparing the LED lighting to other methods becomes a concern for facility managers. LED lighting becomes a positive gain on your ROI; they cost less to operate and provide the same quality of lighting. The benefits of LED lighting outweigh those of incandescent or fluorescent lighting.

LED life

There are ways other than energy efficiency that LED lighting benefits you. Regarding operation life, LEDs last up to 200,000 hours or more. Incandescent light bulbs last up to 1,000 hours, while fluorescent bulbs last up to 30,000 hours. There is a direct relationship between the quality of lighting and the hours of operation of the two older bulbs. The older they get, the poorer the quality of lighting. A related benefit to the long-lasting LED bulbs is the simple fact you don’t have to buy bulbs as often.

LED safety

Switching to LED lighting creates a safer work environment. Since they provide a higher quality light, it leads to fewer workplace accidents that relate to lighting. There is no way to measure the cost of accidents that don’t happen. In other words, how do you declare a price for keeping your team safe? Reduced downtime and decreased insurance costs become an important factor for consideration.

In summary

LED lighting retrofit is a choice to consider in most industrial facilities. It is one of the easiest of all methods for saving money on energy usage despite being ignored by facility managers for a variety of reasons. As electric rates continue to rise, switching to a high-efficiency lighting source is going to benefit your bottom line more and more.

David Manney, L&S Electric. This article originally appeared on L&S Electric’s blog. L&S Electric is a CFE Media content partner. Edited by Hannah Cox, content specialist, CFE Media, hcox@cfemedia.com.

Original content can be found at lselectric.com.