How LED*Waves Can Save Your Business (or Non-Profit) Money

“Greening” Your Bottom Line

Lighting is expensive. Just ask any facilities manager.

But it doesn’t have to be. According to the government agency Energy Star, the total national demand for electricity would be reduced by over 10% if only efficient lighting were adopted in areas where it would be clearly profitable (i.e. pay for itself at least once over). This would mean over $15 billion in ratepayer savings, as well as a 202 million metric ton reduction in yearly carbon dioxide emissions. Saving the earth is certainly an important issue, but it is often perceived as costly and simply not profitable. But if you could save money and the earth, why not?

The problem of lighting being a large slice of any given business’s operating expenses is certainly nothing new; the common solution is a combination of fluorescent lamps with dimming and timing systems that adjust output or shut lights off automatically at certain times or intervals. Of course, fluorescent technology has been around for a long time, and it has indeed already saved a lot of companies a lot of energy and money (if we take the incandescent to be par for the course). It is 7-10 times more efficient, and it lasts 5-10 times longer. In fact, a vast number of businesses across America have already adopted this technology as a matter of course. The widespread implementation of fluorescents has over the years brought the average percentage of energy expense attributable to lighting down to about 38%. But what if your building or business could save another 50% on its energy bill? And if you haven’t upgraded to fluorescents already, what if you could save 90%?

I am of course referring to the LED. Once nothing more than an indicator light on a toaster oven, the LED has evolved into a powerful and immensely efficient general lighting source. Incandescent, halogen, fluorescent, silver halide, mercury... they are all slowly but surely heading for the exit sign (which is probably already lit with LEDs).

For evidence of the money-saving potential of practical LED applications, look no further than retail superpower WalMart, which has decided to upgrade the fluorescent lights in the refrigerators of over 500 of its stores to LED equivalents. This upgrade will save the corporation an estimated $3.8 million in one year by reducing immediate energy expenses attributable to the fixtures themselves, as well as reducing refrigeration expenses due to the LEDs being cooler than their fluorescent counterparts.

Consider this: The average office building spends $1.52/sq. ft. on electricity and $0.58 of that rate is attributable to lighting. Considering the fact that LEDs stand to save up to 90% of any given lighting scheme’s energy consumption, that figure could easily drop to $0.06/sq. ft. spent on lighting.

Who says the penny is obsolete?

Certainly not the Bardavon Theater in Poughkee, NY. Rescued from demolition by avid locals and currently maintained by its own small non-profit organization, the Bardavon recently updated its iconic marquee with LED lighting. Though it is nowadays largely an anachronistic thing-of-the-past, the classic theater marquee, replete with hundreds of colorful incandescent bulbs, is designed to catch the eye of the passer-by, thereby generating patronage. Because the incandescent bulb is so inefficient, a marquee of this kind in today’s economy is a steep investment, and any opportunity to reduce this expense without reducing the kitsch is sure to be seized. LED lighting has reduced the Bardavon’s operating expenses in a twofold manner: by reducing the marquee’s energy consumption by 88% and virtually eliminating its maintenance expense of over $50,000. In the end, this rather small-scale upgrade will save the Bardavon an estimated $57,271 in its first year and will increase once the savings generated by the efficiency of the LEDs pay for the fixtures themselves.

When the Green movement began many years ago, sustainability was considered by the most thick-skinned economists to be a fringe cause fueled by paranoia. Today in 2008, not only are those folks eating their words, but sustainability has emerged as the clear way of the future, standing to save money and the earth in ways never imagined heretofore. Regardless of whether your business or organization is driven by a bottom line or a humanitarian cause, operating expenses present a logistical issue that if not diligently addressed will quickly become an Achilles heel. The economic viability of sustainable technologies is now given; how will your bottom line benefit?

LED*Waves – Changing the world, one bulb at a time.