The same reason your great-grandfather bought an Edison lamp- FUEL IS EXPENSIVE! The global need for energy efficiency has compelled technological advancements in solid state lighting to new heights. With general lighting accounting for an estimated 20% of all electricity being used in the United States alone, LED for general lighting has become a focus of governments, and large organizations throughout the world.
Return on Investment and Payback
ROI and simple payback. These are the two most frequently asked for numbers when proposing a lighting system, or any upgrade that yields value for a company. Understanding how to calculate them is an absolute key factor to determine if the investment is right for your facility or application. Does SSL fall into a reasonable payback period ? Does it yield a positive ROI? Yes.Yes.
One of the most misused (or misunderstood) calculations however is the payback (in years) period. If you are basing your purchasing decisions on simple payback, it is not only fiscally irresponsible, but a danger to your bottom line. Nothing has made this more evident than our recent economic decline.
Solid State Lighting or LED lighting, will almost always have a longer simple payback than fluorescent, HID, & incandescant lighting systems. What about the maintenance? What about the long term energy savings? How much does it cost to maintain your current lighting system when you take recycling, material, energy and labor costs into consideration?
When all of the real financial parameters are taken into consideration, SSL will make a better case for your facility almost every time. Out of that investment you will see an IORR, ROI, and a percentage gain through positive cash flow from a tangible asset that may well out-perform your passive and equity investments.
Contact Greenlight Initiative today to see if SSL is a good fit for your application.
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Listed below are a few benefits of Solid State Lighting:
Unparalleled maintenance savings- This is where LED lighting makes most sense, especially for municipalities, large facilities, corporations, real property holders, building owners, and franchise chains that incur large costs relative to their lighting systems. Let’s look at some factors that affect your maintenance costs.
Long life- How often do you change your lamps? White LEDs currently have a usable life of 30-75,000 hours and growing. Usable life of solid state lighting is the amount of time passed before a reduction of lumen output is 30% less than initial output. How long is 50,000 hours?
50,000 hrs running 24/7 365 days a year = 5.7 years.
50,000 hrs running 12 hrs a day 365 days a year = 11.4 years
50,000 hrs running 08 hrs a day 365 days a year = 17.12 years
Durability- Solid state in nature, LED lighting is far more durable than any other type of lighting. No lamps, filaments, or thin glass ensures facilities a ton of savings in breakage and shorter life due to ambient forces like wind, vibration, movement, and human error.
General maintenance: Often a major factor when determining lighting upgrade, the maintenance savings are a major factor in return on investment. However important, many a financial analysis discount or overlook this factor altogether. Total system and total cost must be considered, when choosing high quality solid state lighting payback periods from 2 to 5 years are absolutely possible, before rebates, depending on the projects.
Energy Requirements- Meet the new standards set forth by ASHRAE and others using a low wattage solid state system. LEED points are easily achievable when lighting your facility with an LED lighting system outdoors or in. Directionality and usable lumens make it the perfect choice.
Other Benefits
- Energy efficient: Why pay for electricity you do not see in your lighting system?
- Directional light: Put the light where you need it. Why incur lighting costs for light that you are not using?
- Control options: Led lighting systems can be used in conjunction with occupancy sensors and other lighting controls like dimmers, daylight controls and intelligent computer based programs. This has the potential to increase the life of your lighting system exponentially.
- No harmful chemicals: LEDs are made with recyclable materials. Special disposal costs must be taken into consideration with other types of lighting systems. Led lighting has the ability to save thousands of pounds of mercury and other chemicals from being disposed of in landfills, and put waste removal dollars back in to your companies’ pocket.
- Versatility: Solid state lighting can be packaged in ways that were formerly impossible. Over the year’s, luminaire manufacturers found innovative ways to take a generally dispersed light and direct it where they want it. SSL makes it possible to entirely re-think both Luminaire form factor, and installation methods.
- Color changing ability: In applications where color is needed, LED lighting can be intelligently controlled, allowing virtually millions of color possibilities.
- No need to hold an inventory of different types of lamps. Once you have installed LED lighting, you will no longer need to store lamps.
- Installation costs: As LED lighting becomes more widely used, many installation techniques will be changed where lighting is concerned. New development and building projects will save costs incurred with electrical construction of lighting systems. Their low voltage operation allows for a multitude of low material cost design options.
Visit our applications page to gain an understanding of where you may apply solid state lighting.
Other Resources
LED Transformations is a technology consulting company providing guidance in the selection of solid state lighting products and components. From interpreting LED luminaire specification for municipalities and lighting designers, to helping luminaire manufacturers implement the electronics and packaging designs most suited to LED technology, we can provide the knowledge and support to insure your next project or product is successful.
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