|
Take a
walk through any office building these days. Once you
understand the savings proposition from LED lighting, all
you can see is money falling from the ceiling with the
electric humm of fluorescent buzz raining down. Whether
it's the building's owner, company, or landlord, someone or
some company is paying for a lot of tee times at the local
utility. Let's take a look at one of the places that LED
lights can have the biggest impact, Office lighting.
Office
lighting is a perfect target for LED lights and the savings
that ensue. Office lights typically run longer than
residential lights which is a big component of the cost
comparison between LED and fluorescent lighting. Why
concentrate of fluorescent? T12's are the common lights
you'll find in most office spaces. You'll also find a range
of spots, general lighting, and other fluorescent form
factors (T8, etc) but T12's do the heavy lifting in most
office spaces. T12's are actually there due to their
relative energy efficient when compared to incandescent
lights. That being the case, let's look at a T12 versus the
equivalent LED light for a quick snapshot of how the costs
pencil out on a pure lumen to lumen basis before we look at
contributing factors in LED's favor.
A
standard T12 light will run $1.50 per tube and they're
usually sold in bulk. The wattage for a T12 bulb is usually
around 34 watts while the replacement LED bulb typically
runs about half at about 17 watts. The fluorescent also
requires a ballast which must be powered separately at about
10-15 watts per ballast and a ballast will usually power up
2 to 4 bulbs per fixture. This power savings is a big part
of the cost difference in lighting over a 5 year window for
office space since they are typically running 10+ hours (8
hours of operation plus 1 hour on each end). You multiply
this per bulb power savings over 100's if not 1000's of
bulbs and you quickly generate significant savings. The
bulbs will also not need to replaced nearly as often since
fluorescents will typically last 7000 to 9000 hours but
lighting quality deteriorates as a fluorescent bulb ages due
to how it works and cycling (turning on and off) can
significantly impact both the age and quality of light
generated. LED's have no problems with cycling and come
right on as opposed to fluorescent which must "power up".
The LED bulbs we use will generally last 50,000 hours.
That's right 50K versus 9K. Office buildings are also
generally running large numbers of bulbs which requires
labor to safely replace them. So why would anyone stay with
flourescents for office lighting. The cost of LED bulbs are
higher but with new government rebates and the decreased
need for replacement, this allows a business to keep the
power savings generated by a lower wattage. Government
rebates for LED lighting is more substantial for businesses
with not only a per bulb and per watt rebate but also a per
square foot savings in most cases.
One
other key factor. The T12 is being phased out starting Jan
2012 and replacement ballasts (which fail) are already
phased out. One year from now, this whole discussion will
be moot. What about your other office lighting (outside of
fluorescent)? The numbers are even better for general
lighting, spots, and high intensity floods since most of
those are high wattage incandescent or expensive CFL's
(which have poor quality light) by the way. The government
rebates still apply for these lights and the wattage (power)
savings is considerably higher.
Office
lighting is ideally suited for LED lights for a number of
reasons but one big one is the aesthetic quality and color
of the actual light. LED lights are a much truer light than
fluorescents and CFL's and now with our color tuning, we can
provide daylight and bright white colors that office
environments require. We're happy to run a LED light quote
for your office space today! |
