Shedding light on energy efficiency
We are always looking for ways to do our part for the environment. With the installation of our new Komori GL840 press we are tackling the green initiative head on. It will streamline our processes and significantly reduce our waste materials on a per job basis. It will also profoundly reduce our daily energy consumption. As great as those changes are, it simply wasn’t enough. We knew we could do more for the environment. This led us to evaluate the lighting in our shop.
We were surprised to find out how much lighting can affect the overhead of a business. We discovered five factors that helped us decide to change to LED lighting on our shop floor.
Lower energy consumption
Just changing the fixtures and bulbs to LED on the shop floor will help us reduce our annual spend on lighting by 34.2%. The cost of switching to LED will be recouped in a few short years by this fact alone.
Less heat
Ever try to change a lightbulb after it was on and just burnt out? If you have, you likely will have learned you need to wait because it is incredibly hot. LED lighting emits less heat than traditional incandescent lighting. Less heat from the lighting can make controlling the temperature in a building easier and less expensive.
Buy fewer bulbs
Bulbs are costly and hard to replace in a building with extremely high ceilings. Our current light bulbs had a life of around 60,000 hours per bulb. Switching to LED bulbs has extended the life to over 100,000 hours. This change means we will need fewer bulbs and spend less time changing them.
Possible tax credit
There is a tax credit available to small businesses making energy efficient changes to their buildings. We are not IRS experts, and cannot say definitively whether or not all projects will qualify for the deduction, but it is something to look into.
The Environment
We all want to do what is right for the environment. With lighting it turns out that saving money and the environment are one and same. Cutting down on energy consumption and bulbs saves money, but also impacts the environment in a positive way. Every little bit helps and we all need to do what we can.
Take the time to evaluate your organization’s lighting and see if you can make a change that will not only save the environment, but save money in the long run.