Three Benefits of LED High Bay Lighting

In the world of lighting, the high bay is a fixture that you would find in a warehouse, a factory, a gymnasium, or any large open area with relatively high ceilings. Many existing high bay lighting and low bay lighting applications utilize high intensity discharge (HID) lamps such as metal halide or high pressure sodium lamps.

Despite their widespread use, HID lamps utilize antiquated technology that costs building managers both directly and indirectly. Specifically, using HID lamps will result in: higher than necessary energy costs, frequent maintenance costs, and poor lighting performance. These issues can all be addressed by converting your existing lighting to LED.

Energy Savings Energy savings is a primary driver behind why you should evaluate LED lighting for your building or facility. Common wattages for LED high bay fixtures can range from 95 watts to 495 watts. If we compare this wattage to a typical HID high bay fixture that same range is 175 watts to 1000 watts.

Consequently, by switching to LED lighting you are immediately reducing your energy consumption by 40%-60%. To put this in dollars, you would be saving $300 per fixture per year in electricity costs if you made the switch to LED lighting. Depending on the size of your facility this can really affect the operational balance sheet.

Maintenance Cost Reduction By converting to LEDs you will also see a dramatic reduction in the maintenance of your high bay light fixtures. This is due to the way LEDs generate light, and the way they progress through their functional life. Instead of ceasing to function properly once a fuel source is significantly reduced, LED generated light output degrades very slowly over time. As a result, the functional life of an LED product can be significantly longer than that of a HID Lamp, therefore drastically reducing the maintenance load required.

For example, by converting conventional 400w HID high bay lighting to LED, a typical building with industrial light fixtures can save up to $5,341 over the course of three years in maintenance costs alone.

Lighting Performance Finally, lighting performance is a critical factor in evaluating the move to a different type of lighting. From a performance standpoint, LEDs are a head-and-shoulders above their HID counterparts.

LEDs utilize a multi-point design, meaning they distribute light on the intended surface evenly. Therefore, light levels across a given surface will vary less between fixture mounting locations. In addition to the even distribution of light, LEDs are available in a range of CCTs ( correlated color temperatures ) and as a result provide a range of options to increase the visual perception of “brightness."

In contrast, HID fixtures produce a “bright spot” directly underneath the fixture with light levels decreasing drastically as the distance between fixtures increases.

Conclusion In conclusion, we can see that there are three primary drivers to consider installing an LED retrofit in your facility. By converting you will see immediate energy savings, decreased frequency of lighting maintenance, and an uptick in overall lighting performance. Learn how an LED retrofit may be right for you - contact Stouch Lighting today and we would be happy to provide a free assessment of your facility.

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