Commercial LED Lighting Case Study & Considerations

LED lighting technology is fast replacing other types of legacy bulbs, and it’s time for commercial and other types of organizations to notice. LEDs last longer, provide better light, cost less to maintain, and consume much less energy than legacy lighting fixtures. Imagine a shopping center that replaced its parking lot or exterior lighting, without even touching the interior lights...the energy and financial savings alone would be enough to finance a LED retrofit for the interior! Let’s take a look at some different applications in which commercial LED lighting has made a world of difference.

LED Parking Garage Lights Commercial LED lighting at The Franklin Institute Parking garages are a unique component of commercial spaces, and they can hugely impact the energy footprint for a particular organization. For instance, take the case of The Franklin Institute, a renowned museum in Philadelphia, for whom Stouch Lighting recently completed an LED retrofit. We replaced their HID and fluorescent lamps to help them see these results:

Energy Reduction: 66% Reduction over existing lighting energy consumption KWH Reduction: 264,902 Kwh Reduction Annual Maintenance Savings: $7,674 dollars Greenhouse Gas Reduction: 896,935 lbs By replacing more than 280 lighting fixtures in the parking garage of The Franklin Institute, they were able to reach their goals of decreased energy consumption and improved lighting quality. This allows them to spend precious resources on more important pursuits like the progress of science and research (of which LED lighting is a byproduct! ).

The retrofit we accomplished for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority is another great example of why your organization should switch from fluorescent to LED lighting. Before we get into the merits of one bulb versus the other, take a look at the Before and After photos from the station:

...and ask yourself a simple question: which station would you rather be traveling in? The well-lit, professional-looking platform, or the one that could possibly host the next scene in your favorite horror flick? The Before and After pictures are a great example of how completing an LED retrofit can really improve the quality of lighting in a facility, but that is not the only benefit.

Advantages of LED Lighting:

How are LED bulbs better than fluorescent lighting - especially for commercial lighting? Fluorescent lighting fixtures are common in a lot of applications (such as the SEPTA platforms), but they have some significant drawbacks when compared with LED commercial lighting fixtures. Here are some things you may not have known about fluorescent lighting (read here for the full blog):

Fluorescent lights have good lifespan relative to some bulbs but not compared to LED lighting. Typical lifespan values range from 7,000 hours to 15,000 hours before a bulb requires replacement. Sometimes, however, fluorescent lights need to be changed out before the end of their useful life to preempt serious degradation effects like flicker or changing light color (turning pink). These are non-issues with commercial LED lighting. Did you know that fluorescent lights actually produce primarily UV radiation? They generate visible light because the bulb is coated with a layer of phosphor which glows when it comes into contact with UV radiation. Roughly 15% of the emissions are lost due to energy dissipation and heat...which results in higher consumption and higher energy bills. Fluorescent lights - like almost all other lights except for LEDs - are omnidirectional. This means that they output light in all directions, so lighting fixtures are required to direct the lighting footprint where you want it to go. This means decreased efficiency, and increased costs. Fluorescent lights also experience efficiency losses as the device ages and additional current is required to achieve the same lighting output. Efficiency losses are greater and the degradation time shorter in the case of fluorescent bulbs when compared to LED lighting solutions. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority primarily had fluorescent bulbs, and Stouch Lighting replaced the lighting and fixtures with energy efficient lighting solutions. Here are some of the results they realized:

Kwh Reduction - 5,281,404 Lighting Energy Reduction Percentage - 64% Annual Maintenance Cost Reduction - $617,624 Greenhouse Gas Reduction - 7,218,366 lbs Commercial Parking Garage Lighting: Results of an LED lighting retrofit at M&amp;T Bank As a last example, we’d like to share some of the results that M&amp;T Bank in Wilmington experienced after changing their High Pressure Sodium (HPS), metal halide, and fluorescent lights to commercial LED light fixtures. Here’s the Before and After photo:

As you can see, the lighting quality is vastly improved, resulting in increased consumer comfort and safety. Additionally, M&amp;T Bank saw financial savings based on the following results:

Kwh Reduction - 299,598 Lighting Energy Reduction Percentage - 61% Annual Maintenance Cost Reduction - $22,691 Rebate Eligibility - $62,675 (learn more about financing LED retrofit s here ) Greenhouse Gas Reduction - 846,554 lbs Total Fixtures Replaced - 385 Projected ROI - 10 Months (we will run a free ROI calculation for your organization) You can read more about how commercial LED lights compare to HPS lights , or how they stack up against metal halide lighting . But the bottom line is this: commercial LED lighting is changing the way organizations operate by helping to accomplish three basic goals: improved lighting quality, decreased energy consumption, and decreased maintenance costs. These objectives are particularly important for organizations that have tenants, high customer traffic, or a large footprint.

If you have questions about whether an LED retrofit is right for your organization, please reach out today. Stouch Lighting will help you accomplish a free Return on Investment calculation to see what the results would be if you switch from legacy lighting to commercial LED lighting ...it’s well worth your time!

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