Smarter Than The Average Bulb
LEDs are different than conventional bulbs in that they fit directly into an electrical circuit. Instead of creating light by heating filaments or electronically exciting mercury vapor or other gases, they are illuminated by electrons that run through the semiconductor material to which they’re attached. Because there are no filaments, LEDs don’t get hot and, due to their efficiency, they require far less electric power than traditional light bulbs. They’re about 10 times more efficient than incandescent bulbs and double the efficiency of fluorescents. When you consider that they last 6 times longer than fluorescents (and easily outlast incandescent and HID bulbs by 40 times), the equation can yield a savings of up to 80% on lighting costs. Since lighting accounts for approximately 40% of total energy spend in buildings (lighting consumes 29% of all the electricity in the US), an LED retrofit can cut anenergy bill up to 40%!
True, LEDs are significantly more expensive to purchase initially—but the ROI over just one year is phenomenal, and the cost is continually coming down. LEDs are also much kinder to the environment and eliminate the hazards of mercury toxicity, CO2 emissions, etc.
Numbers Don’t Lie
Imagine an office with a bay of 2' x 4' fluorescent tubes that run from 9-5 weekdays at a cost of about $100 per year for electricity. To light the same area, LED tubes would cost only $30 a year. Every 100 lighting bays, therefore, represents an annual savings potential of 7,000—even more, actually, because of the life expectancy of the bulbs. The LEDs will last for 50,000 hours (25 years at 2,000 hours per typical year); by comparison, the fluorescent bulbs will burn for an estimated 20,000 hours, and they will lose 60% of their light output after 12,000 hours. The reduced maintenance costs could boost lighting savings beyond 80%.
Of the 1.5 billion sf of central business district office inventory in the US, the average floor plate is approximately 25,000 sf. Fire codes typically require one fire escape per 10,000 sf.
Extrapolating from that, there are approximately 150,000 fire escape doors in the central business districts of the nation. If just these fire escape doors were retrofit with LED tube bulbs, applying the 80% savings factor would result in a national savings of $54 million (or an expenditure of $13.5 million per year as opposed to the $67.5 million for the currently used low-tech fluorescent tubes). Over an 8-year period, the collective savings would exceed $400 million for just fire door illumination!
A major east coast hotel with significant convention and meeting space had a run rate of just over 5 million kWh per year for its lighting. The annualized lighting cost for 2009 was slated to be $492,000; with deregulation in 2010, the cost could have increased to $690,000. In 2009, however, the hotel performed an LED retrofit. It is now projected that electricity consumption will drop to just over 665,000 kWh and the lighting costs for 2010 will be just under 90,000—an annual savings of $600,000! For a million square feet, the $.60 per sf tax deduction adds another $600,000. In a 33 percent tax bracket, the net to bottom line savings is $200,000.
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Article Sponsor RedBird LED
Redbird LED is your resource for quality engineered and designed LED Tube lights. We offer value pricing so you can increase your ROI from this investment even faster. Please call us for more information on financing programs and tax incentives. For more information please us at 678.REDBIRD or www.redbirdled.com
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