4 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your LED Upgrade

Marc Karell, Owner of Climate Change & Environmental Services, posted a great article on EnergyManagerToday.com giving advice to business owners looking to upgrade to LED lighting in their facilities.  Not every LED retrofit lives up to its maximum potential, and Karell offers tips on how to make sure you get the most benefit for the money you spend on the project.

Switching to LED lighting is a no-brainer when it comes to energy and utility savings, but there are certainly things to consider in customizing your specific lighting project.  Making smart choices in the planning phase of your retrofit can lead to a faster return on investment and can optimize the operational benefit of the LEDs.  The lighting specialists at Worldwide Energy have the experience necessary to help you make the best choices for your lighting project.  From the initial energy audit, to designing and installing a custom energy saving solution for your building, to procuring the best possible rebates available, the team at Worldwide Energy will make sure you get the most bang for your buck with your lighting renovation!  (Learn more about the Worldwide Energy process here.)

Here are Karell's 4 Tips for Maximizing your LED Replacement Project:

Do an illumination survey.  Before you replace your lights, take this opportunity to determine where changes in lighting are necessary. Are there areas that are relatively dark in comparison to the need? Are there areas overlit? Have an illumination survey performed to determine lighting levels. And don’t forget exterior space, too. Before you replace lights, determine where additional or different ballasts and lamps may be necessary for proper illumination and where you can remove some fixtures or have fewer lamps in a fixture.

When and where to install LEDs.  You might think with such great energy cost savings and incentive programs in some states it is best to just replace every existing bulb with LEDs. But that could be expensive upfront as hundreds of LEDs may have a high capital cost. Therefore, you may need to prioritize your replacement program. If you cannot replace all of your lighting at once, then replace, as a first priority, your least efficient types of lighting and/or the lights used for the most hours.

Save even more with lighting controls. Even LEDs use electricity needlessly if they are left on for extended periods with nobody around. Therefore, consider lighting controls, such as occupancy sensors and daylighting, sensors that dim artificial light as sunlight enters a room. Some areas require controls to be updated when a lighting upgrade is implemented. LEDs can be installed that are compatible with these control types. Consider how different areas of your building are used. In offices, occupancy sensors ensure that lights are not left on all night when nobody is around. In storage and utility rooms and warehouses that often go many hours, if not days, without activity, sensors can save, too. Which places in your facility get significant sunlight (sky lights or south-facing windows)?

Light locations.  Do you currently have lights in inconvenient places that take a huge effort to replace? If so, prioritize LED bulbs in these locations to save you labor, storage space, and equipment rental expenses. I had a client that rents a cherry picker once every third year to replace burned out bulbs from a very high ceiling. As luck would have it, the day after the job was done one time, a light went out! With LEDs generally lasting over 40,000 hours, the frequency and cost of replacing lights in an inconvenient spot will drop markedly. Remember that fewer light replacements gives your maintenance crews the time to perform other needed tasks. And fewer trips by your personnel up the cherry picker or ladders means lower risk of an accident for you.

Source: EnergyManagerToday.com