Reduce Energy Costs by 80% With Commercial LED Lighting

A new EU directive has banned the use and production of traditional style filament light bulbs, businesses across the continent and in the UK are looking for alternative lighting solutions. With the advancement in commercial LED lighting, the technology has been gaining in popularity thanks to an array of benefits over incandescent and halogen light bulbs.

Nowadays LED lights are available in all forms of traditional lighting and can be used for indoor or outdoor business lighting. LED lighting not only reduces energy consumption considerably but they also have a much longer life span than traditional light bulbs, which could bring a reduction in annual maintenance cost of between 70% to 90%.

Energy consultants and energy management experts state that energy efficiency is the biggest step businesses can take towards reducing their CO2 consumption and carbon footprint. Investing in LED lighting should be considered as a long term investment that will bring significant long term savings for your business. There is even a scheme from the Carbon Trust that allows you to obtain an interest free loan to invest in commercial LED lighting, contact your energy consultancy firm and they will assist you in obtaining this interest free loan.

Did you know that lighting accounts for 40% of businesses electricity bill? With LED lights you can save between 60% to 90% of that cost and reduce your carbon footprint not to mention that LED lights last on average 50,000 hours, that's right 50,000 hours, making LED lights' lifespan 5 times longer than the best fluorescent bulbs and up to 30 times longer than halogen bulbs.

Low energy LED lighting can bring quantifiable savings to your business from day one. But before installing LED lights on your premises it is advisable to schedule a complete audit to highlight inefficient areas that will need more attention, again an energy consultancy firm can assist you with that.

LED Lighting Cost Saving Example 1

Lets consider the following situation. A business replacing 100 x 6 foot fluorescent tubes with their lights on 18 hours per day, 7 days per week, paying £0.10 per KWh will save:

£3,931 in electricity every year and another £630 in maintenance cost. Over 5 years this will generate a net saving of £16,274.

LED Lighting Cost Saving Example 2

If the replacement of all interior and exterior lighting of a given commercial building would cost £6,000 with a mixture of incandescent and fluorescent bulbs, with LED lights it could cost up to £12,000 but using LEDs the company could save nearly £7,000 a year in their energy bill and will not have to change a light bulb for 20 years and investment could be recouped in less than 2 years.

In London, a city wide scheme implemented last year is changing the capital's top sight-seeing attraction lighting to reduce energy consumption as well as their carbon footprint. The London eye was one of the first attractions to change their lighting system to a brand new LED lighting system reducing power use by 69%

Some of riverside London's most iconic landmarks have been lit up by energy efficient lighting in a festival of light. Tower of London, HMS Belfast and Southwark Cathedral are among buildings that have been bathed in low energy LED lighting.

The Scheme is called Green500 and it was voted Best Carbon Reduction Project at Edie 2009 with many organisations joining in by the day.

Green Travel - Do You Turn Off Your Hotel Room's Air Conditioner?

More and more people are starting to jump on the "green" bandwagon. According to the U.S. Travel Data Center, forty-three million US travelers are now ecologically concerned. Here are some tips on how to travel green:

Save Energy

-Master Switches: Some green hotels use master switches. The guest uses a key card to turn on and shut off the power in the room when entering or exiting.

If no master switch technology is available, turn off all appliances when leaving your hotel room manually.

-Use Fluorescent Lighting: Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs or CFLs replace incandescent lamps. They use less power and last longer.

-Use Energy Star Appliances: Devices with the Energy Star logo save 20%-30% on average.

Save Water

-Dual Flush Toilet: These special toilets use a 0.8 gallon flush for liquid waste and a 1.6 gallon flush for solids. They average 1 gallon per flush as opposed to the 7 gallons averaged by older toilets.

-Low Flow Showerheads: Also known as energy efficient shower heads because they use less energy due to less water being heated.

-Reuse Linens: Tell your hotel that you don't need your towels and sheets changed daily.

Save Paper

-Electronic Check-out Programs: Some hotels have a check-out program that uses a minimum of paper either by using the television screen in your room or their own computers.

-Newspaper: Tell your hotel to only deliver a newspaper to your room if requested.

-Electronic Tickets: Use electronic ticketing when purchasing airline tickets.

-Take Limited Brochures/Maps: Take only want you need and return what isn't being used.

Use Green/Recycled Materials

-Green Cleaning Supplies: Try to find a hotel that uses green cleaning supplies. Not only benefits you, but their own employees.

-Carpet: Some hotels have carpets that are made from post consumer recycled material in the backing, fiber and pad.

Reduce Pollution

-Environmentally Conscious Airlines: Some airlines are environmentally conscious, such as Southwest Airlines. This airline recycles all cabin waste and has electronic ticketing.

-Walking Tours: Enjoy walking tours of your destination whenever possible.

-Public Transportation: Use public transportation whenever possible. Also, use the hotel van instead of a rental car to get to and from the hotel.

-Take Only Photographs, Leave Only Footprints: Don't plunder the natural resources of the area you are visiting and don't litter. In fact, be a true world citizen and pick up one piece of litter a day. The world belongs to everyone, treat it like a treasured possession.