Figure out how much that LED lighting energy-efficiency project will save you

By | July 12, 2010, 7:06am PDT

Summary: Back in April, I reported about some data that showed lighting efficiency projects are proving to be some of the best green technology investments that a facilities manager can make. But how much money will the investment ultimately save your organization? One of the “intelligent” lighting technology providers, Digital Lumens, has created an Energy Savings [...]

Back in April, I reported about some data that showed lighting efficiency projects are proving to be some of the best green technology investments that a facilities manager can make. But how much money will the investment ultimately save your organization? One of the “intelligent” lighting technology providers, Digital Lumens, has created an Energy Savings Calculator to help shed a little more light on the equation.

Like most of the energy efficiency calculators that have been created over the past several years (notably the ones focused on carbon footprint metrics), this is a rather simple engine. The sorts of data you submit include type and number of fixtures at the location, the square footage, the zip code (for the electricity rates), and operating hours.

The results are a five-year analysis for three different scenarios. What you are using now, simple LED retrofits, an LED retrofit that is connected via an intelligent network for tighter controls. You can also test the impact of an expansion or a rate increase.

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Heather Clancy is an award-winning business journalist with a passion for green technology and corporate sustainability issues.

Disclosure

Heather Clancy

Writing publicly about what the high-tech industry is actually doing to help itself and the world get greener or more sustainable is one way I figure I can contribute more meaningfully to said effort. I am also a big OMG-kind-of-fan of smart leadership, which is why the goodly folks who publish this blog let me go on about this topic and why I am always on the hunt for forward-looking business management ideas.

My daily writing is focused on looking for topics for my blogs, GreenTech Pastures and Business Brains. I also write often about emerging technology trends such as mobile computing, unified communications and cloud computing. Occasionally, I will pop up at an industry conference in some sort of speaking capacity. In cases where a speaking engagement involves a sponsor that may be covered in this blog, that fact will be disclosed in coverage as appropriate.

My corporate writing work usually consists of crafting research white papers about some aspect of technology. In the event that my commentary (in written, audio or video form) mentions a company for which I have provided consulting advice, I will disclose that fact. However, there is no connection between these projects and the topics that I am covering in my blog.

Biography

Heather Clancy

Heather Clancy is an award-winning business journalist with a passion for green technology and corporate sustainability issues. Her articles have appeared in Entrepreneur, Fortune Small Business, The International Herald Tribune and The New York Times. In a past corporate life, Heather was editor of Computer Reseller News, where she was a featured speaker about everything from software as a service to IT security to mobile computing.

Heather started her journalism life as a business writer with United Press International in New York. She holds a B.A. in English literature from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and has a thing for Lewis Carroll.

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Flourescent?
LeonBA Updated - 14th Jul 2010
Would that be wheat-based lighting? What about those who are gluten-intolerant?

Sorry, couldn't resist.
0 Votes
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Stick with flourescent
guihombre 12th Jul 2010
You probably already have the most efficient lighting....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_efficacy
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Flourescent?
LeonBA Updated - 14th Jul 2010
Would that be wheat-based lighting? What about those who are gluten-intolerant?

Sorry, couldn't resist.
0 Votes
+ -
Stick with fluorescent 2
JimboNobody 12th Jul 2010
I used the site from the article and found it would cost $4,000 more for LEDs (I can't afford a control system at my house) than for CFLs. From personal experience, LEDs cost 4x as much and burn out faster. I installed a T8 fluorescent and a motion detector in my pantry. The T8 never goes out completely, so I suspect the motion switch is emitting vampire power. Kiss my grits, Al Gore, I'm going back to incandescent lights and regular switches.
@JimboNobody: In your experience with LEDs, where they lasted half as long as fluorescents - were they behind a surge protector? Like any electronic component, LEDs are vulnerable to power surges; if you don't use a surge protector, they probably won't last very long.
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Lets look deeper...
HiTechDad 12th Jul 2010
This article was for facilities managers...
Fluorescent lights have mercury in them, so figure in disposal costs, and if they last 2 years, and LED lights last for 8, then you also have to figure in the parts & labor to replace them 3X, and the 4X disposal costs...
Then there's the increased efficiency when dimming, LED's give linear lumen output per watt when dimming (using PWM based dimming) down to at least 5%, with no color shift. Fluorescent can't touch that.
LED's are viable today, but don't take my word for it, see what the Dept. of Energy found in their tests of outdoor lighting efficiency (comparing LED, fluorescent, HP Sodium, etc.) here: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/gatewaydemos_results.html
And it gets better by orders of magnitude in the future. here is a Wikipedia entry about the future of LED efficiency: "Haitz's Law is an observation/prediction about the steady improvement over the years of light-emitting diodes ? LEDs.
It states that every decade, the cost per lumen (unit of useful light emitted) falls by a factor of 10, the amount of light generated per LED package increases by a factor of 20, for a given wavelength (color) of light."
see the full wikipage here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitz%27s_Law

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