LED Lighting

I've heard of LED lights, but what is the big difference with them?

Standard lights (incandescent and halogens) are less than 10% efficient, wasting 90% of the energy used in the form of heat rather than light.

LED lights have minimal heat output due to reduced energy requirements which can save up to 90% in running costs compared to standard lights. This could equate to a 4 tonne saving of C02 in their lifetime.

Standard lights can have a lifespan of around 2,000 to 3,000 hours compared up to 50,000 hours for LEDs.

What about the new Compact fluorescents (CFLs)?

'CFLs' are seen as the "green alternative" to incandescent with their 10,000 hours lighting and provide the same amount of light as a normal lamp, however, CFLs have significant disadvantages. Many take a long time to warm up to the optimum light output and tend to flicker and they can emit light radiation and glare which many people find uncomfortable.

But, the biggest issue with CFLs is that they contain a number of hazardous chemicals such as phosphor and mercury. (Mercury has been banned from most electronic components).

COST SAVING USING LED LIGHTING

Many commercial premises use halogen lamps and often require significant numbers of individual lamps to create the required ambience. However, they would be surprised at the running costs involved.

Case Study

A restaurant uses 40 halogen lamps rated at 35W each. Each lamp is on for an average of 12 hours per day. If we assume an electricity cost of 11p/KWh (based on average current rates). The cost to run these lights for 1 year would be £630

The alternative LED solution:

Utilizing the same number of 4.3W LED lamps the annual running would be approx £69 - a saving of over 85%

Lamp life & Recycling

LED lamps have a life expectancy of 30K hours compared to a maximum of 4k hours for standard halogens (many fail to last this long!). In addition LED lamps are 100% recyclable unlike compact fluorescents which contain traces of mercury which is classed as a hazardous substance.

Reduce your carbon footprint

In our example of the public house above an installation of LED lamps would reduce their Carbon footprint contribution by approx 1.75 tonnes of carbon per year.

Work out your own potential savings

By using our cost saving calculator we can work out what your current lighting costs are and give you a direct LED cost comparison if you changed to LED Lights.