RealEstate

A Guide to Energy-efficient Lighting for Commercial Buildings

More often than naught, rented commercial buildings come with a lighting system already. Facilities usually install generic commercial lightings to fulfill all kinds of work. However, preinstalled lighting systems can both deter work morale and hinder work-related tasks. That’s why business owners should know the optimum lighting layouts for their industry.

Office spaces, for example, need bright and natural light to increase productivity. While commercial kitchen lighting, on the other hand, requires shatterproof bulbs and warm light on selected areas to get the facility up to code. Hence, both business owners and property owners need to know their industry’s correct lighting system layout.

The Importance of Good Commercial Lighting

Commercial lighting systems are lighting solutions for office spaces, government facilities, or public infrastructures. Commercial lighting is used for workspaces since it can withstand long service hours and harsh conditions, improve the welfare of employees, and increase productivity. However, commercial lightings are considerably costlier than their residential counterparts and require professional industrial electric contractors to install. Hence, if you’re looking to construct a commercial building, it’s essential to save costs and energy through increased efficient lighting design.

How Energy Efficient Lighting Systems Affect Expenses

Studies show that 19% of total office expenditure is spent on energy consumption, wherein 70% is spent on lighting, cooling, and heating the office. Furthermore, the Environmental Protection Agency reports that 30% of the energy used in commercial spaces is squandered due to inefficiencies. Hence, as business owners, we should look for ways to decrease energy consumption through lighting systems.

Saving Electricity Costs Through Lighting

Optimizing your building’s lighting system can be complicated and tedious, particularly if your remodeling a building. Furthermore, old commercial buildings come with a myriad of commercial lighting system that is now outdated. For instance, old buildings are usually installed with incandescent lightbulbs, which are both uneconomical and unreliable. Thankfully, there are surefire ways to decrease energy consumption through optimized lighting systems.

Use LED Bulbs

Switching to LED lighting is one of the easiest ways of saving energy through lighting systems. Essentially, LED lights consume 75% less energy than incandescent lights, a far cry from CFL’s 25-35%. That’s why even if you replace your lights with LED bulbs, you’ll have significant savings. If that’s not enough, here are a couple of advantages of using LED:

  • LED lights have a lifespan of 50,000 to 100,00 hours. Compared to CFL’s 8,000 hours, LED lights can deliver a significantly longer usage on top of consuming less power.
  • LED lights are cost-efficient and produce less carbon footprint. In fact, reports say that the widespread use of LEDs in the United States can save an estimated 348 TWh of power compared to traditional incandescent bulbs.
  • LED bulbs produce less heat, making handling easier.

While the advantages of using LEDs are clear, there is one caveat of using LED—the initial cost.  LEDs still cost more than incandescent bulbs, even if the costs of LEDs are getting lower. Thankfully, businesses can save a fraction of the installation costs through tax relief through the Enhanced Capital Allowances scheme.

Install Low-Wattage Signs and Accent Lighting

Offices use accent lighting in a myriad of ways. Whether it’s for wall scones in the conference room or tracking lighting that accentuates the company’s logo, most offices use accent lighting that can consume a lot of energy. However, this doesn’t mean removing accent lighting altogether. Consider switching all accent lighting to LED bulbs or use LED strips instead.

Other necessary lighting fixtures that can consume a lot of energy are safety lightings, such as exit signs, high-risk area lighting, standby lighting, and emergency signs. Safety lightings are vital for every commercial building. However, it consumes electricity 24/7 nonstop. Hence, consider using photoluminescent safety signs since it doesn’t use electricity at all. Plus, photoluminescent signs recharge when it’s exposed to other light sources.

Install Lighting Controls

Even with strict energy-saving measures, employees can still forget to turn off the lights when leaving. After all, staff members come and go all the time and have different schedules. This leads to wasting energy and increasing electricity costs. One solution to this problem is by installing lighting controls such as:

  • Using motion-sensing or occupancy sensor lights on rarely used areas.
  • Using dimmer switches to lessen power consumption and extend the lifespan of the bulbs by customizing the light levels.
  • Installing timer-controlled lighting systems to schedule when to turn on and off the light in the room.

Employ Efficient Lighting Design

If you want to save electricity, you should have an efficient lighting design from the get-go. Efficient lighting designs account for lux level requirements, the number of light bulbs to use, and optimum lighting control for the office. However, efficient lighting design can only be used when constructing new commercial buildings.

Whether you’re looking to save costs or lessen your carbon footprint, don’t forget to consider your lighting system. After all, every office needs adequate lighting. It’s up to you whether you want to spend time making it efficient and economical.

Meta title: Efficient Lighting Options for Commercial Buildings
meta desc: Is the lighting system of your commercial building energy-efficient? More than just having good commercial lighting, we discuss the advantages of energy-efficient lighting systems for commercial buildings. In this blog post, you can learn the different options you have that can help you save.

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