The key to switching to LED lighting is reduced power consumption. With correct design, an LED circuit will realise approximately 80% efficiency, in a nutshell this means 80% of the electrical energy is converted to light energy. The remaining 20% is lost through heat energy. When you compare this with incandescent lamps which operate at about 20% efficiency with a staggering 80% of the electrical energy being lost as heat. Furthermore, LED do not cause heat build-up, producing only 3.4btu’s per hour, compared to up to 88btu’s for incandescent.
If we translate LED vs. incandescent in to a financial example, a 100 Watt incandescent is used for 12 months, with electrical cost at 33fils/kilowatt per hour, in total AED 290 will be spent on electricity costs. Out of that AED290 cost, used to heat the room, not lighting the room. The same example for LED with 80% efficiency being used, the electricity cost would be AED 44 per 12 months – This would give a saving of AED 246 over the 12 months.
The true savings are actually much higher, when you take into account that traditional lamps need to be replaced more frequently, usually within a year, and this involves man power and maintenance costs. Added to the time element that an area will not be lit due to contractual obligations. For example, many buildings do not allow repairs to be carried out when public areas are open so maintenance carried out in limited quiet period or closed period.
FM managers need to be looking at the bigger picture when analysing the true cost of energy saving with LED, the obvious figures start with the lights themselves but take that further and calculate the saving for the Cooling and Chilling Systems installed, with LED less heat is generated which naturally results in less power having to work the cooling appliances.
Companies have a responsibility to reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint. This can be achieved in various ways but RWN promotes LED lighting as a start. By taking minor steps such as swapping from traditional incandescent to LED up to 80% of your light energy costs could be saved.