Running a startup business is not easy, as it comes with several cost management requirements. Energy expenses contribute to the major part of these expenses. Lighting expense contributes to the maximum portion of energy expenses. According to studies, the industrial lighting in the US consumes over 58 terawatts of energy. Since it is a huge consumption of electricity, small businesses also contribute to the expense. Therefore, this post offers information about the utilization of LEDs for reducing the lighting expenses for small businesses.
How Small Businesses Can Save on their Lighting Expenses
The first and the best tip to lower lighting costs for your small business is to replace all your incandescent and fluorescent lights with LEDs. This is the ultimate way of cutting down industrial lighting costs for your small business. Now, let us discuss how LED helps in reducing lighting expenses.
- Utility companies offer rebates for energy-efficient lighting: In the United States, the utility companies offer rebates for the usage of energy-efficient lighting systems. LED is one of the most energy-efficient energy sources. This ultimately gives you the benefits of energy-saving rebates, which adds to your energy-saving budget.
There are different types of rebates you can opt for, depending on your applications. Following are the types of rebates you may be benefited with;- Prescriptive lighting rebates: To be benefited from this type of rebate, your business facility should be equipped with energy-efficient lighting. If you do so, you will receive financial rewards or incentives from the utility company.
- Custom lighting rebates: These rebates apply to the organizations that use energy-efficient processes or equipment. The incentives are offered based on the amount of energy saved in KW and KWH.
- Midstream lighting rebates: Suited for manufacturers, this type of rebate works when you install energy-efficient systems in your facility. You can also encourage your associates or business partners to adopt it.
- Point of sales lighting rebates: These rebates are for a single purchase. This means the buyers will get incentives on the energy-efficient purchase. For example, you may get a $4 incentive on a $15 LED fixture.
- Smart controls equal to inexpensive lighting: Now, LEDs can be teamed with smart controls for energy-efficient lighting. For instance, intelligent controls like daylight intensity sensors can also be programmed for schematics like dimming. This tackles the need for time-specific operation of the lighting system. Since, the schematic features like dimming, daylight utility sensors are equipped by LED, and it becomes a cost-effective option for small businesses.
- Reduce your carbon footprint: Carbon footprint is the amount of CO2 emitted, either directly or indirectly. Lesser the carbon footprint, lesser is the greenhouse effect. LED helps in reducing the carbon footprint of your small business. Replacement of incandescent lighting with LED fixtures will save over 6 tons of carbon emissions per year. The calculated amount of carbon equivalents per KW of electricity is 830 grams. As LED saves 6 watts per hour as compared to incandescent bulbs, it becomes an economic and environment-friendly option for small businesses. By reducing carbon emission, your organization can earn carbon credits from the US government. Gaining higher carbon credits will help you save on organizational taxes.
- LED saves maintenance expenses: Since, HPS or HID fixtures fail often due to reasons like vibrations, generated heat, etc. It adds to the cost of maintenance. LED fixtures can be operated for over 100000 hours without interruption, therefore, there is no maintenance expense added.
The money saved for over 10 to 11 years of lighting system maintenance is certainly a great amount. This makes LED a great investment for your small business and an ultimate way to lower the lighting cost by benefiting via rebates, carbon credits, and smart controls. Therefore, if you are intended to get the LED lighting system installed in order to save expenses in your small business, then you should look forward to professional service providers like E2 Lighting International, Inc. The company offers one of the largest selections of outdoor lighting and indoor lighting solutions in different specifications and has an experience of transforming several small and large work spaces. LED Hawaii proudly serves as a wholesale distributor for E2 Lighting USA.