Lighting accounts for an astonishing 25 per cent of the world's energy usage, so

it’s fair to say that lighting is also going to count for a significant amount of your

businesses electricity costs! Investing in LED lighting may involve spending a bit of

money upfront, but ultimately you'll end up making huge savings in the long

term, and enjoy all kinds of benefits for you and your business.

LED conversion advantages

LED lighting products have been around for a while but in products you may not

have realised had them and are consistently coming down in price. Whilst the

initial cost of converting has previously been a sticking point for businesses and

electricians, the benefits of LED for any business weights more than the cost!

Lifespan - LED light bulbs can last up to 50 times longer than the

equivalent traditional light bulb, so you spend far less time and cost

changing them, and can reduce your stock of spare light bulbs too

because there’s no doubt some of you by 100’s of bulbs a year!

Energy-efficiency - LED technology is dramatically more efficient, using up

to 90 per cent less energy than your current lighting. Traditional lighting

sees a massive amount of energy lost to heat, rather than being used to

produce light.

Temperature - Given the lower overall light temperature of LED, converting

to LED reduces the risk of fire and can also lead to a reduction in air

conditioning costs.

How much can I save money by converting to LED?

Great question and the answer is one you’ll like! The combination of longer life

and lower energy usage means swapping to LED will guarantee reduction in

energy costs, whether you're talking one bulb or a thousand.

The Telegraph recently agreed that switching to LED bulbs will save you money

in the home. Have a look at the article link!

Useful example

To give you a real idea of how much you can save, we have put together an

example lighting audit, where the business is looking to benefit from an LED

conversion. Each of the bulbs featured is 'on' permanently - 24 hours a day. To

take advantages of this free scheme please go onto our website

www.ukenergywatch.co.uk

Current Running costs

Area Bulbs used Number of

Bulbs

Elec cost

Per Kwh

Total Kwh

Per Day

Annual

cost

Toilets 50W Halogen MR16 29 £0.120 35 £1,5240.24

Hallway 50W Halogen GU10 14 £0.120 17 £735.84

Conference Café 60W Incandescent

Bayonet 15 £0.120 22 £946.08

Main Bar 28W Fluorescent 2D 53 £0.120 36 £1,606.99

Total

109 £4,813.15

Post conversion running costs

Area Bulbs used Number of

Bulbs

Elec cost

per Kwh

Total Kwh

Per Day

Annual

cost

Toilets 5W LED MR16 29 £0.120 4 £152.42

5W LED GU10 14 £0.120 2 £73.58

Conference Café 8W LED Bayonet 15 £0.120 3 £126.14

Main Bar 14W LED 2D 53 £0.120 18 £779.99

Total

27

As you can see the total running costs are reduced by 76% offering an annual

saving of £4674.82!

Having made a great case for conversion on the basis of running costs the only

objection left is that of the initial costs, as the cost of LED bulbs is higher than that

of traditional ones. With that in mind let’s take a look at the cost comparison

over a four year period which is the average lifespan of an LED bulb, if left on

permanently.

Current on-going replacement costs

Area Bulbs used Number

of Bulbs

Cost per

bulb

Times

replaced

in 4yrs

Total bulb

cost

Toilets 50W Halogen

MR16 29 £2.00

16 £928.00

Hallway 50W Halogen

GU10 14 £2.00

16 £448.00

Conference

Café

60W

Incandescent

Bayonet

15 £1.50

16 £360.00

Main Bar 28W Fluorescent

2D 53 £5.00

4 £1060.00

Total Bulb Cost

£2796.00

LED replacement costs

Area Bulbs used Number of

Bulbs

Cost per

bulb

Times

replaced

in 4yrs

Total bulb

cost

Toilers 5W LED MR16 29 £5.77 1 £167.33

Hallway 5W LED GU10 14 £6.20 1 £86.80

Conference

Café 8W LED Bayonet 15 £9.73

1 £145.95

Main Bar 14W LED 2D 53 £47.60 1 £2,522.80

Total Bulb Cost

£2,922.88

Over the four year period a further saving of £126.88 which increases by a

massive £699 per year, on top of the initial electricity saving, is evident! And this

does not include the maintenance over the four years to replace the lamp that

is around £2000 So in total a massive £2126.88 has been saved just on buying

replacements over a four year period which is very impressive.

The figures are compelling with the only perceived negative being a the upfront

cost required, but such projects are generally done per area, which makes it a

lot easier to convert.

LED conversion conclusion

It’s fair to say that the up-front cost of an LED conversion remains the biggest

reason why most businesses and people are reluctant to consider making the

switch. Having said that, with dramatic improvements in energy usage, running

costs, maintenance and safety, the benefits to your business if you do are very

obvious. The government will increasingly start to penalize high energy users in

the future and this makes the decision is a 'no-brainer'.

Converting your lighting to LED can be done in very little time to your business.UK

Energy watch have helped some of the UK’s biggest and best companies

convert to LED, so if you want some advice from one of our experts for free on

converting your businesses’ lighting to LED feel free to give us a call on 01253

407592 and we’ll be happy to help or for more information go to our website

www.ukenergywatch.co.uk