The Emergence Of Quality And Affordable LEDs

Copyright (c) 2013 Randy Mortensen

Twenty years ago many of us in the energy retrofit business viewed light-emitting diodes -- LEDs -- as a revolutionary development that would evolve and receive market attention when reliability and the price point achieved success. LEDs are no longer an evolving topic but are now becoming mainstream for commercial and retail applications. The emergence of quality and affordable LEDs is already a fact.

Quality LED lighting enhances design, conserves energy, increases productivity, impacts safety, security and personal comfort, all while improving bottom line financial performance. Between 25% and 30% of a typical commercial building's primary energy use is compromised of lighting. Older lighting systems produce more heat, increasing the HVAC costs for a facility -- installing LED's will dramatically reduce the building envelope heat load.

LED lighting retrofits have emerged as a viable option for general ambient lighting and I'm convinced, after overcoming years of personal skepticism, that the LED technology is the future for high-quality energy efficient lighting retrofits. PAR 38N LED Lamp

Many of the LED relight kits are even simpler and faster to install, provider greater energy savings, reduce maintenance costs to virtually nothing, and still provide the appearance and performance of a new lighting source when designed for the specific purpose and installed properly.

The Color Rendering Index (CRI) of light is crucial. A few companies have reduced variations of the light source to within 150 to 200 Kelvin -- not achievable even 24 months ago. The cheapest LEDs won't perform adequately because of the great disparity when it comes to binning. However, when quality LEDs are paired with daylight and occupancy sensors, LED retrofits can greatly reduce project payback time.

Finally, look for the warranty on LEDs to exceed five years and expect to receive full replacement prior to the expiration of the warranty period. Many manufacturers are touting burn times of 70,000 hours to in excessive of 100,000 burn hours. There are many makers of LEDs, some better than others in brightness, binning, color rendering, lamp life, heat dissipations, scalability/interchangeability, dimming, and durability. Look for good manufacturing methods, warranty and expected life. Expecting a light source to operated for more than ten years was unheard of twenty years ago and is now expected to be the gold standard in the industry.

LEDs consume up to 80% less energy than standard incandescent, fluorescent, and gas fired lamps. A typical commercial facility expends up to 25% of their electrical cost in lighting. The financial savings of LEDs are measurable and substantially impact the cost to operate the typical facility.

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