Many of the properties that make LEDs unique also make them ideal for business signage lighting. This includes signs on the business premises and those placed elsewhere for advertising purposes. Five of these beneficial properties are discussed next.

• Energy-efficient. While most people are familiar with this benefit, it doesn’t make it any less true. With LED lighting on your advertising signs, you can go ahead and leave them on longer because their energy consumption is so low. LEDs use 60% less power than fluorescent lighting for the same lighting levels.
• Longer lasting. While fluorescent signage lighting requires replacement several times per year, LEDs will run for years before requiring replacement. The maintenance savings are substantial, especially on large, difficult to access elevated signs such as highway billboards.
• Rugged. LEDs don’t use fragile glass tubes or filaments inside glass bulbs. They are solid state devices, which means your outdoor signage is less vulnerable to bad weather such as wind storms. This significantly reduces long-term maintenance costs in many parts of the country with highly variable weather.
• Unidirectional light. Light from LEDs don’t radiate in all directions as does light from fluorescent tubes. LEDs put out unidirectional light that travels in a single direction. This property is useful when lighting a sign with an external light. Often this consists of a light source positioned on the ground and aimed at a sign above. Most of the light emission from the LED light source reaches the sign and therefore isn’t wasted. The fuller white light also shows the sign’s true colors.
• Low heat output. For indoor signage, this saves on air conditioning in the summer and is less of a fire risk than hot incandescent lighting.