Uncategorized - Relumination | Energy-Efficient Lighting, Reduce Energy Consumption

3 Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint in 2016

All commercial and industrial companies want to decrease their carbon footprint and reduce waste. While some view a reduction in waste as a difficulty, it’s actually quite simple to use less and shrink your consumption.

However, we’re not suggesting that you go “all in” and declare yourself carbon neutral, or that you reduce your CO2 emissions by 100%, but there are several ways that you can help lessen waste and reduce your carbon footprint.

Here are three ways that your commercial or industrial business can reduce its carbon footprint in 2016.

1. Know where you stand on carbon waste and start from there. It’s difficult to reduce if you don’t know what you use. Find out what sort of emissions your buildings emit and start setting up a strategy. Measuring your carbon footprint will help you set up a plan to reduce it. Then, after you outline a plan of attack, you can begin the next phase.

2. Look for solid reduction opportunities and put that plan in place. A handy strategy is to identify low to no-cost methods of reduction. For example:

– Reduce heating and cooling bills by setting up a waste reduction strategy on temperature settings and usage.

– Place lights on a timer or install sensors.

– Replace old lighting fixtures with energy-efficient LED bulbs.

3. Upgrade outdated systems with newer energy-conscious versions. Simple tricks that lead to less waste carry more weight than you’d imagine. For instance:

– Place darkened screen films over windows to cut cooling costs in summer.

– Consider using solar panels and wind power to use less energy altogether.

– Upgrade your company vehicles to use renewable sources of fuel will reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.

Go Green

EPACT Tax Deductions Lower the Cost of LED’s

The Energy Policy Act of 2005, known as EPACT, transformed America’s energy landscape through the use of loan guarantees, subsidies and tax incentives. Originally scheduled to sunset in 2013, the legislation has been extended, with modifications, through 2015 and looks likely to receive another extension for 2016 though no action has yet been taken by Congress.

EPACT tax deductions in Section 179d of the Internal Revenue Code provide significant tax savings for qualifying commercial buildings in three energy-efficient categories one of which is lighting. And these days installing energy-efficient, environmentally friendly lighting means installing LED’s.

Simply put, LED’s are greener than grass. Their incredibly long life means less replacement costs and less landfill waste. They use less energy, create no UV or Infrared emissions and contain no mercury.

The disincentive for using LED’s invariably centers around one factor — their high price. But that has far more impact on residential customers who have neither the area nor the usage to justify savings which, in their case, might well take decades to realize.

For commercial buildings, it’s a different story. The fact that businesses tend to use more LED’s over a greater area for a longer time each day serves to recoup their initial cost in far less time. Add Section 179d to the package with a potential tax write-off of 30 to 60 cents per square foot, and there’s no reason not to install or retrofit a building with LED’s.

Qualifying for a 179d can be somewhat onerous. The IRS mandates that an independent third party perform an on-site visit and prepare a tax report to certify the deduction. Beyond that, your company’s tax professional needs to be well versed in the provisions of the code.

Tax Deduction

Help Your Business By Implementing Energy Reduction Lighting

No matter what kind of business you own, whether you operate a large warehouse or something smaller, it’s always important to consider energy reduction lighting. In today’s day and age going green is important, not only for the benefit of the environment and the marketability of your business but also because at the end of the day, it can save you money.

Why focus on lighting?

Focusing on lighting as an emphasis for your business is important for two reasons. First, you are paying for it, and second, it makes an impression on your stakeholders. Especially if you own any type of retail or hospitality business, your lighting plays a crucial part in making that all-important first impression.

There is a reason people will talk about mood lighting, because you can create the mood or environment you want to occur in the minds of your customers by picking the correct style of lighting. If you are trying to equip a warehouse or a much larger space, lighting is important again because you are paying for the energy used, but also you want to make sure your space is nice and bright so as to avoid any accidents.

Energy Efficient Lighting

When you are redesigning a lighting plan for your business, be sure to consult with professionals. When professionals assess your lighting situation, your individual wants, needs, and requests will be taken into consideration.

Also, all the new lighting you’ll get will be energy efficient – which will result in an overall energy reduction for your business. By using less energy, you’ll be saving money – which, as you know, is always hugely important when you run a business.

Go Green

6 Things to Consider About Energy-Efficient Lighting

If you are thinking about energy-efficiency (who isn’t these days?) and about buying some of the smart building products on the market, we have some ideas to help you. Here are 6 things to consider about lighting control.

Networked Lighting Systems. One of the smart ways to save energy dollars is to upgrade to a network lighting system. These systems combine digital sensors with lighting capability and smart controls. They also give you the ability to analyze data collected by the system. You want a system that is energy-efficient, saves operating dollars while it improves the comfort of your building, and uses smart devices to your advantage. Consider the following qualities before buying.
Occupancy and Vacancy Sensors. Consider buying a system that uses occupancy and vacancy sensors. The sensors control the system by distinguishing between occupied and vacant rooms and adjusting the energy use in those rooms accordingly. To do this effectively, you need a system that can distinguish between living heat sources (your employees) and non-living heat sources (office machines). The occupancy sensor also must distinguish between humans and large inanimate objects. One neat feature available in some systems is a sensor with daylight “harvesting” capabilities. These sensors adjust the building’s artificial energy use by sensing the amount of daylight coming in through the building’s windows. Then, the system adjusts the level of indoor light correspondingly.
Improve Office Comfort Levels. Look for a system that allows your employees to adjust the lighting levels in their office space determined on specific tasks. A system that adjusts lighting based on the time of day can also help employees maintain healthier internal body clock rhythms. Adjusting light to lower levels at closing time before completely turning off the lights is an employee safety factor.
Data Collection. Networked lighting systems collect data on space utilization and space occupancy. How useful the data is depends on its quality. For example, installing light sensors in every light fixture means the data quality is high (1:1 ratio). High quality data is more useful for current purposes as well as for planning future changes. You want the data to contain a high level of detail and you want the ability to act on the information after collection.
Optimize the Network Lighting System. You want your smart lighting system to do more than turn the lights on/off. Look for a smart lighting system that can control the HVAC system, security system, and provide access control to restricted areas of your facility. A smart system can monitor how and where and when people move throughout the facility. This feature will provide security information with respect to visitors whose access you want to restrict to certain areas of the facility. The system can limit energy use in those rooms with little activity, like large conference rooms. And, in emergencies, the system sensors can locate employees and visitors within the facility.
Select a System Now That Can Adapt into the Future. When you compare the systems on the market today, remember that you want something that you can adapt to future changes in technology. A wireless system, for example, will make it easier to install now and when you redesign spaces. Selecting a system now that anticipates future technology will save headaches later.

Go Green Office Lighting

How Utility Rebates and Incentives Help Your Business

A few years ago, “going green” was all the rage, if sometimes only in theory.

Businesses across the United States made a point to sell themselves on how eco-friendly they and their products were.

Sadly, though, many of these businesses only stated what became the status quo, and few of them actually practiced what they preached

These nefarious actions made those legitimate among us look bad in the eyes of consumers. But with so many advantages and benefits to being green, it’s simply inexcusable not to try.

What’s more, utility rebates and incentives provided by the US Energy Department make going green easy, even for those who never fully followed through with their actions previously.

Because, really, all that a business has to do for more information regarding rebates, is to frequent energy.gov/savings and click on their state from the drop down menu.

For example, the results for Arizona are vast and encompass a range of commercial energy saving opportunities.

In order to find qualifications and further information, all one has to do is filter by eligibility and savings. From there, they can research ways to be more eco-friendly while saving money at the same time.

Take solar energy, for example. Over the last 10 years, California has single-handedly turned a means to conserve into a way to save.

Further, global leaders in business have lent a helping hand in legitimizing green energy.

Wal-Mart, as was reported by Forbes recently, has become a green global giant, even if their business practices are perceived as a little less than savory at times.

From the article:

Wal-Mart has installed 105 megawatts of solar panels–enough to power about 20,000 houses–on the roofs of 327 stores and distribution centers (about 6% of all their locations). That’s enough to make Wal-Mart the single biggest commercial solar generator in the country. And it intends to double its number of arrays by 2020.

Wal-Mart, among many other business leaders in the US, is changing green energy.

So while 2017 is a transition year for “going green,” businesses nationwide can still bask in the imminent glow of changing the world and consuming less. Because, in the end, earning the savings is as easy as visiting a website.

Go Green Rebate

EPAct Tax Deductions and How to Get Them

In 2005 Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, which created the EPAct tax deductions. Since then, the act has been renewed twice, making it possible for companies to take advantage of the tax deduction through 2015. But many companies are not aware of this tax deduction, or how to take advantage of it. Since the deduction is set to expire at the end of 2015, it would be beneficial for a company to look into the act and see if they qualify for the deductions.
The Energy Policy Act provides a tax deduction of up to $1.80 per square foot. It was intended that companies would perform upgrades to their facilities to meet the energy efficiency standards outlined by the act in order to qualify for the deductions. The deductions are divided into three areas for $0.60 per square foot. To qualify for the lighting deduction, a company must be 50% below the ASHRAE standard for energy efficiency metrics. A certified electrician must verify that the upgrades meet the standards for the act, but after that it is only a matter of filling out the paperwork and submitting it along with the tax filing for 2015. It is recommended that a tax professional verify that the filing for the deductions is correct.
While the intention of the act is to help companies cover the cost of making upgrades to their lighting, HVAC, and building envelope, lighting is probably the easiest and least costly upgrade that can be made. A simple change to LED lighting throughout the company is generally enough to meet the standards, which, again, must be verified by a certified electrician.
Time is running out in 2015 to make lighting upgrades, but Relumination may be able to help a business meet the lighting standards to get the $0.60 per square foot tax deduction.

Tax Deduction

How Utility Rebates and Incentives Help Your Business