3 Ways to Improve Energy-Efficiency In Commercial Buildings

Lighting is the largest use of electricity in commercial facilities. With the current pandemic and unpredictable future, saving money is more important than ever. Relumination has helped our customers save more than 4 million dollars to date, and we can help your commercial business too. Here are 3 ways we can increase energy savings and provide a more efficient lighting system for your commercial facility.

1. LED Lights

LED lighting is up to 80% more efficient than traditional lighting. LEDs are also longer lasting than traditional bulbs which will save you the time and energy of having to replace them often. LED lights are cheaper to run because they use significantly less electricity than traditional bulbs, which in return will cut out a large chunk of the electricity bill.

2. Use Sensors

Taking advantage of sensory can help cut down on costs. Using sensors in infrequently used spaces such as restrooms or storage spaces can save money by only running the lights when needed. By only running the lights when the room is occupied employees won’t have to worry about spreading germs through light switches or having to turn off and on the lights while carrying something, all while lowering the electricity bill.

3. Zoning

Most commercial buildings have the lights arranged in the original layout that they were when the building was built. Updating the layout of the lighting can help reduce costs. By rezoning your lighting layout you can take advantage of different types of lighting i.e low hanging and dimming in certain areas to help reduce costs and provide each area with the ideal lighting.

Relumination uses an effective 6 step approach to give each unique facility the best energy-efficient lighting solution. By determining your needs and creating a custom lighting plan, Relumination can increase your energy savings and provide you with a more efficient lighting system.

If you’re ready to trim a bit of your electricity and add to your savings contact Relumination today to get in touch with one of our professionals!

 

 

The Advantages of IoT Controls

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

Facilities managers and production managers always look to maximize ROI on any new system or improvements to an existing one.  Knowing the advantages of IoT controls enables managers to focus on optimizing production, storage, or distribution methods. LED lighting delivers an immediate cost reduction to any facility, but adding specific sensors to the lighting units and linking those sensors to customized software gives managers information about each area, activity, and timing.

By analyzing the data, those managers get insights into everything that is happening 24/7/365 in each part of the facility. The net result is maximum energy efficiency, performance efficiency, and improved safety.

Basic Advantages of IoT

Efficiencies of LED lighting may deliver up to 50% in energy savings. By installing purpose-designed sensors, even greater efficiencies are deliverable. The sensors detect occupancy and movement, so lighting can be reduced or increased as needed. Natural light can be “harvested” which also reduces costs. Because lighting is everywhere in a building, every piece of production and transit equipment, raw and finished stock, as well as people’s locations and movements can be tracked.

This data gives insights into optimum stocking, transport, and investment decisions, so specific questions can answered. For example:

  • Are stock items stored in the most accessible locations?
  • Is in-building movement the most efficient or do forklift drivers, for example, take an unexpected (and longer) route to avoid obstacles no one else is aware of?
  • Would changing inventory locations reduce transit costs and improve productivity?
  • If the sensors show that high energy usage activities are being carried out during maximum kWh-cost periods, can they be rescheduled to lower kWh time slots?
  • Is some production equipment operating less efficiently (resulting in lower output) than comparable equipment? If so, would investing in new plant deliver the right ROI?

Answers to these and other questions all become available by installing the right sensors to the right LED units.

The Takeaway

Smart lighting systems expand to become smart production and distribution processes. Good lighting improves productivity and safety performance. It also, when linked to action which is automatically monitored by overhead sensors, gives management comprehensive insights from the analyzed data.

This enables managers to make sophisticated and accurate decisions about how the facility is run. If you would like to discuss Relumination can support your drive for greater efficiencies, higher productivity, and lower costs, please contact us.

Dispelling 6 Myths About LED Lighting

Are you considering a lighting retrofit in your facility? LED lighting is a great upgrade, but it’s one that project managers are sometimes hesitant to make. The truth is, there are a lot of myths out there that should be dispelled. Let’s take a look at some of them so that you can understand why replacing your current lighting system with LED fixtures is the right move to make.

Myth 1: LED Lighting is Expensive

This is one of the more common myths, that LED light fixtures cost much more than fixtures of other types. These days, this simply isn’t true. Modern manufacturing processes have driven the cost of LED fixtures down—and operational costs are much lower, too. LEDs last longer, which reduces replacement costs, and they use up to 80% less energy than other types of lighting.

Myth 2: LEDs Produce Harsh White Lighting

While it may have been true many years ago that LED lighting systems typically produced bright white light, again, modern innovation has come to the rescue. Today, LED lighting systems come in a wide variety of color temperatures, which means that your new lighting system can be designed to produce light in whatever shade you need.

Myth 3: LEDs Won’t Work in Cold Environments

This pervasive myth has led many to assume LED lighting systems are unsuitable for outdoor applications or in production facilities where the temperature is kept low. However, the reverse is true: LED lights actually become more efficient in cold environments. This is because higher temperatures shorten the lifespan of electrical components—and that’s why incandescent bulbs burn out so quickly. LEDs work just fine in cold environments and may even last longer!

Myth 4: LED Lights Contain Hazardous Chemicals

This is a myth that carries over from compact florescent bulbs, which contain mercury.  Because of that, florescent bulbs must be disposed of very carefully. No such thing is true of LEDs. These lights contain no mercury or other hazardous chemicals. What’s more, they’re easily recycled just like any electronic device.

Myth 5: LEDs Can Cause Eye Damage

While it’s true that bright white lighting can be a strain on the eyes, LEDs are no more dangerous than any other type of lighting system. In a commercial facility, the key is to design a lighting system that provides proper illumination in color temperatures that are easy on the eyes. Because LEDs are now available in a variety of brightnesses and shades, designing lighting that is easy on the eyes is a simple task.

Myth 6: Dimmers Won’t Work with LEDs

Perhaps this was true in the very earliest days of LED lighting, but today, it’s very possible to dim these lights. It is true that dimming requires a different technology than what is used for incandescent or florescent lighting. However, forward-phase and reverse-phase dimmers are available to provide with the dimming effect you’re looking for.

Want to learn more about how making the upgrade to LED lighting can benefit your facility? Contact us so that we can discuss your lighting needs.

Why a LED Lighting Retrofit is so Beneficial to Commercial Industries

What is a Lighting Retrofit?

A lighting retrofit is the installation of new light fixtures that weren’t there before. In this article, I will be going over all the benefits you can expect to see with your lighting retrofit.

What Exactly are the Benefits?

One of the most apparent benefits comes from the fact that you save energy and bulbs with LED.  Customers have seen upwards of a 90% reduction in energy consumption. When replacing old technology with LED, a facility can extend the lamp life, reduce maintenance costs and provide superior lighting compared to all other lighting systems. You won’t have to worry about dimly lit rooms ever again. One little known benefit is the heat given off by LED is far lower than other lights. The build-up of heat from older lights can set off your HVAC system and give you unnecessary expenses.

Secondly, potential tax breaks and utility incentives. Depending on your residency and the kinds of lights you wish to get installed, retrofitting could make you qualified for an assortment of tax breaks, incentives and grants. These are offered through government and utility programs to encourage companies to be more green.

Thirdly, safety reasons. An adequately lit office is free from dark areas, flickering, and even poor color of light. Luckily, LED provides a clean and crisp view. The quality of the light makes it appear more natural, especially when compared to older lighting systems. Consequently, this results in far fewer workplace incidents, allowing Business owners to breathe easier. Employees will also have a much easier time getting their work done in a well-illuminated workspace, increasing productivity.  The brightness from the lights also deters criminals who may want to break in and take advantage of poor lighting.

Lighting Retrofits can drastically improve the work environment, while simultaneously saving you BIG. You can make your money back off of your savings, tax cuts, utility incentives or grants you get access to after making the switch.

Why Upgrade?

The bottom line of most businesses is to save as much money as possible. With a lighting retrofit, you can know you’re making the right call. With LED’s money-saving potential, it would not be very reasonable to stick to older lights, especially when there are potential government programs that can profoundly assist with the cost of installation. Over time, using older, inefficient lights will cost you more than if you spent the money to have an LED lighting retrofit. Overall if you’re interested in saving money while improving the safety of the work environment, contact us.

5 Simple Tips to Improve Energy-Efficiency in Your Business

As a business owner, you want to do everything you can to save money while ensuring your employees and customers have what they need. One of the ways that you can do this is by switching to energy-efficient lighting. Below are five tips that you can use to do this.

Switch to LED

LED bulbs are a lot more energy efficient than regular light bulbs. They use 50% less energy than typical light bulbs, and they last a lot longer, which is also much better for the environment. In addition, they give off a lot less heat, so this means you don’t have to run the air conditioning as much.

Take Advantage of Natural Light

If your business has large windows or skylights, take advantage of sunny days and you will see that your electricity bills are going down. When you are using the sunshine rather than lights, you are using a lot less energy.

Add Sensors & Controls

Lighting sensors and controls will help you save money by turning the lights off automatically when you are not using them. Advanced controls offer daylight harvesting, zone control, task tuning, dimming, temperature/humidity and energy monitoring.

Choose the Right Light for the Task

Match your lights to your tasks. LED is available in a lot of styles and you can use them anywhere. Simply find the right type of lighting for the area and you’ll save money.

These are just five quick and easy ways that you can save money with your lighting solutions in your business. Making your business energy efficient with lighting is a simple and quick way that you can cut costs without affecting your customers’ experience or your employees’ work. Want to know more? Contact us today and let us tell you how we can help.

How Advanced Network Lighting Controls Can Benefit Your Facility

Are you an office manager, or do you manage a warehouse or factory? If you do, then you know how good lighting is critical for productivity and keeping people safe.  More and more office, warehouse and factory managers are discovering the benefits of using advanced network lighting controls for their facilities. Here’s what you need to know about advanced network lighting controls and how it can help your facility. 

What Are Network Lighting Controls? 

Maybe you’ve heard of the term “network lighting controls” but aren’t quite sure what it means. Simply put, network lighting controls (NLC), allows a cloud-based software to maximize energy savings, improve productivity,
and maintain safe, comfortable light levels.means the ability to set lighting schedules throughout a facility at each lighting fixture rather than for an entire lighting circuit.

Basic Benefits of NLC Over Basic Lighting Controls

This lighting system is advanced or better than basic lighting controls for several reasons. For example:

  • Fixture integrated sensors that permit lighting control at each individual fixture instead of using an entire light circuit allowing for a more granular control.
  • It uses networked systems, allowing the ability to be controlled from any device.
  • Wireless technology makes the lighting system easy to install as well as reconfigure.
  • Each of the fixtures can be set, independently, for dimming and illumination.
  • By dimming or even eliminating unused lighting, your facility uses less energy, so you save money.
  • Daylight harvesting allows the lighting to adjust automatically to stay at a target level as a response to natural light levels.
  • Ability to expand to sensors to monitor non-lighting items, such as humidity, temperature, space optimization, power metering and much more.
  • It provides lighting that’s more attuned to workers within a space. As a result, employees are more likely to do a better job and produce more.

The Bottom Line:

By using advanced Network Lighting Controls, you can save time, be more productive and efficient, and save money. If you’re thinking about a lighting upgrade, contact us for a no-cost lighting anaylsis.

Lighting Education: The Importance of Energy-Efficiency

Most of us never really think about how efficient our lighting systems are. Mostly we only care if it turns on when we flick the switch, and if it actually provides enough light to see by. However, when it comes to how much energy our lights are actually burning, you should be concerned, because it affects not just your bottom line, but everyone else’s as well.

Energy efficiency matters for everyone out there, and is something we should all care about. It all starts with your electricity bill.

Your electricity bill is just the cost of doing business, and there’s no way you can avoid it short of installing a self-sufficient energy-generating system on your premises. However, you can reduce what you’re paying by switching to more energy-efficient lighting. For example, by replacing traditional fluorescent lighting system with LED, customer’s would see up to 70% decrease in energy usage. With the upgrade to LED, you’ve now increased the available control capabilities which could provide an additional 20-25% in energy savings. While these upgrades can appear more expensive at first glance, they last years longer and provide the ability for the lighting to grow with the business. Once the upgrade is complete you reap the benefits on the back end by paying less in operating costs, improving safety and quality of the environment which have been proven to result in happier, more productive employees.

However, energy efficiency is sort of like recycling; when everyone gets involved, it makes a significant difference. Imagine, for a moment, if every business cut their electricity demands for lighting in half. The sheer amount of strain that would take off the local power grid is not a small thing. When you calculate it in terms of saved resources, and pollution that’s avoided, it makes an even bigger difference. The less power that’s necessary, the fewer resources we use overall, and the easier it becomes to replace our older, more harmful systems with newer, cleaner ones.

So if you change one bulb to be more efficient, it’s the same as recycling one can. It might not do much on its own, but if you do it every time, and if other business owners, your customers, and your community get involved, it will make huge changes by the time you’ve all combined your efforts.

For more information on how you can start being more energy efficient today, simply contact us today!

5 Benefits of Recycling

Recycling is an important practice in today’s society, when more and more animal species are becoming endangered, the oceans are filled with litter, just like much of our land. Businesses can be a pivotal force for good in the world by using recycling bins.

Have one recycle bin for paper, one for plastic, one for aluminum, and one for glass. These recycle bins should be available for customers and employees. Ideally, recycling bins are the only option and there is no option for trash. You will really make a positive difference in the world if you make the decision to recycle.

1. Money

Financial income is a benefit of recycling. For individuals who recycle electronics, they can earn a significant profit from doing so. For companies who recycle, the expenses towards waste disposal will be significantly decreased. It is actually more affordable to recycle than it is to use only trash cans.

2. Conservation 

Recycling conserves limited resources. Recycling paper will save a huge amount of trees. For instance, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, approximately 8.2 million trees were saved simply by recycling paper.

3. Energy Efficiency 

Recycling is energy-efficient. Take aluminum cans, for example. You can make twenty aluminum cans from recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one brand-new aluminum can, according to http://www.pacebutler.com/blog/what-is-recycling-7-reasons-why-we-should/.

4. Community 

Recycling brings people together. A growing amount of the population is concerned about the environment and wants to be involved in creating positive change. There are a lot of groups geared towards recycling, where like-minded people come together to do just that. Businesses could have a huge impact on their customers through recycling practices and programs.

5. Job Creation 

Recycling creates more jobs than garbage does. Here are some statistics: 10,000 tons of waste creates one job, 10,000 tons of landfill creates six jobs, and 10,000 tons of recycling creates 36 jobs. To learn more, check out this fantastic article: http://www.pacebutler.com/blog/what-is-recycling-7-reasons-why-we-should/

Contact us at https://www.relumination.com.

Three Reasons Why LED Lighting Is Inherently Safe

The benefits of LED lighting such as its high energy efficiency and its long working life are well-known. However, LED lighting is also safer for business use. This could also be viewed as a cost savings in reduced insurance claims, worker’s compensation claims, and down time. Here are three safety benefits:

LED Lighting Puts Out Little Heat

CFL, halogen, and especially incandescent lights put out a lot of heat compared to LEDs. The reason is their inefficiency. Inefficient lights convert much of their electrical input energy into heat. In order to get adequate illumination from inefficient lighting, it must consume more electrical power (using higher wattage lights). This means it generates yet more dangerous heat.

Ninety percent of the power going into incandescent lights for example, converts into heat. This shouldn’t be too surprising because their filaments are little more than glowing heating elements. In fact, incandescent lights are used for heating purposes such as incubating chicken eggs.

The heat from inefficient lighting is innately dangerous given that many building materials are flammable. On the other hand, the high energy efficiency of LED lighting means that most of their input energy converts into light rather than dangerous heat.

LED Lighting Places Less Load on Electrical Systems

For the same illumination, LEDs use less energy and therefore place less electrical load on your wiring than CFL, halogen, and incandescent lights. Inefficient lighting pulls more electric current, which generates more heat in your wiring. This is normally limited with circuit breakers and fuses. However, the reduced load from LED lighting gives you an added safety buffer rather than relying on just your circuit breakers and fuses for avoiding electrical fires.

LED Lighting Has No Toxic Mercury

That is, LED lights have no mercury of any kind. Mercury has a number of toxic effects such as brain, kidney, and lung damage. Both fluorescent and mercury vapor lights contain mercury. Any person who accidentally breaks or improperly disposes these lights will expose themselves and others to mercury. In addition, disposal of these lights harm the environment. LED lighting contains no such harmful toxins.

To enjoy the economic and safety benefits of LED lighting, contact us at Relumination.

A Commercial Retrofit Is a Long Term Investment; Plan Carefully

Since most high-quality LED fixtures are rated for 250,000 hours or 20+ years of continuous 24 hour use, building owners considering a commercial lighting retrofit should realize that they are investing for the long-term.  A properly done LED retrofit requiring minimal or no maintenance will stay in place more than a decade.  Rather than relying only on the initial cost of fixtures and installation to evaluate return on investment, owners and managers should calculate the cost of ownership over the entire life of the project.

Of course, payback periods differ depending on what you are retrofitting.  For instance, changing from incandescent lighting to LED fixtures can result in a payback period less than a year.  On the other hand, retrofitting fluorescent tube fixtures with LED tubes takes a two-year payback while switching from fluorescent fixtures to LED tubes may provide a three-year payback.  Rebates and other incentives can lessen these payback periods.

Likewise, the quality of the site visit, the proposed layout, installation and customer service plan are more significant for LED retrofits than for metal halide or fluorescent retrofits requiring maintenance every 2-3 years.  While an LED retrofit doesn’t last forever, it comes close and deserves the extra care.

Considering LED’s longevity, it’s important to identify the right LED product for the project, such as LED color which varies from a very bright blue suitable for parking lots to a medium blue for an office setting and perhaps a warmer range for break areas.

Although return on investment accelerates when companies capitalize on funding opportunities, the funding process is often complex with many requirements including submitting the correct form at the right time and specific inspection criteria.  Choosing a company experienced in working with utilities and other funding agencies, really streamlines the funding process.  In addition, utilities often require that a participating contractor be in the loop to obtain funding for a building retrofit.

To optimize the return on a commercial lighting retrofit, building owners and managers should work with a partner who stays up-to-date with the latest advances in LED products and who is proficient in sourcing rebates. We’d like to share our expertise with you.  Please contact us for more information.