Improve Your Bar Lighting To Give Your Patrons A Better Experience

Lighting that is well designed is a key and important feature for maintaining a well-established customer base at your bar, as well as being an appealing place to new customers. Previously, it may have been too expensive to run well-designed lights and maintain them. Now, many bar owners are discovering that they can afford LED lighting because the prices are becoming lower as the lighting industry progresses. Even if you are part of a small business, you can afford fantastic bar lighting. There are plenty of utility companies that offer rebates and credits for those who implement energy saving solutions.

LED lights for your bar will illuminate and appeal customers more than other traditional lights. If you have a hyper bar or a modern bar, your lighting should be just right for any setting. The fixtures in bars will certainly vary, but certain lights can still be considered the same. The people at the bar will not want an extreme amount of light that can ultimately overwhelm the eyes, but they will need just enough lighting that will allow them to walk or dance around. The lights in a bar do not have to be overwhelming to the eyes to produce flawless results.

The bartenders are responsible for making the drinks, and they need to see what they are making. We do not want anything to interrupt your great atmosphere, so an option would be to have strip lights under the cabinets. The lights will allow quality drinks to be made without bringing any kind of disturbance or unwanted attention to what you are doing. The customers or partygoers in the bar will enjoy the glow they see from the counter, and it can even add something to the bar’s atmosphere.

Unlike the traditional lights you may have, LED lighting will cooperate with controls, such as dimmers and sensors. When you can dim lights or adjust them the way you like, you can reduce the amount of energy that is coming from the lighting. Implementing LED lights can also be used on the outside of the bar for the parking area or an outdoor eating area. There are limitless reasons to implement better lighting for your bar.

 

Can Energy Efficient Lighting Reduce Costs For Greenhouse Growers?

When Greenhouse Growers compiled the results of their 2013 State of the Industry report, it wasn’t surprising that of the 300 grower retailers, wholesalers, and young plant growers based in the U.S. and Canada, increasing energy costs was cited as the second biggest overall worry, with small growers expressing the most concern.

Consumers are demanding any kind of produce they want, at any time of year they want it, and at affordable prices. More people than ever are spending leisure time outdoors- connecting with nature, and are dissatisfied with just laying some sod and planting a few petunias. They want hops to brew their own beer, pollen rich plants that attract bees, succulents that amaze, and native plants that complement their current landscapes.

How to satisfy all this new demand while keeping costs down? According to a Purdue University study, by using better lighting efficiency methods, such as LED instead of high pressure sodium (HPS) lights, growers could get the same yields of fruit off tomato plants using just 25% of the energy. While only 30% of the energy going into an HPS light actually gets converted into usable light, up to 50% of the energy going into an LED light gets used, and can be optimized for different wave lengths that optimize plant growth.

The study also found that each plant grown using HPS light used 1224 kilowatt hours of energy during a season; compared to just 294 kilowatt hours for LED lighting. The incredible savings on an electric bill aren’t the only benefit. Growers can avoid local power caps during high-use times or because of inclement weather, provide uniform distribution of light, encourage flowering, and maximize crop cycles during long winters or in cloudy northern areas of the world.

Many greenhouse growers have been reluctant to invest in LED lighting because of the perceived high initial cost, but according to Green Tech Media, costs are falling and the payoff time is often less than 3 years. LED lighting is the future of greenhouse lighting!

 

GE Starts A Smart LED Lighting Price War

led light bulbSmart bulbs are finally here and going green just got a whole lot easier. Did you forget to turn the downstairs lights off, but you are cozy upstairs in bed? No problem. Stop wasting that electricity and turn the lights off instantly with your smart phone or other connected device. There is definitely a demand for this product and GE is more than prepared to become the major provider meeting it.

The GE smart bulb, dubbed Link, comes in three different styles with the most expensive currently priced at under $25. However instead of designing a proprietary smart home platform, GE has paired with Wink, an all in one app that allows control over connected in-home devices, who are praised for the openness of their platform. This is an open invitation to GE’s competition to innovate and bring down the cost of their smart bulbs. Rarely does a corporate giant like GE make a move that could change their profit outcome, but the potential benefit of gaining environmentally conscious consumers is pushing them towards lowering LED bulb costs.

There has been so much speculation among adopters of LED technology that the longevity of LED bulbs has made multiple companies reluctant to try and bring down prices. Once an LED bulb is purchased, replacement may not be necessary for my years thus lowering profit to lighting companies due to decreased light bulb sales. A few more modifications in the lighting industry however, may quickly reveal the path towards affordable LED lighting in the future.

How Can I Get Lighting Rebates and Tax Incentives For My Business?

Lighting is one of the most critical parts of a business or organization. Employees can’t work, customers can’t consume, and schools and medical facilities are crippled without it. If you’ve decided to make the energy efficient and money saving switch from incandescent, fluorescent, or metal halide lighting, there’s plenty of lighting rebates and tax incentive programs to help you save on this investment.

  • · ENERGY STAR partners often sponsor rebates, sales tax exemptions or credits, and recycling incentives. Use the Special Offer/Rebate Finder to find out what offers are currently available in your area.
  • · Federal tax credits can reduce the amount of income tax your business has to pay. The U.S. Small Business Administration provides information about energy efficient upgrade tax credits for homebuilders, manufacturers, and owners or lessees of commercial buildings.
  • · The U.S. Department of Energy allows you to search for rebates and incentives that support energy efficiency by state, and keep an up to date list of nationwide programs that are available to both residential and commercial consumers.
  • · Always check with your utility company to see what type of money-saving tools they offer. Often programs aren’t limited to rebates and include energy efficient financing, light bulb discounts, lamp exchanges, retrofit incentives, new construction design savings and more.

Lighting efficiency has its advantages. Depending on the type of business you operate, lighting can account for 20% to 50%of your energy consumption. Your organization can save significant amounts of money by upgrading and taking advantage of available lighting rebates and tax credits. And, because the energy efficient lighting industry is always improving, lighting can provide some of your highest return on investment rates.

How You Can Improve Your Business’s Lighting Efficiency

If you own a small business, it is apparent that business-related expenses are an important aspect of finance to take into consideration. The need to reduce costs when possible becomes a major priority. It is hard to do this in every situation, but you can follow some simple methods to lower monthly expenses in regards to lighting. Most of your success will come from maximizing your in-office lighting efficiency.

Keep Lighting Off When Not In Use

It is important to prevent inefficient light use from happening by getting in the habit of turning lights off whenever you leave a room. While you may not think a few lights left on every once in a while can make a difference, every bulb left on adds a little more onto your business expense. Prevent leaving lights on unnecessarily to make a big impact on your energy efficiency.

Dust Off Light Bulbs on a Regular Basis

An extremely simple way to increase lighting efficiency for your business is to keep your bulbs dust-free. When your light bulbs are covered in dust, it may not shine to it’s full potential causing the need more lights to be turned on. Performing this task or having an employee do it once in a while can make a difference in overall efficiency.

Utilize Natural Light When Possible

If you often operate in the daytime, it is less likely that artificial lighting would be necessary since natural light may be available. It is possible natural lighting could create an undesirable glare, in which case artificial lighting is desired and should be used efficiently. Natural lighting can be a reasonable  alternative that will boost your company’s energy efficiency.

Invest In LED Lighting

In order to see a major change in lighting efficiency, an option is to upgrade all of your lighting to LED. While it is a major decision to make for your business, your long term savings will make it beyond worthwhile. Using a professional to get LED lighting installed is a quick and efficient way to impact your energy savings.

How LED Hotel Lighting Can Provide a Better Experience to Your Customers

Many businesses rely on repeat customers to succeed and grow as a business, and this is really no different with hotels. It is important to make an excellent impression on first-time customers, not only in the hopes of them staying again in the future, but also for the recommendations that you might receive. Fortunately, there are many ways you can work to accomplish this goal, and one of them is with LED hotel lighting.

Make Customers Feel Safer

It is not worth it to skimp on the necessities of a high-quality hotel. For instance, you should make sure hotel lighting is a top priority, and this is because proper lighting makes just about everything better. Poorly lit areas can make your customers feel unsafe, especially at nighttime, so prevent this by getting sufficient lighting throughout the entire property, ranging from the parking lot to the hallways.

Improve Safety in Parking Lots

When people are not able to see that well in parking lots, there is a higher chance of them getting into an accident, whether it means colliding into another moving vehicle, running into a parked vehicle, or hitting a piece of hotel property. Not having to deal with these problems is much better, and you can use LED lighting to provide your customers or potential customers with plenty of lighting to get around safely.

Provide a More Enjoyable Experience

Individual hotel rooms, hallways, ice rooms, snack rooms, breakfast areas, public restrooms, and lobbies should not experience problems in regard to lighting, especially because you want to provide your customers with the most enjoyable experience possible. In order to do this, you must understand the importance of high quality and sufficient lighting in these areas. Your customers should walk down the hallways of your hotel with a smile on their face and fill their ice bucket without sight being an issue.

Increase Productivity and Decrease Cost with LED School Lighting

Proper lighting in schools is a very important aspect that is often overlooked.  Electricity can take up a huge percentage of a school’s budget if not monitored closely. In fact, it’s estimated that about 25 percent of a school’s electricity will be used for the school’s lighting.

When you also factor in the amount necessary to compensate for the heat that gets generated from old lighting fixtures the cost goes up even more. The money spent on these utilities could be better put to use by making sure the general condition of the school building is in good shape, everyone is safe, and the educational environment is adequate.

LED lighting continues to grow in popularity, and many institutions are choosing to make the switch from previous lighting methods.

Safety

LED lighting produces a lower heat output than traditional lighting. Naturally, when there is a lower heat output, there will also be a reduced fire risk. The increase in efficient lighting will also make it easier to light dark hallways or areas that are likely to be vandalized which will increase the security of the building while providing a safer amount of light for students.

Educational Value

The LED lighting upgrades can productivity and concentration in students. Studies have shown that performance increases in well-lit areas. Too dark can cause a sleepy effect and too light may lead to headaches or eyestrain.

Better For Students

Better lighting in schools is better for everyone. Students and teachers will not have to worry about lights that do not stay on, or lights that will constantly flicker. Flickering lights can cause headaches for some students.

It can be very easy to only focus on the cost benefits and the environmental benefits. There are many other fantastic reasons to love LED lighting. They may not be as obvious, but they are still plentiful.

LED Lighting: Save Money and the Environment!

Want to reduce your company’s energy operating costs and consumption up to 90%? You can do this all while improving the quality of the lighting and decreasing the environmental footprint and cutting carbon emissions.

Energy efficiency is one of America’s greatest untapped sources of power, and it is possible to squeeze the most energy possible from every kilowatt-hour of electricity. Energy efficiency and conservation should be a part of your business planning. There are many low-cost steps that businesses can take to start saving energy now, as well as more detailed actions that can happen over time.

Potential tax savings are an appreciated benefit. Check with your tax advisor to see if your LED lighting upgrades qualify as capital improvements which can be depreciated over time or as a tax-deductible straight line expense.

Energy rebates are another benefit. Find out if your municipality and/or electricity provider sponsors such a rebate program that encourages energy efficient lighting retrofit projects. Utility rebates lower initial out-of-pocket costs and improve return on investment dollars. Also, improved lighting efficiency creates a positive return on your investment during the first year of installation.

Additionally, you can make your employees happier and have improved productivity and less fatigue by working under LED light, which causes less eye strain. LED lighting is 50% to 90% more energy efficient than traditional lighting and could reduce the world’s electricity use by 12% to 15%. Of the electricity consumed in the world, the large amount of 20% is used just for lighting.

Environmental grants and loans help you to find financial resources to pay for energy efficient upgrades and to finance environmental products and technologies. Search grants.gov for grant applications related to energy and environmental topics. The Department of Energy Grants and Loans has many funding opportunities for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.

Business.gov is the official business link to the U.S. Government. From their Energy Efficiency Guide, learn how to assess your savings potential, calculate energy savings, and do a financial analysis

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is the U.S. Department of Energy’s site for information and tips on energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.

Energy Star is a government-backed program that helps businesses and individuals protect the environment through energy efficiency.

Investing in energy efficiency reduces unnecessary environmental impacts and helps the economy and your bottom line while conserving fuel resources.

Parking Lot Lighting: Don’t Leave Customers In The Dark

If you operate or own a business, it’s important to protect the area, the building, and all of the employees. Installing parking lot lighting can protect your business from a safety and security standpoint. If you are running a business that does not have enough lighting, it may lead to receiving some unwanted attention from people who want to break in and steal your valuables.

Protect What Belongs To You

If your business property becomes one of those buildings that attracts the wrong kind, you may lose valuable computer equipment and other equipment your company uses to keep the daily operations running. Even if you have a security in place, there is no certainty that your building will not be broken into. It is recommended to have security systems installed, but it is also highly recommended to add adequate and quality parking lot lighting to lower the risk of unwanted criminal activities.

Protect Customers/Employees

Lighting in a parking lot will help ensure the safety of customers, pedestrians, and on goers. If people are walking in a dark parking lot, there may be some fear that someone can be hiding somewhere. With a well-lit parking lot, people will feel safer when they walk to or from their cars. You also want your employees to feel safe when they are walking to their cars after work. It can also be easier for people to have car accidents when they can’t see where they are going. Installing parking lot lighting can help prevent unnecessary accidents.

Can you imagine walking out of your building when it is dark, during those late nights? The lighting is weak, inadequate, and not all of the lights are working. What if you have forgotten where you parked? Would you feel safe walking through the parking lot, or would you wish someone would have walked with you?

You never know what kind of things can happen in a dim parking lot; that is why it is so important to have parking lot lighting. It can give people a sense of security. Everyone wants to feel safe, no matter where they are. Think of the people who make your business successful. You don’t want them to feel left out in the dark when they leave your building.

3 Benefits of Manufacturing Lighting From LED Sources

Fact OR fiction? In 2012 the United States enacted legislature that will completely phase out the production of incandescent light bulbs. By the end of this year 40, 60, 75, and 100-watt bulbs will no longer be produced.

 

FACT!

These changes are having a revolutionary impact on everything from the environment to helping businesses save money with more efficient and better quality lighting options. One of the industries that is seeing some of the largest return on investment (ROI) is manufacturing.

1. Tax Savings
By switching from traditional bulbs to manufacturing lighting from LED sources, businesses can see benefits in tax savings, energy rebates, longer lighting life, and huge energy savings.

2. Longer Lighting Lifespan
Manufacturing plants around the world are seeing up to an 85% cost reduction and an increased lifespan of their lighting up to 60,000 hours.

3. Worker Productivity 
One noticeable and unexpected benefit that businesses are achieving from LED lighting is in the area of worker productivity. In addition to being great for the environment and even better for the balance sheet, LED lights seem to cause much less eye strain in manufacturing facilities. So workers are reporting far less fatigue from the more efficient lighting, and it is estimated that they are somewhere between six to eight percent more productive because of it.

At Relumination, we help companies from many different industries, including manufacturing, to reduce energy costs; lower maintenance expenses; decrease their environmental footprint; and improve their quality of light through energy-efficient lighting solutions. No company is too big or too small. We would love to hear from you!