The long life and energy efficiency of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) has sparked excitement from consumers, manufacturers, and energy conservation groups. In fact, the US Department of Energy predicts that by gradually switching to LEDS over the next 20 years, the nation could save around $250 billion in energy costs and cut our lighting electricity consumption by half. That’s a big deal!

As LED technology continues to evolve, so too grows the efficiency and lifespans of LED lamps. Because LEDs have such long lives (estimated at 35,000 to 100,000 hours), it’s rather challenging to measure precisely how long they really do last — few groups have the patience or resources to measure an LED in various environments for 5 or more years. However, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is currently working on such a project.

So, how do we measure service life of LED systems? Well, to understand the process, it helps to know how lamp life is measured in traditional bulbs…

Measuring Life of Conventional Bulbs

The lighting industry uses the term ‘Average Rated Life’ or ARL when describing how long it takes for 50% of lamps in a particular test batch to fail. For instance, if 100 fluorescent bulbs are tested and 50 bulbs die after 10,000 hours then that type of bulb has an ARL of 10,000 hours. Although some bulbs may have failed before or after that mark, 10,000 hours was the point where 50% had died, so it becomes the ARL.

Traditional lights, such as incandescent, fluorescents, and HIDs have all been used for many decades and their various modes of failure (burned filaments, cathode burnout, electrode wear, etc.) are highly predictable. Thus, even when a new lamp comes on the market, those in the industry can accurately estimate its service life by referencing accepted statistical projections.

However, LEDs turned this whole measuring process on its head. This is because they do not have a consistent type of failure and never really burn out but simply become dim.

LED Life is Gauged by Lumen Depreciation

Without a predictable failure point, manufacturers decided to define LED life as the amount of time it takes for the light to fade to a certain percentage of its original strength. This designation is represented by the letter ‘L’ followed by a set of numbers such as:

L70 = time to 70% of original light output. There are other ratings, but this is the most common rating and is universally accepted as the standard to measuring LED life.

Still, even these numbers are highly variable depending on how and where the LED was operated. Things that may influence the LED’s life are junction temperature, operating current, the type of luminaire and the quality of the material used. These differences make defining a LED’s service life even more challenging, since the lamp’s environment can drastically influence its lifespan.

Put simply, we can’t determine the service life of an LED without considering its housing and application. This is the major reason why the NIST is conducting their LED study. They are monitoring LEDs in various scenarios with the goal of uncovering a reliable method of projecting how long LEDs will last.

Getting the Most Out of Your LED

Uncertainties aside, given the right conditions, we do know that LEDs have the potential to far out last conventional lamps. For example, compare the typical lifespans of common lamps:

Incandescent = 750 to 1,000 hours
Halogen = 2,000 to 3,000 hours
Metal Halide = 7,500 to 10,000 hours
Fluorescent = 15, 000 to 20,000 hours
Mercury Vapor = 16,000 to 24,000 hours
High Pressure Sodium = 15,000 to 25,000 hours
High Power LEDs =35,000 to 100,000 hours

Some things you can do to get the maximum life from your LEDs are to buy products that use high quality LED chips and a quality heat sink that properly dissipates heat away from the LED. Although quality LEDs which assist in reducing heat may cost extra, you’ll find you get much more service life for your money. Also, fluctuations in supply currents can shorten an LED’s life, but again, a high grade bulb should eliminate this problem.

Although the lighting industry is still learning about the efficiency of LEDs, what we currently know holds real promise for major energy savings in the future. And while the LED bulb you pick off the store shelf may not entirely live up to its 100,000 hour rating, it will certainly outperform most traditional bulbs.

One of the strongest segments of the LED commercial lighting market is site, area, street and parking lot lighting. Owners of commercial property and municipalities in particular are looking at LED solutions for new developments or to replace HID fixtures in existing applications.

In this post we will look at occupant perceptions of safety, security and visibility in parking lots. Specifically, we will review a study that uses LED parking lot light fixtures to focus on the relationship between illuminance levels and lighting uniformity and how the two affect occupant perceptions of safety.  The results are significant for parking lot lighting design and fixture selection and can be applied more generally to site, area and street lighting as well.

Lighting Design Criteria for Parking Lot lighting

Current design recommendations from the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) for parking lot lighting are found in the latest version of RP-20 (2014).

Illuminance

Illuminance values that match the physical characteristics and unique lighting needs of the parking lot need to be determined. RP-20 gives recommendations.

Uniformity

Lighting uniformity (which translates to the human perception of how evenly illumination is distributed throughout the parking lot) is expressed as the ratio of maximum-to-minimum illumination levels. The current IESNA recommendation is 15:1 (although 10:1 is commonly used). This means there can be 15 times more illumination when measured in one area of the parking lot compared to another.

A 15:1 or 10:1 uniformity ratio does not produce lighting that most people would call uniform. It will result in both bright and dark areas of the parking lot. This unevenness will likely produce feelings of insecurity for people walking to their vehicle. In addition, these dark areas can also encourage illicit behavior.

Lack of lighting uniformity is largely a function of traditional HID fixtures used in parking lots. HID lamps generate light by means of an electric arc between tungsten electrodes inside an arc tube. This arc tube can be considered a point source of light. The fixture design re-directs the light into the desired distribution. The result is often high or higher intensity illumination directly under the HID fixtures and darker areas between one fixture and the next.

With the emergence of LED, the issues around lighting uniformity in parking lot lighting can be addressed in ways that were previously difficult or impossible with HID. LED fixtures inherently provide higher uniformity compared to HID fixtures. The light from LED fixtures is generated not from a single point source, like HID, but from multiple, discrete LEDs. This fact usually allows for much lower maximum-to-minimum uniformity ratios when LED fixtures are used.

Relationship Between Illuminance and Uniformity

The relationship between illuminance and uniformity in parking lot lighting is the focus of a study by the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The LRC published results (in 2015) of a research project they conducted of occupant perceptions of the key issues of safety, security and visibility in parking lots under different illuminance levels and two different lighting uniformity ratios: 10:1 (base line) and 3:1 (improved).

The parking lot in the study measured 120 ft. x 250 ft. The researchers were able to switch between six light levels ( 0.2 footcandles to 6.0 footcandles and two uniformity ratios 10:1 (baseline) and 3:1 (enhanced uniformity).

The interviews were conducted with occupants in the parking lot at night with no full moon and minimal contribution of other nearby lighting.

The occupants perceived the lighting as safer when the uniformity was higher (3:1). Significantly, this result remained true even when the illuminance level was increased. Other research has confirmed these conclusions.

Conclusions

LED fixtures in parking lots provide a significant benefit compared to HID for increasing occupant feelings of safety and visibility -largely because of increased lighting uniformity.

This study also demonstrated that the higher inherent lighting uniformity of LED fixtures in parking lots means lower light levels are possible while not compromising and perhaps even enhancing, occupant perceptions of safety.

LED lighting is the most cost-effective and economical option to metal halide and fluorescent lighting. Initial equipment and installation costs may be marginally higher, but LED operating and maintenance costs are lower and LED systems have a longer lifespan than other lighting options. You’ll make a larger investment when you choose LED industrial lighting, but your returns on that investment will be greater and will extend over a longer period of time.

Technology objections to LED lighting are often based on misunderstandings or misinformation. For example, Industrial LED lighting is not a new technology. Rather, it has been available for many years, but only became widely available for industrial applications as LED manufacturers have developed better and more cost-efficient production techniques to expand the LED market. Moreover, LED lighting systems require no magnetic ballasts that need to be serviced or replaced. LED lights use electronic drivers that manage power and control the efficiency of the lighting fixture. Manufacturers have integrated sensing, dimming, and rapid on-off capabilities into those drivers to optimize the capability and efficiency of LED lighting systems. A well-designed and engineered electronic driver will provide more than 50,000 hours of use before requiring replacement, which is twice as much, for example, as ballasts for fluorescent fixtures.

LED Industrial Lighting Investment

The initial cost of industrial LED lighting has dropped over the past several years. Building designers or facilities managers who are considering lighting options can save costs and expenses by opting for LED lighting now, rather than waiting to retrofit existing fixtures to LED fixtures at some later date.

The tone, temperature, and intensity of LED lighting is ideal for industrial applications. Newer LED fixtures produce “cooler” light that is intense enough for demanding manufacturing environments. They work in a range of temperatures with no degradation in performance or efficiency. Control systems allow micro-adjustments for brightness or dimming, and unlike metal halide fixtures, LED lighting can be turned on and off almost instantaneously. Lastly, LED industrial lighting is ecologically-friendly. LED fixtures contain no mercury or other heavy contaminants. They do incorporate certain earth elements in their construction, but those elements are not rare and they require no special disposal permits when the fixture has ended its lifespan. Further, LED light use up to 50% less power than traditional lighting fixtures, which facilitates reduced carbon dioxide emissions from gas- and oil-powered electrical generation plants.

We have worked with several car dealerships over the years. In that span of time, we have seen every kind of car lot there is to see. From dealerships building new lots deciding to upgrade to LED lighting as a part of their construction budget and others that decide to pass on LED lighting and use older, antiquated lighting technology.

In both cases, once they do come around to the advantages of LED lighting, there’s one critical piece that dealerships (and businesses in general) overlook.

The Problem

Most of the time, when a lighting company calls upon a potential client, their focus lies in producing the biggest energy reduction they can possibly generate. This is done by replacing every light fixture on that lot with an LED fixture, citing that LED’s cut cost and there’s no reason not to replace it.

Once they have this number, they complete it with a great-looking graph that shows the type of constant savings that anyone well-versed in energy costs would have a tough time arguing. With the sole focus on ROI, the dealership signs off on the one-for-one replacement.

Fast forward 12-18 months and that same dealership reduced its energy costs but did not see a change in business. Why is that? Well, energy savings is only part of the equation when it comes to dealership lighting.

The Difference

In order to make the sale on an LED lighting solution, most lighting companies are happy to assess your current dealership and talk, in broad strokes, about an installation that merely replaces all current fixtures—a “one-to-one” replacement, as we call it. This affords them the biggest numbers in terms of savings which offers the quickest simple payback on paper.

An engineered solution developed for your dealerships offers various insights to the lighting needs of your car lot. A photometric analysis showing where your lot needs more light, where your lot does well, and how consistent your light levels are across various sections (like the front row, the interior sections, the main building, etc.) are all integral pieces to the lighting puzzle. Without this level of analysis, you might as well be working in the dark.

We develop a lighting package that balances savings with a great-looking lot. For a car dealership, lighting is a critical piece to attracting the right type of customer to your lot, getting them into a vehicle, and moving inventory off your lot. With a one-for-one replacement, there is no consideration given to where you’re directing that light, the consistency of light-levels, or even what type of LED lights would work best.  Our solutions hinge on finding the answers to these questions and giving you all the information for a more informed buying decision.

Warehouses are a critical part of the supply and distribution network for industrial, commercial, and consumer products. With advancements in logistics based technology, warehouse operators are under constant pressure to reduce their costs and to help manufacturers and shippers to store and deliver raw materials and finished goods at the lowest possible prices. Cost savings are typically achieved through reduction of overhead costs, and the most direct way to achieve this is with LED Lighting.

Warehouse lighting accounts for 50%+ of a warehouse’s energy consumption. By one recent measure, if all the warehouses in the United States were to convert to LED lighting, they would save more than $10 billion in annual electricity costs. High bay metal halide or T5 light fixtures are currently the most common forms of warehouse lighting, but warehouses are transitioning to LED’s to achieve the cost savings estimated by those recent measures.

Benefits of LED Warehouse Lighting

LED warehouse lighting generates the same or better quality light typically with less than half of the average electricity consumption as legacy lighting fixtures. Warehouse operators will typically recover all of the costs of a transition to LED Lighting in 2 years or less. Also, unlike traditional high-bay industrial lighting fixtures, LED lights come to full illumination immediately after they are powered on. Warehouses will have no down time with LED lighting while they wait for the lights to come on.

Further, an LED warehouse lighting fixture will continue to generate light at or near full capacity for 50,000 hours, and in some cases for up to 100,000 hours of continuous use. This durability reduces warehouse lighting maintenance and repair costs, as well as down time associated with interruptions in warehouse operations while lighting fixtures are repaired or replaced.

LED warehouse lighting also improves the overall safety and efficiency of a typical warehouse operation. Modern warehouses are fast-paced and always busy. Warehouse employees are charged with moving and picking products with little time for deliberation. Poorly-lit warehouses slow down these operations and bad lighting increases the risks of errors and accidents. LED warehouse lighting can be tuned to include light wavelengths that improve employee alertness and to give employees a better opportunity to see subtle details in the products they are moving, all of which further reduces the risks of errors. Moreover, different types of LED warehouse lighting fixtures come with advanced directional capability and frosted lenses that create near-uniform lighting distribution across all parts of a warehouse. Shadows and dark spots will no longer be a problem with a properly-configured LED warehouse lighting system

Operators who are seeking to reduce the carbon footprints of their warehouses will also be able to meet that goal with LED warehouse lighting. LED bulbs and fixtures include no hazardous materials that will contaminate landfills when they reach the end of their operating spans. Because it consumes less electricity, LED warehouse lighting also places lower demands on energy-generation facilities.

There are several advantages within LED parking lot lighting that you might not have initially thought about. These can come in the form of design, professionalism, and security. Just as installing lighting will have advantages in the safety of pedestrians, it can also include advances in design, professional status and attraction of a business

Protecting Your Business
Installing LED parking lot lighting protects your business in terms of the security and safety of your business’s assets. If your business has a poorly lit parking lot, then it’s more likely to attract unwanted attention from the wrong kind of audience. While it is advisable to install security systems or cameras alongside LED parking lot lighting to ensure the highest level of security and prevention of risks, LED lighting is a factor that will help towards lowering the risk of criminal activities.

Protecting Pedestrians
Installing lighting into a parking lot also improves the safety of on goers and pedestrians. While a dark parking lot can be a perfect lurking spot for criminals and thieves, a well-lit area creates a safer environment for passers-by and local pedestrians. Parking lot lighting also creates a safer environment for employees who might be working late or leaving their car in the parking lot. It is also a safety precaution in terms of driving in the pitch-black darkness, as pulling out of a parking space is a lot harder in this case. To prevent any unnecessary accidents, installing LED parking lot lighting can help.

Design
The instalments of lights in a parking lot can not only improve the safety and security of the area and your business’s assets, but it can also create a better sense of environment and design. LED Lighting will illuminate the parking lot as well as the building where the business is present, making it stand out and look more presentable.

Professionalism
Installing LED parking lot lighting gives the building and business a higher professional status, making it appear well suited and ready for any clients who might come to visit.
Businesses who don’t have LED parking lot lighting installed will appear darker than those who do, and clients visiting for meetings or shopping will be safer if the area is well lit.

 Many states and their local governments have realized the benefits of LED lighting, not just the residential and commercial sector. They have realized how LED lighting can benefit the each individual residence or business unit, leading to a huge reduction in the State’s energy usage- which is taxing to their residence. As a result to offset rising Energy costs, many States and Utility Companies offer very lucrative rebates for switching to LED Lighting.

So let’s explore some of the major reasons that make LED lighting worth the investment.

 Energy costs can be reduced up to 70-80%

The most significant benefit of LED Lighting is its huge reduction in energy costs. Electricity in most states is expensive and continues to increase. It is one of the most important resources in our daily lives. In fact, lighting is the third largest energy user in most homes.  But it’s probably the easiest area to save as well. You can start saving a whopping 70-80% right away by simply shifting to LED Lighting solutions.

By installing LED Lighting, a building or an industrial unit or even a residence can save up to 70-80% electricity. Some LED companies even claim that their products can save up to 90% energy.

When Pennsylvania Power & Light completed an installation of sustainable daylighting devices, they reported a 69% decline in energy costs from lighting alone. By replacing heat-generating electric bulbs with LED Lighting one can also reduce HVAC costs, leading to a savings of 75-80%, according to U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program.

 Return on investment

The most attractive benefit of LED lighting is its fast return on investment (ROI). Energy Star statistics show that LEDs have an ROI of 2.1 years. Since LED bulbs have a long lifespan compared to traditional bulbs, they last much longer.

LEDs are far more energy efficient and a low cost of ownership; their longevity of 50,000 hours outperforms any traditional lighting technology. And LED Lighting’s prices are rapidly decreasing to more affordable points, opening the lighting market worldwide to this new technology.

LED lights have a typical lifespan of 20 years or more. That’s more than double the expected lifespan of a fluorescent bulb.  Imagine the maintenance cost savings of not needing to change a single bulb in a building for 20 years!  This also pays off in case of street lights which are more difficult to change.

 Health benefits

There have been many researches that have shown that higher quality lighting like LED lighting has significant health benefits. According to a study by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, patients in bright, naturally illuminated rooms experienced less stress and pain and consumed 22% less analgesic medicine. The patients in these rooms were also released from the hospital 20% sooner. LED lighting can also offset the causes of seasonal affective disorder, and it has been shown to have 50% effectiveness in reducing symptoms.

 Enhances mood and productivity

A number of studies have shown that LED lighting has immense effect on people’s mood. It has been proven that LED lighting enhanced positive moods compared to poor lighting that led to fatigue. Many companies have also reported that after installing LED lighting in their facilities, productivity and moral increased. Employees were encouraged to come to work regularly because their work climate improved- as a result, absenteeism dropped by 25%.

According to Philips, by increasing light levels in a facility from 300 lux to 2000 lux, productivity improves by 8%, increases tasks performance by 16% and reduces rejects by 29%. It also makes a positive contribution to safety, reducing accidents rates by 52%. Absenteeism, general health and well-being are also improved. All of which could make a clear difference to businesses, whatever the industry is.

To learn more about LED Lighting, visit Smart Energy. to schedule an assessment, contact our office at 727-441-8228.

Referred to as tax-lien financing, Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) is an innovative way to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades to buildings.

Interested property owners evaluate measures that achieve energy savings and receive 100% financing, repaid as a property tax assessment for up to 20 years.  The assessment mechanism has been used nationwide for decades to access low-cost long-term capital to finance improvements to private property that meet a public purpose.  By eliminating upfront costs, providing low-cost long-term financing and making it easy for building owners to transfer repayment obligations to a new owner upon sale, PACE overcomes challenges that have hindered adoption of energy efficiency and related projects in our nation’s buildings.

PACE is a local government/community initiative that creates permanent private sector jobs, strengthening our national and local economies. Buildings use nearly half of the energy we consume in the United States. PACE programs help make our nation more energy independent and secure while safeguarding our environment by reducing demand for fossil fuels. The PACE financing mechanism provides a strong credit that is attractive to private sector investors and without government subsidies.  PACE is voluntary. Property owners, acting in their own self-interest, implement building upgrades that can save them money, increase the value of their property. PACE programs add value, and have gained bi-partisan support nationwide at federal, state and local levels.

Introduced in pilot programs in 2008, PACE made immediate sense to energy efficiency advocates across the country, and today, 31 states and the District of Columbia have adopted (or already had) legislation that enables local governments to offer PACE benefits to building owners.

Benefits of PACE

PACE drives spending in the local communities through the implementation of energy efficient and renewable energy systems. Major benefits of PACE are:

Both commercial and residential PACE improve consumer’s cash flow by decreasing energy needs and hence decreasing utility bills. PACE, compared to other retrofit mechanisms, is tax neutral and results in no exposure to county’s general fund. An economic study performed by ECONorthwest in 2011 predicts that every $1 million of EE/RE project spending results in $2.5 million in total economic output, roughly $250 thousand in state and local taxes, and approximately 15 new jobs nationwide.

Another study conducted in 2011 by the United States Department of Energy on the economic impacts of the Boulder County (CO) Climate Smart (PACE) Loan Program found that $9 million spent on EE/RE projects on 598 homes contributed, statewide, to more than $7 million in personal income gains, just under $30 million of total economic activity, and the creation of roughly 125 short-term jobs.

How PACE Works?

There are 4 simple steps to every PACE programs:

PACE uses the same kind of land‐secured financing districts that American cities and towns have used for over 100 years to pay for improvements in the public interest.  Over 37,000 land secured districts already exist and are a safe and familiar tool of municipal finance for street paving, parks, open space, water and sewer systems, street lighting, and seismic strengthening, among others.

PACE Programs

PACE programs work at the local municipal level and program elements vary to meet the needs of individual communities and reflect differences in state laws. Most PACE programs will share basic features:

• State and local governments establish, in law or public policy, a specific goal or objective: promoting energy efficiency as a means to promote jobs or better air quality, for example.
• A municipal government may establish a type of land or real property secured benefit district.
• Property owners within the district (or the municipality if a district is not required) can voluntarily choose to participate; those who choose not to see no change to their taxes and assessments.
• An experienced contractor will assess the scope of desired improvements. This may involve a thorough energy audit for efficiency measures and their projected savings and costs, or cost estimates for renewable projects weighed similarly against projected energy savings.
• The municipality will provide financing for the project, typically by selling bonds secured solely by payments made from participating property owners.
• Homeowners who receive a financing benefit from the municipality will agree to accept a property tax assessment or charge for up to 20 years, though shorter periods may be chosen or required by the municipality.

Is PACE near you?

The PACE program had been adopted in several counties throughout the state of Florida. Pasco County most recently established a PACE Program, and soon, Pinellas County will be a part of the PACE Program.

Contact Smart Energy to learn more about PACE Program in your area.

1. LED light bulbs last longer.
   Without a filament to break or gas to burn out, LED light bulbs can last for over 50,000 hours without showing their age. This lifespan is five times that of typical fluorescent or metal halide bulbs and twenty times longer than incandescent light bulbs.

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2. They are energy efficient.
   An incandescent light bulb loses around 90 percent of its energy to heat, leaving only the last 10 percent for light. LED light bulbs turn this around, giving 90 percent lighting and only 10 percent heat.

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3. LEDs are more colorful.
   LED light bulbs can be made in a vast array of colors without the use of extra filters, which brings down production costs. They also provide a vibrant, true to color tone than a filtered bulb.

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4. LED light bulbs work in silence.
   The days of humming bulbs came to an end with the creation of LED lights, so there’s no need to lose sanity listening to the thrum, tick, or ping of other light bulbs.

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5. They are incredibly safe.
   With so little energy lost to heat and so little energy used overall, LED light bulbs run cool, which means no burnt fingers or burnt down houses. They are extremely durable thanks to their solid-state construction, so there’s no broken glass to deal with, either.

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6. LED light bulbs are focused.
   LED lights can be made to focus without the use of extra reflectors or lenses, which means less bulk and lower cost for the same beam of light.

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7. They are the best for dimming.
   Incandescent bulbs turn yellow when dimmed, while LED light bulbs retain their true colors.

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8. LEDs are versatile.
   Thanks to the wide array of colors and shapes LEDs be made to replace most any light bulb. Their diminutive size and power-sipping nature also open up a world of possibility, from infrared remote control lights to ultra-light headlamps.

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9. LED light bulbs bring light quickly.
   Lighting up to their full brightness in microseconds, LED lights are a safer choice when reaction time is a factor, like when that car in the fast lane slams on the brakes.

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10. They promise a brighter future.
    LED light bulbs don’t contain mercury, like compact fluorescent bulbs do. Combining that with the fact that they outlast their energy efficient cousins, makes the choice to go LED clear as day.

Before EPAct expired in January 2014, this was a great incentive for building owners to make necessary energy improvements and recoup a large portion of their capital expenditure through Tax
Incentives . The proposed provisions would give up to $3.00 per square foot for energy improvements.  While the previous bill provided up to $1.80 per square foot. The new provision is now written to allow Not-for-Profits and REITs to take full advantage of this incentive.

As we know, energy is an integral part to our lives. And with rising costs, it is becoming more difficult budget for. With incentive such as EPAct, it takes the concept of energy improvements from its needed, but…to a practical use of company capital.

As of now, this provision is slated to extend through the end of 2015!