How Lighting Impacts Profits: What A Retrofit Can Do for Your Company
When people think about saving money on utilities, they often think of energy-efficient lighting like LEDs. Yes, they're a great way to bring your energy bill down, but that’s not all involved in a commercial lighting retrofit. We can find many more ways to bring expenses down and increase profits.
Ways A Commercial Lighting Retrofit Can Benefit Business
Increase Worker Quality & Efficiency
We were recently called to change ballasts (a device involved in starting and operating fluorescent lights) for a doctor’s office because their lights kept going out. While we were there, we recommended LED lighting instead. They agreed to install one LED light, and the result was twice as bright as their previous set up. They then asked us to replace four more lights in their exam rooms, and it made a significant difference for their doctors and nurses.
We then went back and changed all the remaining lights to LEDs. The lighting level went from a dingy doctor’s office to a well-lit workspace, allowing staff to better serve their patients and treat ailments.
Now picture a manufacturing facility or a large workshop. Imagine how quality control could improve with optimal lighting. Employees can often work faster, see more imperfections on products, and their safety is better protected with better lighting. Optimal shop lighting can contribute to better quality products and increased efficiencies, which ultimately leads to more profit.
Reduce Maintenance Costs
A standard light bulb typically lasts one year, but an LED is built to last twenty years. LEDs also come with five to seven year warranties. For hard-to-reach lights or large quantities that get swapped professionally, companies can save money in maintenance costs with longer lasting LEDs.
Warranty tip: You can get LEDs at hardware stores and other locations, but we recommend buying them through a contractor like us. This way, you’ll get access to better warranties through our partnerships, and we can recommend the best options for you.
Improve Atmosphere for Staff & Customers
Here is a perfect example of a commercial retrofit that improves the ambience of the business at Boylan Imaging.
Picture an office setting from the early nineties. The dim lighting and the bulbs flicker, but the staff put up with it. They don’t realize that their headaches are caused by the flicker, and they sometimes lose paperwork in dark corners beneath their desk.
With modern office LED lighting, we can solve flickers which improve headaches and make the space generally better to work in. We can also install dimmers and other controls (like lumen setting and colour choice) that workers can adjust to their liking.
Now picture a restaurant. As you can imagine, warm pot lights, elegant chandeliers, and dimmable lighting can create a much different atmosphere than plain fluorescent lighting. With a commercial lighting retrofit, we work with business owners to brighten working areas like kitchens and set the mood in customer-facing areas. When the atmosphere is more inviting, the business is more inviting.
Reduce Electricity Bills
Most people know that LED lighting uses less electricity than conventional lighting. So, what other kinds of energy-efficient lighting can we install for businesses?
We can install motion sensor lighting that turns on when someone walks into an area and off when they leave, saving electricity when no one is around. We can also harvest daylight, which means that fixtures near windows are programmed to dim during the brightest hours outside. We’ve installed daylight harvesting lights in many schools and similar facilities.
We work with lighting representatives to provide detailed cost-savings analyses for companies. We show what their current system costs them, what their optimal set up would involve, and how much money they can save from the new system in the long run.
We recently provided a quote for a retrofit that would pay for itself in savings in just three years and would then save them thousands of dollars each year going forward. When you consider that an investment that pays for itself in five years is considered quick, this was a great opportunity for the business.
You can also look into government grants related to energy-efficient lighting to save money on the investment.
At Terralta, we provide free quotes because they speak for themselves in cost savings. Talk to us today to arrange a site assessment to improve industrial lighting, shop lighting, restaurant lighting, office lighting, or lighting for wherever you may be.