LED Lights — Longer Life and Less Maintenance

Between incentives offered by utility companies and government tax credits, commercial, industrial, medical and retail clients benefit greatly by switching to LED lights. Lighting is a primary consideration for all businesses. If your lighting is outdated, it costs you.

Why Use LED Lighting?

  • Lower Cost to Operate. LEDs use less power (watts) per unit of light generated (lumens). They offer the same amount of light for a fraction of the usage.
  • No Maintenance. LED lighting is almost maintenance free, and it stays that way for years.
  • LEDs have a longer lifetime. They last thousands of hours longer.
  • LEDs have less impact on the environment and our health. They emit less C02, have low infrared/ultraviolet radiation, are Restriction of Hazardous Materials compliant and do not contain mercury. They also don’t emit much heat, so they’re safer.
  • LEDs turn on instantly without delay. LED’s don’t flicker and are more durable.
  • LEDs offer greater cost savings. They use much less energy so the savings could be thousands of dollars a year. There are rebates and tax incentives offered for LED’s.

It’s a sharp business decision to switch to LED’s. Initial expenditures are offset by the numerous benefits and savings. Please contact Victory Lights today and start enjoying the benefits LED can provide you and your business!

LED Lighting Over Compact Fluorescent for Your Business

There are a number of reasons, as electricians, we recommend LED lighting over compact fluorescent bulbs (or CFL’s) for your business. The three main reasons we’ll discuss here are: Light Quality, Cost Effectiveness, and Environmental Concerns.

Light Quality – LED lights give off a whiter light than traditional compact fluorescent bulbs- resulting in less strain to your eyes when trying to read or focus. This is such a great benefit to reduce the strain your eyes already undergo during a day of staring at a computer monitor, spreadsheets or measurements. LED provides you with a clearer view of what you are looking at. Compact Fluorescent bulbs cast objects in a yellow glow, and light that is focused in one direction.

Cost Effectiveness – While the upfront purchase price of an LED light bulb is higher than that of traditional CFL’s, this cost pays for itself over the life of the LED bulb. According to one study done by the environmental website Eartheasy [Source: http://www.eartheasy.com], an LED light would cost $95.95 to run for 50,000 hours while a CFL bulb would cost $159.75 to run for the same period and would have to be replaced about five times during the process. Recognizing this cost savings for your business could make a real dent in your bottom line!

Environmental Concerns – Lower your business’s carbon footprint with LED Lighting! CFL light bulbs contain mercury – a highly toxic metal that poses serious health risks, while LED lights contain no such toxic chemicals or metals. Studies performed by the United States Department of Energy and scientists from Carnegie Mellon both found that LED lights are as efficient to manufacture as CFL lights and LEDs will become even more efficient in the future. With a market that’s rewarding businesses for going green by offering incentives for energy saving methods, LED lighting could benefit your business in more ways than one!

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Case Study: Anfesa Jewelers – Garner, NC

The Problem

Customer had a high ceiling with 80+ ballast operated 100 Watt High Intensity Metal Hallide lamps. Constant maintenance and bulb changes which required a lift and calls to the electrician.

The Solution

The team from Victory Lights designed and installed a new LED lighting system that eliminated the ballasts and provides crisp, clear illumination.

From the Owner

The LED retro fit was a huge task, due to ceilings being 18′ with a finished drywall ceiling. Victory went to great efforts in finding the right lights resulting the least amount of remodel/tear out of old lights, while ensuring the accurate lighting needed for our jewelry showroom. Victory was wonderful to work with and the staff was amazing.

Please visit our page on Retail LED Lighting for more information.

Broken CFL Bulbs

Broken CFL bulbs often cause immediate panic from exposure to the mercury contained in them and the possible adverse health effects. So how dangerous really is a broken CFL bulb?

According to Clean Air Expert John Roberts “Any level of mercury exposure carries potential health concerns, but due to the small amount of mercury and short duration of exposure, a broken CFL is not likely to present any significant risk to you or your family.”

“You’re talking under 5 milligrams of mercury,” he said. “That figure won’t mean much to people, so to put it in perspective: if you think about the mercury thermometers that I grew up with, it’s less than 1 percent of the amount of mercury that was in one of those thermometers.”

Although the average 4 milligrams of mercury per bulb is already a fairly small amount, some CFL manufacturers are reducing mercury content even further. The average mercury content in CFLs dropped at least 20 percent in recent years, and some manufacturers have reduced mercury to as little as 1.4 to 2.5 milligrams per light bulb.

Earth911.com offers the following tips for cleaning up a broken CFL Bulb:

  1. Before Cleanup
    Have people and pets leave the room. Air out the room for five to ten minutes by opening a window or a door.
    Turn off the forced heating and air system in the room if you have one.
    Use stiff paper or cardboard, sticky tape, damp paper towels or wet wipes (for hard surfaces) or a resealable plastic bag
  2. During Cleanup
    Do Not Vacuum – Vacuuming is not recommended unless broken glass remains after all other cleanup steps have been taken, as doing so may spread mercury-containing powder or mercury vapor.
    Thoroughly scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
    Place the used tape in the glass jar or plastic bag.
    Place cleanup materials in a sealable container.
  3. After Cleanup
    Promptly place all bulb debris and cleanup materials, including any vacuum cleaner bags used, outdoors in a trash container or protected area until materials can be disposed of. Avoid leaving any bulb fragments or cleanup materials indoors.
    If weather and other conditions allow, continue to air out the room where the bulb was broken and leave the heating and air conditioning system shut off for several hours (a study conducted by the journal Science of The Total Environment found that the critical exposure period passes after four hours).

Have any other questions about the benefits of LED over all other types of lighting? Contact Victory Lights and we can help you out!