It’s a fair question – why choose LED fixtures over other lighting options? After all, diode fixtures are the newest technology on the market, and there are proven lighting systems out there that have been around for decades, and even longer. But clinging to the past when it comes to lighting can be an expensive mistake, as diode fixtures offer a major upgrade in almost every way. Diode technology is so attractive, in fact, that major league sports teams are adopting it for large scale stadium lighting applications. And if it’s effective and efficient enough for professional sports teams, it can certainly be scaled to a commercial or industrial property of any size.
Why Business Owners Should Choose LED Lighting
Diode lighting can be used in a number of applications, including parking lot lighting, landscape lighting, arena lighting, residential or commercial complex lighting or parking garage lighting. Municipalities can even make use of the technology for street lighting purposes. In short, there are few limitations on diode fixtures, and they can replace incandescent, fluorescent, halogen, metal halides and other high output discharge lamps. But what, exactly, gives diode technology the edge? It offers several advantages, including:
- Reducing energy consumption costs – Diode technology’s chief calling card is efficiency. Diodes are about six times more efficient than incandescent bulbs, and close to 20 percent more efficient than fluorescent tubes. In larger scale projects, diode fixtures are significantly more efficient than metal halide fixtures. This is partly due to the diode’s superior engineering (diodes that emit 150 lumens per watt are on the near horizon) and partly due to the strong directional qualities of a diode fixture. Because metal halides are omnidirectional, a lot of effort has to go into redirecting and reflecting emitted light downwards. This can reduce efficiency to 30 lumens per watt or less. That’s much less efficient than diode technology.
- Offering much better control over the system – Diodes are highly controllable, as they respond instantaneously to system commands. As such, they can be switched on and off in a blink and dimmed to any level immediately. Diodes can even be commanded to flash or be tied to motion controls that maximize lighting efficiency. Metal halides, on the other hand, take up to 30 minutes to warm up to full output and their voltage properties have to be altered to allow for dimming. This means that with every layer of control, a metal halide is giving away a lot of efficiency.
- Making regular maintenance a thing of the past – Diode fixtures last up to 100,000 hours before they need to be replaced and they generate little heat, which reduces wear. In most cases, diode fixtures are near maintenance free even several years following installation. Metal halides, however, last around 10,000 hours before they need to be replaced, and as they near end of life, they become unpredictable. Maintenance costs, therefore, are noticeably higher.
It should be clear why business owners should choose LED lighting. This is just the start, though. Diode lights are being improved at a staggering rate every year, and the future promises even greater things for the technology.
