Blog

How Business Owners Can Benefit from Switching to LED Lighting

Posted on by Jennifer Castillo

How Business Owners Can Benefit from Switching to LED Lighting

LEDs have long been touted as the lighting technology of the future, but if the data is anything to go by, it’s also the present. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), almost half of commercial buildings in 2018 had LED lights installed. And that trend is likely accelerating, as fluorescent tubes are quickly being phased out for LEDs.

The case for LED lighting is strengthening, and for business owners, the time has never been better to make the switch.

Here are six compelling reasons why it’s time to transition to LED lighting technology.

1) The Benefits of LED Lighting are Instantly Available with a Retrofit

For many businesses, the initial cost and lead times associated with LED lighting have been limiting factors. The emergence of LED retrofit solutions, though, has minimized these factors.

Through retrofitting, companies can instantly access LED lighting without ripping out and overhauling the existing lighting infrastructure. In most cases, only the bulbs need to be replaced. A lighting expert can help confirm this and provide insight into what a retrofit project will include, so business owners know what to expect budget and timeline-wise. In general, though, an LED retrofit costs less and takes less time than installing a new system.

LED lighting is now as accessible as it’s ever been with retrofit options hitting the market. And unsurprisingly, many businesses are using them to make the switch to LEDs.

2) LED Lights Have an Unbeatable Energy Efficiency Advantage

Lighting represents 15-20 percent of a commercial property’s energy consumption, making it the biggest power draw for many facilities. That means the biggest efficiency gains often involve lighting upgrades. Specifically, upgrading to LED bulbs.

LEDs offer serious energy savings compared to other lighting technologies. The advantage over incandescent and halogen is enormous, but in a commercial context, the comparison is usually made with fluorescents or metal halides.

Compared to fluorescent tubes, LED lighting is about 20 percent more efficient, according to the EIA. Compared to metal halides, LED’s system-level advantage is even more impressive and up to 50 percent more efficient than metal halides.

LED lighting’s efficiency advantage is two-fold. One, LED bulbs generate minimal heat. With a metal halide, about 75 percent of the input energy is wasted in thermal emissions. LEDs also emit heat, but at a much smaller scale than other forms of lighting, meaning more of that precious power is converted into light.

Two, LED lights are directional. They can be aimed, in other words. And because they can be aimed, more illumination reaches the ground, where it’s needed.

Fluorescent, HID lamps, and most other forms of lighting are omnidirectional – as in, they emit illumination in every direction. Bulky, inefficient reflectors are needed to capture and redirect this light. The result is lower system efficiency.

3) LEDs Last Much Longer Than Other Lighting Options

LED’s energy efficiency advantage can instantly reduce operating expenses, but there’s another way LEDs help in this area. Maintenance and lamp replacement costs add up quickly with outdated lighting systems. A fluorescent tube, for example, will fail around the 20,000-hour mark. The situation is worse with metal halides, which reach this point around 10,000 hours. In fact, a metal halide lamp may lose up to 10 percent of its initial output within the first 1,000 hours. With this rapid rate of decline, businesses spend a lot of money on replacement lamps.

With LED lighting, companies can claw back most of those maintenance and replacement expenses. The typical LED bulb will provide upwards of 50,000 hours of solid performance, and many last until the 100,000-hour mark. Even better, LEDs last that long with minimal maintenance. It’s a double bonus from an operating cost standpoint.

4) LED Bulbs Can Unlock Additional Productivity from Employees

LEDs produce a high-quality light that mimics the emission spectrum and brilliance of natural sunlight. People respond well to this natural-feeling and natural-looking illumination, which often encourages higher levels of productivity.

While more research is needed, early studies show that installing LED lighting comes with a slight productivity boost among workers. The boost is modest (a few percentage points), but multiply it among hundreds or thousands of employees, and that modest jump in productivity can shorten the system’s ROI by several years.

5) Tax Incentives and Rebates are Available with LED Lighting Solutions

There are a few tax write offs and incentives that can sweeten the pot when switching to LED lighting. Made permanent in 2021, Section 179D of the Internal Revenue Code allows qualified building owners (including commercial building owners) to deduct up to $0.60 per square foot when upgrading interior or exterior lighting solutions. To qualify, the improvements must reduce energy consumption by 25 percent or more.

Rebates are another option and are available in most parts of the country. Utility companies offer rebates because they have their own energy savings goals to hit, and one way to do that is to incentivize facility owners.

Thousands of products qualify for rebates where applicable, so consulting with a lighting professional is recommended. A lighting expert can point out which LED lighting products qualify for a rebate and how much a company can expect to save on its new technology.

6) LED Bulbs Can Be Easily and Safely Disposed Of

LED lighting is considered safe and non-toxic enough that it can be disposed of in the company’s general waste stream. That’s not the case with fluorescent tubes, which contain enough toxic mercury to be hazardous to the environment. Many municipalities require specialized disposal methods to deal with fluorescent tubes – an additional use of resources that isn’t necessary with LED lighting.

LED Lighting Offers Better Efficiency, Longevity and Performance for Business Owners

Older lighting technologies are entering their twilight, so to speak. Incandescent bulbs are practically history, T12 fluorescent tubes are phasing out, and it’s clear that the U.S. is moving toward LEDs as its next large-scale illumination solution.

It’s a switch that many business owners have already embraced because of what LED lighting offers. With superior energy efficiency, lifespan, performance and durability, commercial facilities are better with LED lights.

The Incandescent Bulb Ban: Details and Alternative Lighting Options

Posted on by Jennifer Castillo

The Incandescent Bulb Ban: Details and Alternative Lighting Options

On August 1, 2023, an impactful piece of lighting regulation went into effect. The Energy Independence and Security Act, more than 15 years in the making, finally became official at the start of the month and has put new efficiency standards in place.

The most notable is the minimum required lumen-to-watt ratio for newly manufactured lights. All new bulbs must output at least 45 lumens per watt, a threshold that incandescent bulbs cannot meet. The result is a de facto ban that will take most, but not all, incandescent bulbs off the market.

Let’s address the ban’s details and what consumers can do to adapt in response.

How Will the Incandescent Ban Affect Consumers and Manufacturers?

Multiple lighting regulations have been passed in recent years, and they follow the same pattern as the incandescent ban. Technically, it’s not a ban, because consumers are permitted to use their existing incandescent bulbs (and any they can find to purchase) until they no longer work.

The ban’s teeth are really felt on the manufacturing side because new incandescent bulbs cannot be made as none are capable of meeting the 45-lumen minimum.

Manufacturers have steadily been pulling their incandescent products, but this trend will likely accelerate until they are impossible to buy anywhere. At that point, alternative lighting solutions will be needed.

Which Incandescent Light Bulbs are Getting Banned?

Although most incandescent lights are included in the manufacturer ban, there are a handful of exceptions. They include:

  • Appliance lamps, such as oven lights
  • Black lights
  • Bug lamps
  • Colored lamps
  • Infrared lamps
  • Left-handed thread lamps
  • Plant lights
  • Flood lights
  • Reflector lamps
  • Showcase lamps
  • Traffic signals
  • A small number of other specialty lamps, like marine lights

These lights do not need to meet a minimum lumen requirement to be manufactured, sold, or utilized.

What is the Reasoning Behind the Incandescent Bulb Ban?

The Energy Independence and Security Act was originally conceived as a bipartisan piece of legislation, proposed by the Bush administration. Then, like now, the act was intended to improve energy efficiency among U.S.-based lighting solutions. The hope is that improved energy efficiency will save consumers $3 billion or more in utility bills. Also, the hope is that the new regulations will reduce carbon emissions by hundreds of metric tons every year.

Incandescent bulbs are being targeted because they are the least energy efficient lighting technology on the market. As a piece of early 19th-century engineering, that’s not a surprise. The problem is the metal filament, which is heated to more than 2,000 degrees Celsius to produce light. About 90 percent of the energy injected into an incandescent bulb is wasted on heat, so only a small portion is used to produce illumination – the definition of inefficient lighting.

LED Lights are an Effective Alternative to Incandescent Bulbs

With the ban in place, it’s likely that consumers will gravitate to high-efficiency options in order to stay ahead of future regulations.

LED bulbs are poised to be that high-efficiency option for the vast majority of applications. LED light bulbs output close to 100 lumens per watt, so they exceed the required minimum with plenty of room to spare.

Of course, LED lighting isn’t a new technology for most people. It’s already in use in residential and commercial properties throughout the country. In fact, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) found that about half of commercial buildings were already running LED lighting back in 2018. That number is likely much higher today.

LED Retrofits Make Switching from Incandescent Bulbs Easy

LED lighting has improved greatly in recent decades. Some of the initial pushback against LED lighting technology was based on perceived quality issues like undesirable color temperatures and flickering. Those issues were always minor and fixable, and now they have been addressed. Today’s LED bulbs can generate a wide spectrum of color temperatures, including warmer tones that incandescent lamps are known for. Further, LED lights generate illumination that’s superior in brilliance, quality, and spectral range to other mainstream lighting options, like HIDs and fluorescents. LED systems are more efficient than all other major lighting technologies.

The only remaining issue for many businesses is the initial costs associated with purchasing LED lighting, but the cost of LED lighting has declined rapidly, especially when tax incentives, rebates, and retrofit solutions are factored in.

LED retrofits are an emerging solution for companies that need to boost their lighting efficiency but don’t have the capital to invest in an entirely new system.

During an LED retrofit, the existing lighting fixtures are preserved, along with most of the underlying electrical infrastructure. In some cases, ballasts may need to be replaced with LED drivers, but there are some retrofit LED lamps that can also function with traditional ballasts.

Because only the bare minimum is replaced – often just the bulbs – companies can easily minimize their upfront costs while still attaining the energy efficiency, longevity and performance advantages associated with LED lighting technology.

Work With an Experienced LED Lighting Expert for Solutions to the Incandescent Bulb Ban

While many companies have already moved on from incandescent bulbs, nearly 20 percent of commercial facilities still relied on this outdated form of illumination in 2018. If your facility is among them, it’s time to formulate a lighting transition plan. Incandescent lighting supplies will continue to become more scarce over time. Again, this is a pattern seen with other lights that have come under recent regulatory scrutiny – such as T-12 fluorescents.

However, this is a switch that many businesses are eagerly welcoming. That’s because LEDs aren’t just future-proofed against future regulations – they’re also inexpensive to operate and maintain, while providing excellent lighting performance.

The Benefits of LED Retrofitting

Posted on by Jennifer Castillo

The Benefits of LED Retrofitting

In 2018, almost half of U.S. commercial buildings were fitted with LED lighting. Five years later, LED is now the nation’s leading lighting technology. No matter the industry or the facility, LED lighting offers several benefits, and it’s as accessible as ever with so many retrofitting options.

It wasn’t too long ago that facility managers were caught in a tough dilemma: Keep relying on an inefficient, outdated lighting system, or invest in a new solution.

As LED lighting engineering scales up – and LED products become less expensive – new solutions are offering better and better ROIs. Investing in such a solution makes sense for new construction.

But for existing facilities with existing lighting solutions? There’s a cost effective third option – retrofitting. It’s a term you may have encountered while researching commercial lighting options, but what does it include and why is it a popular alternative to a new LED lighting system? Read on.

What Does an LED Lighting Retrofit Include?

A from-scratch system may include building out a frame for the lights, installing canopies, installing electrical components like junction boxes, placing fixtures, and matching the right LEDs to those fixtures. That’s a lot of material and labor, which drives up the project’s cost.

During an LED lighting retrofit, though, the existing frame and canopies (and perhaps some of the electrical components) can remain in place. The only part of the system that is replaced is the lamps. In many instances, it’s also beneficial to replace existing ballasts with LED drivers, as these are purpose-built to regulate electrical flow into LED lights. That usually means better efficiency, performance, and controllability.

The LED lighting industry has exploded with product offerings, to the point where there is now an LED lighting alternative for nearly every popular lighting application or fixture design. Residential, commercial, industrial – LED lighting technology has been adapted for each setting.

Here are some examples of LED retrofit options:

  • LED panels and troffers
  • LED linear tubes and panels
  • LED downlights, including recessed downlights
  • LED high and low bays
  • LED stadium and sports lighting
  • LED parking lot lighting
  • LED street lighting
  • LED cove and cabinet lighting

It’s rare for any technology to be adapted for so many applications so quickly. What’s driving this march toward LED dominance? Building owners have several compelling incentives to switch to LED lighting, and that drives demand.

Five Reasons to Consider an LED Lighting Retrofit

What, exactly, is pushing the LED retrofit revolution? LED lighting offers several notable advantages to any facility, including:

  • Superior energy efficiency – LED’s energy consumption advantage is a well-worn topic. The first, most heavily advertised benefit of LED lighting was its excellent energy savings, and that benefit remains true.LED bulbs have a huge advantage over incandescent lights, but it’s rare for a commercial facility to rely on those. What’s more common is fluorescent lighting, which was still in use in 68 percent of buildings back in 2018. That’s according to the Department of Energy. That number has surely dropped since, and part of the reason is because an LED light is simply more efficient.

    Compared to fluorescent lamps, an LED light requires about 20 percent less power to produce the same amount of light. That’s a per-lamp energy savings, so the more fixtures being retrofit, the greater the return on investment.

  • Minimal replacement and maintenance costs – Energy efficiency is LED’s primary calling card, but a close second is its extended lifespan and low-maintenance design. Built on solid state technology (and not wire filaments or gas chambers), there are few failure points in LED lighting engineering. And fewer failure points mean fewer failures.Add it up, and LEDs last much longer than other lighting technologies. Again, compare LEDs and fluorescent, and there’s a clear winner. LED lamps, on average, provide 50,000 hours of high-quality illumination, and often much more. Fluorescent bulbs, though, tend to fail around the 10,000-hour mark. Fluorescent tubes may be cheaper upfront, but that cost advantage is quickly washed out by repeated replacements and reduced lighting performance.

    Since LEDs last much longer, facilities can reallocate much of their lighting material and labor costs.

  • Improved lighting performance – LED retrofit lighting offers full-spectrum, high-CRI options that emit brilliant, flawless illumination.This is especially important in exterior settings, such as parking lot lighting, street lighting, and security lighting applications.

    LED lighting is directional lighting. In other words, it can be aimed without relying on heavy, expensive reflectors. And because it can be aimed, it’s easier to distribute the light and easier to ensure more of that lighting reaches ground level. Older lighting technologies, such as metal halides, emit omnidirectionally and don’t enjoy this advantage.

    In practice, this improved system efficiency means LED lighting systems are brighter and emit more evenly. That enhances long-range visibility for people on the ground and helps light up areas at night.

  • Improved employee performance – Office buildings running fluorescent lighting expose employees to low-quality illumination for hours at a time. This can cause issues like fatigue and headaches, both of which employees are more likely to report when working under fluorescent light.LED illumination, by contrast, is similar to natural sunlight in spectral emission (the exact wavelength pattern that a source emits). Unsurprisingly, facilities with LED retrofits tend to report modest improvements in productivity among their staff. And while the effect may be modest per worker, the effect scales up like it does with LED’s energy efficiency per fixture.
  • Cost-reducing tax incentives – There are also a few tax incentives on the books to speed up a project’s ROI.For example, under Sec. 179D, facility owners may qualify for a deduction up to $0.60 per square foot by improving the building’s energy efficiency. Specifically, the building’s power consumption must be cut by at least 25 percent to qualify. But, as lighting tends to be one of the largest sources of commercial energy consumption, an LED lighting retrofit can get buildings most of the way there.

    This is just one example, too. There are additional tax-saving tools, such as creative ways to carry losses forward or to factor in depreciation. Together, these can significantly reduce ROI times.

LED lighting also minimizes a facility’s energy footprint and ensures compliance with future lighting regulations – many of which are already having an impact on fluorescent lighting supplies. The future appears headed toward an LED-only future, and retrofitting now ensures those facilities are ready.

Ready to Retrofit? Talk to an LED Lighting Expert to Make the Upgrade

LED lighting retrofits can be quick and relatively simple to pull off, but most commercial projects should be closely overseen by a certified electrician and lighting expert. Depending on the facility’s age and the condition of its existing lighting system, significant electrical work (including rewiring) may be necessary to safely retrofit LED lighting.

For this reason, the strong recommendation is for commercial property owners to speak with a trusted lighting team before choosing any fixtures or system components. Not only will this ensure best safety practices are observed during installation, a lighting expert will also speed up the fixture/lamp selection and acquisition process, which can reduce lead times and optimize the return on investment.

How to Light a Shooting Range

Posted on by Jennifer Castillo

How to Light a Shooting Range

Safety is paramount at a shooting range, and this approach to safety extends to the range’s lighting. Every firing line must exhibit excellent visibility so shooters have a clear line of sight to the target. Visibility is also important in staging areas, where each shooter must prepare their firearm for use.

Poor lighting is a safety risk for shooting ranges, and it also affects shooter performance. To improve in both areas, many facility managers target their range’s lighting system for improvement. Modern lighting technologies, including LED linear tubes, are flexible in design and can be adapted for shooting ranges without difficulty.

Five Features That Shooting Range Lighting Should Offer

Shooting ranges demand a lot out of their lighting solutions. To ensure optimal visibility, safety and reliability, your lighting system should offer the following features:

  • Low-glare, even illumination – Glare is obnoxious to deal with during normal conditions. At a shooting range, glare can be a serious safety hazard. Your shooting range lighting should come with low-glare features, which may include shielding or specialized optics to prevent glare at most viewing angles.

Shooting range lighting must also be evenly emitted, with no hotspots or shadows affecting visibility. Both can interfere with a shooter’s perception and result in unsafe firearm handling. Quality engineering is what ensures even illumination.

  • A low-profile build – A low profile, compact fixture design will keep your lighting out of harm’s way. A low profile build also gives installers additional options in positioning the fixtures, so they can be installed closer to firing lines and staging areas without getting in the way.
  • Superior dust protection – Discharging firearms produces lead dust. While ranges are equipped with ventilation technology to prevent this dust from building up, it may still reach the lights. If lead dust does infiltrate fixture housings, it can interfere with the light’s performance and cause early failure. Your shooting range lighting should be designed with dust protection. Look for IP ratings, as they detail the level of dust and moisture protection for each fixture.
  • Neutral color temperature – A neutral color temperature sits between warm and cool on the color temperature spectrum. Neutral colors are preferred because they make it easier for shooters to see targets and differentiate between colors at a distance. If your range uses colored targets, neutral white fixtures are what you’re aiming for.
  • Extended lifespan – No matter the business or facility, lamp replacement costs can add up. Legacy systems require frequent lamp replacements, so switching to a longer-lived light will reduce operating costs.

Reducing lamp replacement frequency is particularly important for shooting ranges as lights must be replaced as soon as they go out, and during replacement, the range will need to be shut down for safety reasons. Longer lasting fixtures allow the range to operate for longer periods without interruptions.

What Type of Lighting Works Best in Shooting Ranges?

Given the above requirements, shooting ranges around the nation are upgrading their lighting to LED solutions. LED lighting become the frontline choice quickly in the lighting industry, and it’s being adapted for a variety of settings.

For shooting ranges, LED lighting provides a few notable advantages. They include:

  • Energy efficiency – LED technology is the most energy efficient form of lighting on the market. Compared to legacy options like fluorescent lighting, LED fixtures can reduce electrical bills by thousands year-over-year. LED’s efficiency is a major driver of its superior ROI – an ROI that you’ll reach faster if your lights operate for long stretches at a time.
  • Durability – LED lamps are more durable than legacy bulbs and are not nearly as fragile. With their improved durability, your LED lights are less likely to fail due to mistakes during installation or maintenance.
  • Safety, even when broken – In the event that an LED fixture is broken, no toxic chemicals or materials are released as a result. This isn’t true of older fixtures. Fluorescent tubes, for example, include a small amount of mercury that is released if the tube is ruptured. That’s an immediate health hazard and requires special disposal processes to manage.
  • Controllability – LED lighting is compatible with modern lighting controls, including dimmers, timers, and occupancy controls. Dimmers are a popular addition to shooting ranges, as law enforcement personnel frequently train in low-light conditions. LED lights can also be color-controlled, which allows emergency personnel to train while exposed to intense red and blue light.

These engineering features makes LED technology a top option for shooting ranges, but what types of fixtures make the most sense?

Ceiling-mounted sportslighters or high bays work for many indoor ranges, as long as the ceiling is high enough. Pole-mounted sportslighters can work for outdoor ranges, as some LED lights are designed to throw illumination forward. This offset spread pattern allows installers to place lighting poles well out of firing range.

Setting up Fixtures for a Shooting Range? A Lighting Expert Can Provide Photometric Analysis

As effective as LED lighting is, it’s highly recommended that you work with a lighting expert prior to installing new fixtures or lamps. That’s because an experienced lighting designer can optimize your new system’s performance through photometric analysis. During photometric analysis, the designer uses software to model a space and simulate different lighting solutions. They can also simulate placement to determine optimal positioning.

Photometric analysis ensures you get the most lighting bang for your buck. It’s used to maximize visibility levels for every square foot of your facility, while minimizing power consumption. This additional cost efficiency will reduce the system’s ROI – an ROI that’s already expedited due to LED’s energy efficiency and longevity.

Four Reasons to Use LED Lighting for Sports Fields

Posted on by Jennifer Castillo

Four Reasons to Use LED Lighting for Sports Fields

Sports fields and stadiums rely on high-output, high-reliability lighting to ensure optimal visibility at field level and in the stands. Until recently, this lighting was delivered using outdated technologies like metal halides or high-pressure sodium lamps. While these legacy lighting systems are capable of high outputs, they’re inefficient, short-lived, and limited in functionality.

Efficiency, longevity and functionality are just a few of LED’s advantages, along with several others. Unsurprisingly, professional venues are making the switch to LED stadium lighting, too. More than half of MLB stadiums have switched, for example, as well as several NFL stadiums. And if LED lighting is sufficient for professional-level athletics, it’s more than capable for high school and neighborhood fields.

Is it time for your venue to transition to LED lighting? Here’s four reasons why many other venues have made the switch:

LED Lights Reduce Operating Costs

LED lighting offers a double cost-saving advantage to sports stadiums and any other large-scale project. First, LED lights offer unsurpassed energy efficiency. This energy savings alone is enough for many to consider LED sports lighting. And the larger your system, the greater those savings.

A 400W metal halide light, for example, can be replaced by a 200W LED light that offers just as much high quality illumination. That’s a 50 percent cut in electricity usage per lamp, which can mean hundreds per lamp, depending on the type of fixtures the sports field is currently operating.

LED’s longevity also minimizes maintenance costs, which are a part of a lighting system’s year-over-year expense. A typical LED stadium light will provide between 30,000 and 50,000 hours of high quality illumination before replacement is likely required. Compare that to metal halides, which drop about 20 percent of their lumen count within a few thousand hours of operation. Most metal halides are out of commission by the 10,000 hour mark, and many fail before that. High pressure sodium lamps last longer, but still fail before they hit 20,000 hours.

Add it all up, and this means you’ll need to replace a metal halide four or more times before a single LED replacement is required. And you’ll switch out a high pressure sodium lamp twice, at least, before that LED burns out.

Fewer lamp replacements will reduce purchasing costs, clearly, but that’s not all. Sports field and stadium fixtures are mounted on tall poles, some as high as 100 feet. Accessing these fixtures requires special, and therefore expensive, equipment. Reducing those calls to maintenance will further expedite your system’s ROI.

LEDs are Flicker-free and Do Not Require a Warm-up Period

An LED system is more than a cost-saver, though. In many ways, it offers comparable or superior performance to legacy lighting, especially for a sports field. One important advantage is LED’s flicker-free lighting quality. LED lamps emit a steady stream of flawless illumination that isn’t marred by distracting flicker.

More importantly, though, LED fixtures do not require a warmup period before they reach maximum output. They generate 100 percent of their rated output within moments of switching on, so they can be turned on right before sundown and still provide enough illumination for night-time playing conditions. Compare this instant-on functionality to metal halides, which take so long to warm up that they must be switched on well before the sun sets. That’s a lot of wasted energy and wasted money.

And if the stadium’s lights are fitted with advanced lighting controls, LEDs can save additional power while warming up. That’s because they can be brought up slowly as the sun fades, and only brought to maximum output right when it’s needed.

LED Stadium Lights Offer Excellent Illumination Quality and Visibility

Early versions of LED lighting lagged behind legacy options in lighting quality, but current generation LED fixtures have caught up in this area. Now, LED lights generate even, brilliant illumination ideal for excellent field-level visibility.

LED fixtures are built with secondary optics that ensure evenly metered illumination, free of flaws like hotspots or shadows. Also, current generation LEDs are available in high-CRI models. A lamp’s CRI (color rendering index) refers to its ability to accurately render colors, so the higher a light’s CRI rating, the easier it is for people to distinguish colors at a distance.

When the ball’s flying during an intense game, LED’s enhanced CRI makes it easier for players and spectators to follow the game.

LED Fixtures Can Be Shielded and Placed for Low-glare Results

One of LED lighting’s benefits is its directionality. Due to their engineering, LED fixtures emit illumination in a tighter spread than legacy technologies. Metal halides and fluorescent lights, for example, radiate illumination in all directions. LEDs don’t do this, which allows installers to precisely aim where the light goes.

In application, this means LED lighting can be positioned and modified so that it produces minimal glare. LED sportslighters are available in several light distribution patterns, including offset patterns where the fixtures can still emit high levels of illumination on the field, without being anywhere near the field of play.

Some LED fixtures can also be shielded to prevent light emission in certain directions. Shielding is normally done to prevent high-brightness fixtures from emitting illumination into the air and causing light pollution. This same approach can also be used to prevent glare from affecting players and viewers during a match.

LED lighting is reliable, durable and energy efficient. It emits minimal heat, works well in all conditions, is highly controllable, comes with an extended lifespan and produces clean, brilliant illumination. There are many reasons why LED lighting is becoming the first choice for athletic venues, including professional sports stadiums.

Another reason for LED’s gaining popularity is a new one – it’s accessibility. In the past, it was prohibitively expensive to transition to LED lighting, but there are now retrofit solutions that can be integrated into existing lighting systems. Retrofit LED solutions can be used to replace outdated lighting components at the fixture level or lamp level, so there are multiple options – along with multiple price points – to choose from. That means the advantages of LED lighting are available to all sports fields, from neighborhood parks to world-class stadiums.

What are the Different Types of LED Lights Available

Posted on by Jennifer Castillo

What are the Different Types of LED Lights Available

LED technology is taking over the lighting industry. There are many reasons why, including LED’s versatility. LED fixtures have been adapted for numerous applications, and this engineering evolution is still in progress.

In fact, there’s an LED light for nearly every use and setting. Residential, commercial, industrial, decorative, indoor, outdoor – LED bulbs can be used everywhere. Here, we’ll take a look at the wide world of LED fixtures, and the role they play in each application.

Outdoor LED Commercial Lighting: Parking Lot, Wall Pack, Security and Sign Fixtures

In exterior commercial applications, LEDs are prized for their energy efficiency and excellent brightness. LED light bulbs generate high quality output that renders color well and distributes lumens evenly. This makes the technology an excellent choice for the following applications:

  • Parking lot lighting – LED parking lot fixtures offer excellent visibility at night and at long ranges – perfect for improving safety. Another big advantage: LED lighting is directional, so it can be distributed and aimed with precision. In fact, these lamps are available in several distribution patterns, so lighting designers can optimize ground-level lumens without any light trespass.Parking lot LEDs are available in several color temperature options, including warm, cool, and neutral white.
  • Wall pack fixtures – Wall pack LEDs function like other wall pack fixtures in that they’re mounted to the exterior facade of buildings, parking garages and other structures. From their elevated position, wall packs can provide an extra layer of illumination for general visibility purposes. However, they excel in security lighting applications. In this role, wall pack fixtures can be tied to occupancy sensors (motion or IR) and primed to illuminate when someone walks nearby. That’s ideal for general, safety, and security applications, especially if surveillance cameras are programmed to engage automatically when the security lights flash on.
  • Sign fixtures – LED lighting is an effective display option, too, and can be used to illuminate signage at night. Gooseneck fixtures, for example, are highly adjustable and have an eye-catching bend that stands out. LED gooseneck fixtures are mounted close to the target sign and fitted with an LED that distributes illumination like a spotlight. The result is bright, sharp and attention-getting.

Outdoor Venue Lighting: Sportslighters and Decorative Pole Fixtures

LED technology can be scaled up for the largest venues in existence, including professional sports stadiums, rodeo arenas, tennis courts and municipal parks.

LEDs can be integrated into the oversized displays you’ll see at professional sports venues. Most of them are LED video walls, which offer superior resolution and color richness, compared to Jumbotrons. Some large-scale displays are made with direct view LED panels, like microtiles. These direct view panels can be scaled up to nearly any degree, can be shaped or curved, and are easier to maintain.

In smaller venues, like neighborhood tennis courts, skate parks and the like, pole-mounted LED lights are a reliable choice. Quality lighting poles are made from galvanized steel, coated to protect against corrosion and available in several shapes, sizes and heights. With their design versatility, LED light poles can be adapted for any area.

For lighting park paths and neighborhoods, decorative poles and post top fixtures are a popular choice. LED posts are shorter than standard lighting poles and are ornamentally designed.

Landscape Lighting: Bullets, Floods, Bollards and Path Fixtures

LED bulbs have also been adapted for landscaping applications. Effective in residential and commercial settings, LED landscape lighting is available in several fixture designs. They include:

  • Bullet fixtures – Bullet fixtures function like spotlights in a landscaping setting. They fire a tight beam of illumination that’s ideal for lighting trees and building facades. Bullets are also easy to conceal, especially when they’re mounted on the ground close to the intended target.
  • Flood fixtures – Floods are the opposite of bullets. They cast a wide, short-distance beam that fills an area with bright light. Floods are ideal for illuminating a backyard and extending the home’s functional space at night. They’re also effective for illuminating entire building facades and other points of interest outside, like a garden or fountain.
  • Path fixtures – Path fixtures sit low to the ground – usually under 18 inches – and softly illuminate any adjacent path. They’re helpful for visually pointing out where walkable paths and landscaping are located. LED path fixtures are reliable, can run on low voltage (for better safety), and can be attached to photocells or timers for maximum efficiency. They’re also available in a huge number of designs, so they can be aesthetically matched to any property.
  • Bollards – Bollard lighting is named after the bollards you’d see at a dock or in a parking lot. They look like simple posts, ranging in height from a couple of feet to eight feet high. They serve the same function as path lighting, but are more appropriate for larger properties, given their larger size and visual impact.

Indoor Commercial Lighting: Bays and Linear Lighting Fixtures

For interior commercial applications, LED’s efficiency, low maintenance, and controllable design make it a cost saver for facilities.

When department stores, warehouses, manufacturing facilities and industrial facilities upgrade their lighting, they often do so with LED bays or linear fixtures. Bay lighting is either mounted to the ceiling or suspended from it, and it provides high-output general illumination for large interior spaces. LEDs have been adapted for both high and low bays, so they can be mounted to ceilings ranging from 12 to 45 feet. LEDs have also been adapted for linear (rectangular) and UFO (circular) fixtures. UFOs are more common, but linear bays are highly effective for illuminating long, narrow spaces like warehouse aisles.

LED linear lighting fixtures are also popular options in commercial applications, including office and retail applications. Linear LEDs are frequently used to replace fluorescent tubes, where they can provide more efficient and better-quality lighting.

LED Lighting is Available in Nearly Every Form and Fixture

LED lighting offers a long list of advantages, including design flexibility. It can be incorporated into almost every lighting application possible and scaled up or down as needed for any setting.

LED lighting technology has come a long way in a short time. A decade ago, only the most plugged-in industry experts could have seen the rapid rise of LED fixtures. Now, the technology is poised to become the number one choice for every lighting application.

What is the Retrofit Process for LED Lighting?

Posted on by Jennifer Castillo

What is the Retrofit Process for LED Lighting

LED lights are improving all the time, with more efficient, longer lasting and better performing fixtures constantly being introduced. LED lighting represents more than half of the lighting market already, so it’s safe to say that LED lighting solutions are here to stay.

Most business owners recognize the benefits of adopting an LED lighting system, but accounting for procurement and installation costs is less clear. If your organization doesn’t have the funds for a new lighting system, retrofitting LED bulbs is a viable option. Through retrofit solutions, facility managers can attain the advantages of an LED lighting system without the cost of total replacement.

What the LED Lighting Retrofit Process Looks Like

If your organization works with an experienced lighting installer, then the retrofit process is fairly straightforward and looks like this:

  1. The lighting team performs an audit and site survey – It’s impossible for lighting installers to know what they’re up against until they review the organization’s facilities. This may include studying the building’s drawings for where fixtures are placed, along with performing a physical inspection of existing fixtures.

With this information, the installation team can perform an energy audit and ascertain how much money the company can save with a retrofit. An energy audit will also reveal where power is being wasted by the existing system, so targeted improvements can be made.

  1. A photometric plan may be developed for the building – Commercial and industrial facilities must meet certain lighting requirements when installing new fixtures. This includes minimal lighting levels (measured in foot candles), depending on the application. Lighting an office building, for example, requires a different set of fixtures and different lamp positioning than a grocery store.

To account for a building’s unique size and space layout, lighting installers may produce photometric drawings for the project. Photometric modeling allows lighting designers to simulate various lighting solutions for their client. During the system design, the designer can move lights around and try out different lamp models to see which approach works best.

Once complete, the designer will provide photometric drawings to the client and project management team so they can verify the project’s details. This includes which fixtures will be used for the project and how many fixtures will be installed.

  1. The retrofit fixtures and lamps are installed – With a plan in hand, the installation team can get to work accessing the fixtures and installing the new lamps. Depending on the exact fixture model being used, the fixtures themselves may need to be switched out. Additional wiring may also be necessary, and this may greatly increase the project’s complexity. If wiring is required, working with lighting professionals is highly recommended.

A Few Reasons More Facility Managers are Retrofitting LED Lighting

Switching to a new lighting solution is a significant commitment, so why are many facilities transitioning to LED lighting? There are several reasons, including:

  • Improved energy efficiency – LED lighting is the most energy efficient on the market. Compared to legacy lighting technologies like incandescent and fluorescent, LED lamps generate more light per watt. In some cases, this can be a difference of 70 percent or more, depending on what type of lights are being replaced.

With lower electricity consumption, organizations can recoup their investment quickly while transitioning to greener lighting solutions.

  • Reduced maintenance costs – LEDs are a product of modern engineering and are built to be more durable and reliable than previous lighting technologies. While the typical fluorescent tube is rated for around 10,000 hours of performance, LED lamps offer 50,000 hours of light, or more.
  • Added controllability – While retrofittable LEDs aren’t as controllable as a brand new LED fixture and lamp, they can still be used with dimmers and some other controls. Compared to legacy systems, LEDs can be controlled with greater precision and without placing additional stress on the lamp – which is often the case with fluorescent lamps. With better controllability, your new LED lights can be configured to output at varying levels, saving money when lighting isn’t needed in certain areas.

What is the Typical ROI for a Retrofit LED Lighting System?

With the above advantages, LED retrofitting can offer a quick ROI, though it depends on the scale of your project. When assessing potential savings, many facility managers focus solely on energy efficiency.

Another major factor to consider is the reduction in maintenance. Since LEDs allow facility managers to control their maintenance costs, an organization’s ROI may be as brief as a couple of years. Typically, the ROI attached to a retrofit solution is between three and five years, but even then, that’s a rapid return compared to other facility upgrades.

And once a company reaches the ROI threshold with their LEDs, the system will continue to save the organization money year after year.

The Cost of LED Retrofitting Depends on a Few Different Factors

It’s impossible to accurately estimate the cost of an LED retrofit without first surveying the organization’s facilities. During the site survey, the installation team will take note of a few important cost-related factors. These factors include:

  • The number of fixtures to retrofit – Part of the project’s cost is related to the number of fixtures to procure and install. The more fixtures the organization needs, the more the retrofit will cost.
  • Whether the existing fixtures can take retrofit LEDs – Some existing fixtures are not compatible with retrofit LED lamps, though many are. During the site survey, the lighting team will note what fixtures are present and whether they can be used with a retrofit installation.
  • The impact of utility rebates – Organizations are incentivized to modernize their lighting systems through utility rebates. These rebates may be offered per-fixture, which means they can add up quickly for large projects. Once rebates are factored in, the ROI time may be reduced by several months or more.

LED Lighting Retrofits are an Ideal Option for Lighting Upgrades

If your organization is interested in LED lighting technology, but not in the cost of a brand new solution, retrofitting the LEDs offers an ideal compromise. LED light retrofits require minimal alterations to your existing infrastructure, and they offer comparable performance to a new system.

Unsure which type of retrofit fixture to target? An expert lighting supplier and installer can help. There are many LED retrofit lamps to choose from, including retrofit T4 and T8 tubes. Some retrofittable LED fixtures are also designed to work with an existing ballast or with no ballast at all. In short, there are many retrofit lighting products to choose from, and an experienced lighting team can help find the right solution for your retrofit.

Replacements for Fluorescent Tube Lighting

Posted on by Jennifer Castillo

Replacements for Fluorescent Tube Lighting

Obsolete, inefficient lighting is always being replaced by newer technologies, and it appears that fluorescent tubes are next in line. This is nothing new – incandescent bulbs are nearly extinct – but with the rise of high-efficiency options like LED lighting, fluorescent tubes are now a target for regulators.

In fact, some fluorescent lighting is already banned from manufacturing. If your facilities rely on it, you may be having issues sourcing fluorescent fixtures. In “light” of this, many facility managers are transitioning to LED lighting technology.

Compliance isn’t the only benefit, either. LED lighting has significant efficiency and longevity advantages that can help control operating costs.

What Fluorescent Tubes are Being Phased Out?

In 2009, the Department of Energy (DOE) instituted a ban on T12 tubes that was put in effect starting on July 14, 2012. Manufacturers were allowed to exhaust their remaining raw materials to produce and sell T12s, and extensions were handed out to a couple of major manufacturers.

Also, the DOE’s ban did not include high-CRI T12 fluorescent tubes, but several states have already extended the ban to include them. These states include:

  • California
  • Colorado
  • Hawaii
  • Maine
  • Maryland (starting in 2024)
  • Massachusetts (starting in 2023)
  • Nevada (starting in 2024)
  • New Jersey (starting in 2023)
  • Oregon (starting in 2023)
  • Vermont
  • Washington (starting in 2023)

In addition to high-CRI T12s, these bans also include high-CRI T8 tubes. It’s likely that as LED tubes become more popular, additional states will institute their own extended restrictions on fluorescent tube manufacturing.

What are the Replacement Options for Fluorescent Tube Lights?

We’re in the middle of a major lighting transition, and the number of LED replacement options is growing all the time. A few of those options include:

  • LED retrofit tubes – Retrofit tubes are a popular choice for property owners because they cost less than a full fixture replacement, while still providing most of the benefits that come with LED lighting.
    LED retrofit tubes are designed to fit into existing fluorescent fixtures, and they come in a few varieties. Type A tubes are designed to wire into the existing fluorescent ballast. Type B tubes are wired directly to the mains and bypass the ballast altogether. Type C tubes come with an integrated driver that’s used instead of fluorescent ballasts.
    There are advantages and limitations with each retrofit tube type. Type A tubes are quick to install but may have compatibility issues with the existing ballast. Poor ballast/lamp compatibility isn’t an issue with Type B tubes, but installation is considerably more difficult and subject to more risk. Type C tubes provide the best performance but are the most expensive retrofit tubes on the market.
    In all three cases, though, retrofit LED tubes are less expensive than full fixture replacements and provide the energy efficiency that LED lights are known for.
  • LED T8 fixtures with an LED tube – There are also full fixture replacement options that incorporate the LED tube and fixture together. While these are more expensive than retrofit options, a full fixture replacement also unlocks the full capabilities of LED lighting technology. This means two things:
    1. Full fixtures replacement means there’s no fluorescent ballast involved. That improves energy efficiency further because the ballast is responsible for some of the power draw.
    2. Full fixture replacement are also compatible with modern lighting controls. This includes dimmer and occupancy controls, both of which can improve lighting performance and energy efficiency further.
  • LED panels or troffers – LED panels and troffers can also replace your fluorescent tube fixtures while retaining the same footprint. Panels lie flush with the ceiling and provide frame-to-frame illumination while LED troffers are much like fluorescent troffers – recessed into the ceiling and finished with a tube fixture.
    LED panels and troffers provide the advantages of LED lighting with the modern aesthetic that comes with these fixtures.

How Can LED Tube Lights Improve Facility Operations?

For availability reasons, facility managers will eventually need to transition to LED lighting. As long as there is budget room, there’s no reason to wait. Compared to fluorescent lights, LED tubes are an improvement in nearly every way. For example, LED lighting can:

  • Reduce operating costs – LED lighting is the most energy efficient lighting technology available, which is why the DOE and state regulators favor it. That energy efficiency can also bring a facility’s energy costs down considerably. LED fixtures also last much longer than other lights. That means lower lamp replacement and maintenance costs. Together, these savings mean LED retrofits provide a quick ROI.
  • Allow for better control – LED lighting is the best fit for advanced lighting controls. These controls can improve efficiency, sure, but they can also enhance security and productivity by providing illumination where it’s needed most, when it’s needed most.
  • Produce higher quality illumination – LED lights have come a long way in quality since they were first introduced decades ago. As a replacement for fluorescent tubes, LED fixtures provide light that’s closer to natural sunlight in emission range. People tend to feel comfortable when subjected to natural light, compared to the greenish cast that fluorescent lights produce.

Need a Replacement Option for Fluorescent Tube Lighting? Consider an Upgrade to LEDs

T12 fluorescent tubes will soon be removed from the market entirely, and it likely won’t be long until T8s and T5s follow suit. Facility managers have decisions to make with their lighting, and many are deciding to upgrade to LED fixtures.

With rapid advancements in LED fixture technology in recent years, LED lighting is now accessible to most properties. That’s true even if you are operating with a tight budget. Retrofit tubes mean you don’t have to start from scratch, and LED lamps soon pay for themselves with their minimal energy and maintenance costs.

Why is LED Lighting Better for the Environment?

Posted on by Jennifer Castillo

Why is LED Lighting Better for the Environment?

As technology advances, one of the benefits that comes along with it is reduced environmental impact. This is also true of LED lighting, which offers several positive environmental impacts on top of reduced operating costs.

LED’s green-friendly engineering is a primary reason why it’s a top choice for street lighting, parking lot lighting, sports field lighting, and many other large-scale applications. Here, we’ll take a closer look at what gives the technology its green reputation.

LED Lights Offer Unmatched Energy Efficiency and Minimal Heat Loss

The engineering behind LED lighting is far more sophisticated than that offered by legacy solutions. LED fixtures are driven by efficient semiconductor dies, which generate illumination by exchanging electrons at the atomic level. Compared to heated filaments or pressurized gas chambers, much less energy (in the form of heat) is lost with semiconductors.

At the lamp-level, this means LEDs spend more of their energy on light. LEDs convert 80 to 90 percent of the energy they receive into illumination. Compare this to metal halides, which only convert about 25 percent of received power into light.

At the source and system level, LED lighting consumes far less energy per watt than all other alternatives. That added energy efficiency is good for the environment, good for society and good for your company’s budget.

LED’s reduced heat radiation also reduces the load on HVAC systems, which is a downstream boost in energy efficiency.

LED Fixtures Prevent Excess Light Pollution

Light pollution may not harm air quality or build up on roadsides, but it can affect human and animal health all the same. Excess nighttime uplighting can produce ecosystem-destabilizing effects, such as altering migratory patterns or confusing nocturnal animals.

Too much nighttime illumination also has deleterious effects on people. It can disrupt sleep-wake cycles, exacerbating sleep disorders, and depression and anxiety. It can also result in fatigue, brain fog and various mood-related issues.

Engineers have been hard at work on the problem and some LED fixtures represent a viable solution. For example, shielded LED fixtures are designed to only emit illumination below the horizontal, and emit reduced output at angles close to the horizontal. Further, these fixtures are built with anti-glare optics, so they reflect less illumination up into the sky.

Another advantage of LED lighting is its controllability, and this controllability also makes LED fixtures an environmentally friendly option. With advanced controls, LED bulbs can be automatically dimmed when no one is nearby, reducing energy consumption. And this may be welcome in residential areas, where lighting trespass can be a significant nuisance.

LED Lamps Last Longer and Don’t Require a Secondary Disposal Stream

Compared to legacy lighting, LED fixtures last far longer. An LED bulb will provide around 50,000 hours of quality illumination before replacement is indicated, which means years of reliable operation between bulbs.

Fluorescent tubes provide between 8,000 and 15,000 hours of light, while metal halides are around the same (maybe a little less). That means you’ll replace a fluorescent tube or metal halide fixture up to six times before a single LED lamp replacement is required.

Reduced lamp turnover minimizes your facility’s operating costs, and it also minimizes material waste. Even better, LED fixtures do not need a dedicated waste disposal stream for safety reasons. That’s because LED light bulbs contain no mercury, which is a highly toxic substance. Mercury, though, is built into some of the components inside fluorescent lighting. When fluorescent lights break, it’s a safety hazard that will disrupt facility operations. LEDs aren’t hazardous in the same way, so they can be disposed of in your company’s general waste stream.

LED Fixtures Have a Lower Carbon Footprint

From manufacturing to disposal, LED lighting comes with a much smaller carbon footprint, compared to legacy lights. According to data tracked by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, an incandescent bulb is responsible for 4,500 pounds of carbon dioxide every year, while an LED bulb is responsible for only 450 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions every year – a 90 percent reduction. An EPA study found that if every residential property replaced a single incandescent bulb with an LED bulb, it would reduce carbon emissions by more than 9 billion pounds every year.

And that’s just residential properties. At the commercial, industrial, and municipal levels, switching out legacy systems with LEDs will greatly shrink your company’s carbon footprint.

LED Lighting is More Effective When Used with Photometric Analysis

In many cases, companies must decide between environmental compliance and cost. It can be a difficult balance to strike, but with LED lighting, the cost and environmental benefits line up. With their excellent energy efficiency, extended lifespan and modern fixtures designs, LED lights are the first option for cities and businesses looking to go green.

And with their impressive ROI, reliability and illumination quality, LED lighting is also a top choice for companies that just want to save on the margins.

In either case, organizations can get the most out of their new LED lighting solution by working with an experienced system designer and installer. An experienced designer, for example, can perform a photometric analysis of your project. Photometric designs use a 3D model of the property to simulate various lighting solutions. The goal is to produce the most illumination possible with the fewest fixtures possible, taking care to avoid lighting trespass.

If an Organization Prioritizes Sustainability and Green Initiatives, LED Technology is the Ideal Lighting Solution

With their cost-saving and green-friendly benefits, companies are quickly making the shift to LEDs. If your organization is also considering the same, there are retrofit fixtures that will provide most of the benefits of a new LED lighting system at a lower cost. With multiple price points available and electricity costs on the rise, it’s an opportune time to make the transition.

 

How Does LED Lighting Combat Light Pollution?

Posted on by Jennifer Castillo

How Does LED Lighting Combat Light Pollution

Humans and animals are adapted for dark nights. Our circadian rhythms – the daily biological cycles that govern our biological clocks – are dependent on those dark nights, and lighting pollution threatens them. Lighting pollution refers to excessive amounts of night-time illumination, often resulting in “skyglow.” That’s the orangish haze that blankets urban areas at night and creates elevated lighting conditions around the clock.

Health and lighting experts agree that lighting pollution is a problem, but LED lighting technology suggests that the problem is solvable.

What Are the Risks of Excessive Light Pollution?

The American Medical Association (AMA) has considered lighting pollution and believes it should be minimized when possible for better human health. The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) of North America, one of the industry’s largest associations, agrees with the AMA’s assessment.

Light pollution can cause melatonin levels to drop in people, and lower levels of melatonin are associated with several health problems. They include:

● Sleep deprivation and poor-quality sleep
● Increased stress and anxiety
● Fatigue
● Headaches

Medical researchers are concerned that there could be long-term effects associated with low melatonin levels, but it’s too early to know for sure.

What’s important is that the AMA and IES agree that lighting pollution and trespass should be minimized when possible. One way to do this is with LED lighting. Some current generation fixtures are designed with light pollution-limiting features that can make for a darker night sky.

LED Fixtures Can be Engineered with Full-Cutoff Capabilities

Older street lighting systems feature non-cutoff or semi-cutoff fixtures that do a poor job of limiting light pollution. A major cause of skyglow is the uplighting that street and parking lot fixtures emit. If allowed to radiate in all directions, high-output lights generate a considerable uplight effect.

To prevent this, fixture manufacturers have created cutoff and full cutoff options designed to work with LED lighting solutions. Full cutoff fixtures can go a long way in reducing light trespassing. These fixtures provide 100 percent shielding at angles 90 degrees and above relative to the light’s nadir and 90 percent shielding in the 80 to 90-degree zone.

Fixture shielding works especially well with LED lamps because LED lighting is directional by nature. It doesn’t radiate in all directions like most other lights. Instead, it emits in a tighter spread that can be easily aimed. Even when LED lamps are shielded, they can generate high levels of output where needed most – at ground level.

Minimal Glare is also Possible with Modern LED Fixture Designs

Another significant cause of light pollution is glare. It doesn’t play a major role in skyglow, but glare is uncomfortable for people and animals. It also reflects off of surfaces, so it can trespass in unpredictable ways.

LED fixtures also offer a solution here. Some LED streetlights are built with advanced optics that act as diffusers, spreading the illumination out evenly instead of creating intense bands of light.

LED technology is ideal for this approach because LED light sources are made up of many tiny diodes. Each diode is fitted with a primary optic that orients each diode’s light in the right direction. A secondary optic fitted over the lamp diffuses this evenly distributed illumination, eliminating glare in the process.

LEDs are Available in Warmer, More Comfortable Color Temperatures

When LEDs were first adopted by cities for use in streetlights, it quickly became clear that people prefer warmer illumination at night. This was especially true in neighborhoods. Cooler color temperatures – blue light, in particular – boost attention and alertness. While this is nice during the day, at night it’s less welcome.

In the past, high pressure sodium lamps were responsible for delivering this warm illumination that people prefer. High pressure sodium bulbs, though, create low quality light that is terrible at rendering colors. That has a negative effect on long-range visibility and, therefore, safety.

When first introduced, LED lighting came in a limited variety of color temperatures, most of them on the cool side of the spectrum. Now, LED lighting is available in a full range of color temperatures, including warmer tones that people find more comfortable.

Pairing LED Lights with Modern Lighting Controls Helps Manage Output Levels

One of LED’s standout advantages is its controllability. LED lights are compatible with all modern lighting controls, giving cities and property owners better management over their lighting system.

In fact, LED streetlights are at the forefront of the smart lighting control movement. Cities around the world are experimenting with networked LED lighting systems, as these allow for centralized control at the utility. With networked controls, utilities can manage an entire system’s worth of lights at the fixture level. If the fixtures are integrated with dimmers, utilities can reduce output and light pollution in a specific area of the city. Neighborhoods are an obvious choice for this approach.

Smart controls can also use data picked up by integrated sensors to dim up or down. For example, when motion or IR sensors pick up a nearby motorist or pedestrian, the light can automatically come up in output. When no one is nearby, the light dims back down.

This isn’t just effective for light pollution. It also promotes much better energy efficiency and can reduce loads on the city’s grid.

Light pollution is a problem, but LED technology offers solutions

Night-time lighting has extended our species’ capabilities well after the sun goes down, which is great for productivity. It isn’t great for our health, though, but the lighting industry is quickly developing solutions. Many of those solutions are most effective when paired with LED lighting technology. With their superior engineering and controllability, LEDs can be adapted for a range of light pollution-limiting initiatives.