Tired of hearing about LEDs?

I know—the oxygen tends to get sucked right out of the room when lighting upgrades are suggested as the major energy conservation initiative. The mere mention of the topic leads many to think of yesterday’s news: old ideas lacking innovation.

After all, it was just yesterday that we saw the push to replace T-12 fluorescent lamps with improved T-8 and T-5 lamp technology. In hindsight, you have to wonder, was the lighting industry just unloading fluorescent inventory before introducing their shiny new LEDs? You may also be wondering, “When can we forget about lighting and move on to more impactful innovations?”

Last week, my daughter asked for help replacing a burnt-out light bulb in her small apartment. The old 300-watt Type J (R7S) halogen lamp was replaced with a 10-watt LED. The light output, while smaller, was adequate, and this one small change resulted in annual savings of $73 (not including summer HVAC savings).

It’s hard to get excited about LEDs these days, but $73 in one small apartment warrants our attention!

There’s no need to overcomplicate things on a factory level, either. LEDS use so little energy, so why invest in fancy controls? While controls still make sense, especially if you want to send a consistent message that energy conservation matters, it’s cheaper to rely on manual switches.

I see many such opportunities to improve lighting in factories. Significant rebates and incentives are still available—we should push through and get it done, even if it’s not the most glamorous project or exciting innovation in our energy performance action plans.

- Paul Stiller, Managing Director of Improv Engineers