Energy Efficient Lighting Incentives: The Secret to Saving Big on New Lighting

Have you thought about changing your business's lighting to LED? You've likely heard that LED can cost half as much to run, lasts much longer than older technologies, and runs cooler, allowing you to save on cooling bills. You might be held back, however, by how expensive it can be to buy and install all-new lights. Or maybe you're holding off because it seems a waste to replace lighting that's still functional.

It Actually May Not Be That Expensive for Your Business to Upgrade

Good news: there are incentive programs that can help you upgrade your lighting at a low cost. These programs were created to encourage businesses to use less energy and reduce their carbon footprint by upgrading to energy-efficient lighting systems.

There are three types of incentives: rebates, tax credits, and grants.

• Rebates are provided by utility companies and are usually based on the amount of energy that is saved by using energy-efficient lighting.
• Tax credits can be claimed by businesses on their tax returns to help offset the cost of upgrading.
• Grants are given by government agencies and non-profit organizations to cover the cost of upgrading to energy-efficient lighting.

In some areas, rebates from utility companies are so generous that businesses pay as little as $1 per light fixture, plus sales tax. Imagine you have twenty parking lot lights to replace. What might have cost $4,000 without rebates could be reduced to just $20 for all the new fixtures (20 x $1) plus the sales tax on the original value ($4,000 * your sales tax rate).

Other areas offer smaller rebates, but even these rebates make an LED lighting upgrade the sensible move for the average cost-conscious business, especially once you factor in the energy savings.

You can take a look at the types of lights that qualify for rebates—they're all high quality and high efficacy, as they are required to meet the technical requirements of the Design Lights Consortium (DLC) Qualified Products List (QPL).

But What About Waste?

Sometimes businesses look at their perfectly functional lights and think, "What a waste to throw all that out just to save on our light bill. I'll just replace them one by one as they burn out."

The real waste, however, is the excessive energy those lights are using. And that's precisely why so many incentives have been created to encourage businesses to upgrade: excessive energy use is an excessive load on the power grid. Everyone benefits from reduced electricity usage, especially when you can get the same, or better, performance from a more energy-efficient system.

Environmental concerns aside, your company benefits financially from upgrading to a more energy-efficient system sooner rather than later, and by upgrading whole sections of lighting at once rather than light-by-light.

• First of all, upgrading each fixture as they burn out costs more. It's unlikely you'll be able to leverage incentives from your utility provider to upgrade a light at a time. You also can't take advantage of quantity discounts from lighting suppliers when you're replacing just one or two lights. Finally, you'll have to pay an electrician to come out each time you replace another light.
• Upgrading lights one by one also affects your aesthetics. New 5000K LED tubes aren't going to match in color temperature, and definitely not in brightness, with the fluorescent bulbs in your other fixtures. In customer-facing areas that influences their impression of your business. But even in a back room, mismatched lighting affects the employees who use the room.
• Finally, those old lights that you already paid for at some point in the past are costing you money every day you run them. Take, for example, those 20 parking lot lights from earlier. At a 12-cent/kWh rate, twenty 400W HID lamps cost an excess of $2,620 in energy costs every year. It probably wouldn't cost even $2,602 to replace them if you take advantage of incentives or quantity price breaks. But put off replacing them and over the next five years you'll have wasted $13,000.

This is the case even if you have already upgraded to LED five or more years ago. Technology has come a long way. It used to be impressive to get 100 lm/W efficacy from an LED light; now 140 to 150 lm/W is standard with 180 to 200 lm/W becoming increasingly more common. And many utilities will cover an LED to LED upgrade as long as the new lights are at least 20% more efficient than the old.

4 Reasons to Upgrade Your Lighting Today

1. Cost Savings: Upgrading to energy-efficient lighting can significantly reduce energy consumption, which lowers energy bills and increases profits. Incentives for energy efficient lighting upgrades can offset the cost of upgrading and make it more affordable for businesses to make the switch.
2. Improved Energy Efficiency: Energy-efficient lighting systems consume less energy, which can improve a business's overall energy efficiency and reduce its carbon footprint. This can help businesses meet sustainability goals and reduce their impact on the environment.
3. Enhanced Productivity: Energy-efficient lighting can provide bright and even illumination, which can improve visibility, enhance the work environment, and increase productivity.
4. Increased Property Value: Energy-efficient lighting can increase the value of a commercial building, making it more attractive to potential buyers and tenants.

ELEDLights has helped many businesses upgrade their lighting. We specialize in leveraging utility rebates to get the lowest possible cost for our customers. In many cases, we're able to provide the rebate as an instant credit on the lighting order itself, so you'd never have to come up with the full cost of the lights at any point.

Our in-house lighting pros can also recommend the best replacement lighting for your needs, both inside and out, to get you maximum energy and maintenance savings and maximum lighting performance and longevity. Save yourself time and money by choosing ELEDLights for your lighting project.

Find out if your business qualifies for lighting upgrade rebates. Call 215-355-7200, email lights@eledlights.com or visit our Energy Efficiency Rebates & Incentives for Lighting page to get started.