Environmental Impact of LED Lighting

One of the main reasons people use LED lighting is because of the energy savings this option provides.  Since the rise of global warming and environmental degradation, consumers and businesses have been pushed to become more eco-friendly and aware of their environmental footprint.  It has been an extension on businesses that falls back on their focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – a key factor of how businesses show their commitment to social issues beyond their realm of work. Showing a commitment to reducing environmental waste and carbon emissions has become an integral part of corporations displaying CSR.

Thus, because LED lights are far more efficient than regular incandescent options, they last longer and use less energy. In fact, LED lights consume up to 90% less energy than regular incandescent bulbs.

Corporations, and households, who take the plunge to upgrade their lighting systems to LED, will immediately reap the benefits that LED has to offer.

Savings on power bills  

With energy savings, comes the financial savings.

Energy costs are at an all-time high this year, and consumers are bearing the brunt of it. The increase in price over the 10 year period from 2003-2013 was 72% for electricity – taking into account the rise in CPI (shown in Figure 1). This is a significant increase, which means that households and businesses are struggling to meet the costs of their energy consumption.

LED lighting - being far more efficient than regular lighting options, offers significant savings on power bills at the same level of relative consumption. Many of ELWA’s clients have reported back savings averaging 60%.

Durability of LED                               

LED lights do not contain the filament which is found in many regular globes. This filament is prone to damage from heat and regular usage. Since LED globes do not contain this filament, they are much more durable and long-lasting.

Directional Choice

LED lights are directional, meaning that you can direct the light wherever you like. The benefit of this is that no light is wasted, given that it is tailored to accurately light certain areas. In fact, 95% of the energy in LEDs is converted to light – leaving only 5% wastage in heat. This is as opposed to regular incandescent lights, which produce light and heat everywhere around the light source – with no direction. This results in a less efficient and less attractive option of lighting.

Directional lighting is also great for accent lighting – particularly used in showrooms and galleries in order to highlight certain things.

Life span

The life span of LEDs is about 40 times more than that of regular light bulbs. LED lightbulbs last around 60,000 hours, compared to regular light bulbs which last around 1,500 hours.

This means that not only do light bulbs have to be changed significantly less often, but the wastage of bulbs is much less. Touching back on the environmental side of things, this means far less pollution from waste. Regular light bulbs also contain high mercury content, which is directly harmful to the environment and animals within it. LED lights do not contain this mercury that is found in these alternate bulbs. Therefore, along with the long life span of LEDs meaning less waste pollution, LEDs also do not contain the chemicals that are harming our environment.

Design flexibility

LED lights are very small. This means they can be used in many different ways, making them an extremely versatile light to design with. For example, light bulbs are created through combining them in bunches, strip lighting involves stringing them out one by one in a silicone cover and panels are created through distributing the lights evenly over a surface and covering it with a panel. Furthermore, they can be used in fairy lights in tress and homes, and they are not dangerous due to the very small amount of heat they produce.

Contact ELWA today to find out your best option for LED lighting on (08) 8377 6666.

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