How Much Does LED Light Save?

When considering a lighting upgrade, one of the first questions is how much LED lighting saves. The change of lamps is generally beneficial in all types of buildings.

However, the exact savings depends on the efficiency of the old lamp and its hours of operation.

LED light savings depend on the lamp replaced and its schedule.

Savings are more significant when replacing low-efficiency lamps with LEDs. Some examples of inefficient lamps are halogen and HID. More significant savings are also obtained as the lamps’ use hours increase.

Double savings will be obtained in the second case by assuming a replacement of two groups of equal lamps that operate for 6 and 12 hours.

Estimating LED Lighting Savings

A professional energy audit is the best way to calculate the savings possible with LED lighting.

However, they can be estimated if the following information is known:

Current types of lighting
Hours of operation

For example, an HID luminaire with a 400W bulb consumes around 450W considering the ballast. If a 150W LED lamp replaces it, the total saving is 300W per luminaire.

Assuming an outdoor area with 30 of them, the total savings is 9,000 W or 9 kW. If these lamps operate 12 hours each night, the weekly savings is 756 kilowatt-hours. Annually, a total saving of 36,312 kWh is reached.

Assuming an electric rate of 15 cents per kWh, the savings are $5,897 per year. If each LED fixture has an installed cost of $400, the initial investment is $12,000. In this case, a return on investment period of slightly more than two years is achieved.

This is just an example of assumed data. However, the procedure can be applied to any lighting system. Only the consumption in watts and the hours of operation are needed.

Comparing Common Types of Lighting with LED Light

As mentioned before, savings from LED lighting largely depend on the type of lighting being replaced. Concerning the most common types of lighting, the following savings in watts can be expected:

Over 80% when replacing incandescent or halogen bulbs.
More than 50% when replacing HID lamps.
Between 20 and 50% when replacing fluorescent tubes or compact
fluorescent light bulbs.

Other LED Light Savings

To these direct savings must be added others that are frequently ignored. LED lamps have a long service life, which varies between 25,000 and 100,000 hours, depending on the product’s design. In this way, they save many lamp replacements in the long run.

By using LED lighting in air-conditioned or refrigerated spaces, there are also savings by reducing the heat that cooling equipment must remove.

How Much Does LED Light Save?

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