Help Your Business Shine

Darren Rose, Continuous Improvement Director at CAM Specialist Support outlines the benefits of LED lighting and what you should consider when choosing a supplier.

Increasingly companies are implementing low carbon, sustainable options for their buildings.  This not only reduces costs but uses resources in a manner that doesn’t damage the environment or people in it. To reduce energy consumption and associated costs companies should implement interior and exterior LED lighting.

The key benefit of LED lighting is that it generally uses one tenth of the energy required to power other lighting sources.  This reduces electricity costs by up to 70 per cent, significantly reduces C02 emissions and energy bills. LED lighting is now available which can be used at 60 per cent consumption after midnight to help reduce energy even further. Savings can be made by choosing a company that is a Carbon Trust approved supplier. If companies want to reduce costs and save energy, unsecured interest free loans are available.

Fit and Forget

Substantial investment is required to maintain traditional lighting schemes. Traditional lighting has to be changed regularly and, if the lighting is in hard to reach areas, specialist equipment may be required, adding to maintenance costs. In contrast, the long life of LED lighting means that lamp changing and lamp failures are a thing of the past. LED lighting life is up to 100,000 hours. In a typical UK night time burning situation, this equates to approximately 25 years. No routine maintenance is required to ensure continued performance, thus costs are reduced  and the possibility of missed maintenance is avoided.

Clarity and Security

Traditional lighting sources utilise monochromatic spectrums which do not allow identification of colours clearly. When viewing colours under sodium lights, the shades of orange appear normal, but other colours appear lifeless and dull. This is because only the colours that match the light being emitted are picked out.

In contrast, white LED’s provide superb optical control and colour definition.The current generation of white LED’s have high outputs and are ideal for external areas. If you compared the safety of a car park area lit with LED lighting with one lit by general lighting, you would feel safer parking in the one lit by LED lighting.

Health Benefits

Internal and external LED lighting does not produce ultra violet light which can be detrimental to health and cause potential damage to decoration. Nor do LED lights contain toxic heavy metals or mercury.

Life-cycle Sustainability

Some companies claim to be sustainable by offering LED lighting, but this may be imported from another country, such as China. Source your LED lighting from a company which manufactures and sources products locally. For example, CAM Specialist Support uses the services of Remploy, which increases the employment opportunities for disabled people, to manufacture locally sourced LED fittings.

Use a reputable provider
Use a supplier that uses quality LED lighting. Internal lighting should meet CE standards and standards for the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS). Lighting should also be manufactured to ISO and TUV accreditation. You should also choose a company which is able to consult about the various lighting options available and which would be the most appropriate option for your business requirements. Always choose a reputable company whose staff is trained and experienced in building maintenance whilst working at height.

LED lighting options available

There are a number of different external and internal LED lighting options available, depending upon the size of your business and your requirements. For example, if you need to identify walkway areas, the LED lighting bollard provides a safe, secure passage for customers, employees and other pedestrians. Other options available include the Marlin Street light which offers up to 70 per cent reduction in carbon and energy. For flood lighting, an option provided by CAM Specialist Support is the Stingray LED floodlight, which is an extremely high performance luminary.

For a free LED lighting assessment please contact CAM Specialist Support by telephoning 020 3411 7210 or email info@camsupport.co.uk.
See www.camsupport.co.uk for further information.