Green Business Podcast | LED Lighting Supply
Lighting The Way: LED Lighting’s Role in Sustainability
Our CEO, Neil Peterson, joined forces with Green Business Podcast Host, Eric Dye, in an interview-style podcast. In this episode, Neil and Eric discussed the sustainability and energy efficiency impacts of LED lights.
This episode can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and the Enterprise Podcast Network’s website.
Topics Covered in This Episode:
- What are the applications best suitable for LED lights and what are the biggest advantages?
- How do LED lights significantly save dollars?
- What are the environmental impacts of LED Lights?
- What impact does LED lighting have on safety and well-being?
- Where is LED technology going? Is it going to be replaced?
Interview Transcript
Eric (0:00)
This is the Green Business Podcast Show here on EPN, and now your host, Eric Dye. This is Eric Dye, and once again, welcome to the Green Business Podcast Show here on EPN, your channel for better informing you how to green your business. Hear how others have made their business green, bring awareness to a green economy, and the advantages it brings to your community as a whole. Today we’re speaking with Mr. Neil Peterson, the CEO of LED Lighting Supply, a commercial, industrial, and sports lighting pole and fan supplier, and Mr. Peterson, we thank you for joining us here today in the program.
Neil (0:34)
Well, Eric, thank you for having us. We truly appreciate it.
Eric (0:37)
Well, you’re more than welcome and really do appreciate your time in coming out. So to get things underway here today, what are the applications best suitable for LED lights and what are the biggest advantages? Let’s talk about that to kick things off here today.
Neil (0:50)
Okay, Eric. Yeah. So I think you stated in the intro a little bit, but the main areas we find LED to be the most beneficial is industrial, your warehouses, your factories, commercial applications, your office buildings, retail, and other similar types of applications. Sports, all sports, baseball, football, soccer, and everything you could ever imagine, even the driving ranges, and of course, residential, which is a huge impact on green energy itself. So from an advantage standpoint of LED lightings for all these applications, we think first and foremost is the saving money and energy over traditional HID and fluorescent. LEDs really provide a much more efficient technology than HID and fluorescent did.
Sports, all sports, baseball, football, soccer, and everything you could ever imagine, even the driving ranges, and of course, residential, which is a huge impact on green energy itself. So from an advantage standpoint of LED lighting for all of these applications, we think first and foremost is the saving money and energy over traditional HID and fluorescent. LEDs really provide much more efficient technology than HID and fluorescent did. And there are rebates and less maintenance associated with them. So again, very, very advantageous. There’s also safety and workplace advantages. More and better light coverage, resulting in fewer worker accidents. And LEDs are also free of hazardous material. So there’s no harmful material compared to the traditional lighting.
Eric (2:06)
You’ve certainly pointed out some big advantages already. Now let’s look at the financial end of things. How do LED lights significantly save dollars?
Neil (2:17)
Well, to start with, LEDs do use fewer watts to produce the same light level or more as an HID does. For example, we replace a 1000-watt HID metal halide fixture with a 240-watt LED high bay. That’s over a 75% savings and you get better light. There are also rebates supplied by most utilities for upgrading to LED. And there are also tax incentives, credits that are available for corporations, you know, from on their tax returns. It’s called the 179-D Tax Deduction. And we have a blog on this on our website, if anyone’s interested in learning more about it. And lastly, and not all of them, but of the main points, there are maintenance savings. There is no ballast. There is no need to replace the ballast. Also, LEDs have a two to four times life compared to the traditional lighting fixtures. So just again, the maintenance is greatly reduced.
Eric (3:21)
And good information. They really do appreciate that on the savings, the potential savings there. Now, what are the environmental impacts of LED lights? Get into that.
Neil (3:31)
Sure. And this is, the big one is really, the first one is really the big one. Because LEDs use 50 to 80% less energy to generate the same light and have a longer life span, they have a significantly lower carbon footprint, making them more environmentally friendly option than the traditional HID and fluorescent. Again, as I had mentioned earlier, LEDs are also free from hazardous materials like mercury, making them safer and more environmentally friendly than HID and fluorescent lighting. And that’s big. And recycling requirements are also in place for HID and fluorescent lighting when being replaced by LEDs, with most utilities requiring the recycling to happen to qualify for the rebates. So there’s a lot of mechanisms in place that make LEDs have significant environmental impacts when people move to them.
Eric (4:27)
Solid points and some great benefits here. We really do appreciate you’re joining us. We’re speaking with Neil Peterson, the CEO of LED Lighting Supply, a commercial, industrial and sports lighting pole and fan supplier. And he’s joined us here today on the Green Business Podcast Show, a part of VPN, the Enterprise Podcast Network. Now, continuing on, what impact does LED lighting have on safety and well-being? Get into that a little bit if you would.
Neil (4:52)
Yeah, sure. And there are really two main points. First of all, LEDs are instant on. If anyone has used metal highlight before, you know, HID, when you turn the light on, it takes a while to warm up, and as it warms up, the light comes on brighter, and the light clarity is much higher than HID. This provides a more productive environment for workers, no eye straining, better concentration levels, and overall workers can see better, which is very important, especially in businesses where you have factories and warehouse, and also in the work environment. It also impacts worker safety, more and better light, same within the retail environment for a better customer experience, and from a worker safety standpoint, because the light is better.
Eric (5:39)
I have a question out of curiosity as well, having worked in the sports industry some years ago, and when the power would go out, the lights obviously would go out, and it would take 15 to 20 minutes for the lights to come back. How does that work within the LED space? Get into that.
Neil (5:57)
Yeah, Eric, that’s a great question. Again, as I mentioned, LEDs are instant on, so when you flick the switch on, they’re on at 100 percent. So in that case, where the power went out of the field, and they went to turn the lights back on, they would immediately come on, and you would not have that warm up period that can take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes.
Eric (6:17)
There you have it right there. Yet another huge benefit for sure. Good stuff. Now, looking ahead, where is LED technology going? Could it be replaced in the future?
Neil (6:27)
Yeah, I mean, again, another great question. And we think it is here to stay with everything we see from customer demand, from production. You know, LEDs can, and the reason why is LEDs continue to improve as they’ve been doing over the last 10 years, with improved performance. That’s more light out with less watts, better light output and longer lasting designs. We’re actually on to the second and third generation now of energy savings that our customers have experienced. The example being we 10 years ago, we would replace a 400 watt metal highlight HID fixture with a 200 watt LED and they would get a little about a 50 to 60 percent energy savings because of the ballast. Today, we are replacing that 200 watt LED fixture with a 100 watt LED putting out the same lumen light output. So again, the customer is now getting a second 50 percent cost reduction on their energy 8 years later. And products are also getting smaller. And so there’s less material thrown away. They’re basically half the size they were 5 to 10 years ago. And there’s still many advantages coming.
Eric (7:46)
Once again, Mr. Peterson, we want to thank you for what you’re doing, for joining us on behalf of LED Lighting Supply. If you would, I’m sure listeners would like to know where they could get further details on the company. And also if they had a question or wanted to be in contact, where is the best place online to do so?
Neil (8:02)
Yeah, the best place is our website at www.ledlightingsupply.com.
Eric (8:11)
And of course, as always, listeners, you can find this link directly and conveniently within the show notes of this broadcast. Again, for your convenience. Again, Mr. Peterson, all the best. Thanks for spending a moment with us here today on the Green Business Podcast Show.
Neil (8:25)
Thank you very much, Eric, and you have yourself a great day. And you’re more than welcome.
Eric (8:27)
And you too, again, we’ve been speaking with Neil Peterson, the CEO of LED Lighting Supply, a commercial, industrial and sports lighting pole and fan supplier. And for further details, visit ledlightingsupply.com. And this is Eric Dye, and you’ve been listening to the Green Business Podcast Show, a part of EPN, the Enterprise Podcast Network. Tune in to our live location as we are streaming live 24-7 around the world at epodcastnetwork.com for slash live. You can also find our live stream on iTunes Radio and TuneIn Radio as well as the TuneIn Radio app for your listening convenience.