Author Archives: Timm Stifter

About Timm Stifter

National Accounts Coordinator: Timm Stifter – Timm started working for Gear-Source® in 2006 and was originally hired as an accountant. He later become a member of the sales team and aided in daily operations. Upon succeeding in that role, he was asked to joined LED Source® in 2009 due to his vast accomplishments and excellent performance history. He now heads up our National Accounts team, taking care of clients as diverse as Starbucks, Massage Envy, Hurricane Grill & Wings, Marriott and many more. Timm was a student at Trinity College, Dublin where he studied literature and finance.

LED Lighting Adds Beauty, Consistency and Value

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Ashley Furniture HomeStoreMy friends have been looking at me in a funny way for the last 7 plus years.  You see, I’m in the lighting business, so every place I enter, the first thing I do is look up.  It’s a habit now that seems to drive my wife crazy.  I’m curious how the lighting looks, if all of the color temperatures match, if they have the correct lighting levels, etc.  Until I started doing this, I didn’t realize how unbelievably hard it seems to be to make a clean, beautiful lighting plan work.

If you are the owner of a franchise location (or more than one), you know the importance of keeping the image of the brands you represent consistent.  With traditional lighting technology, the color temperature, hours of life and energy usage vary based on the technology you use, how old the fixtures are, etc.  That means if you open your first location one year and a second two years later, you may not be able to match the lighting between them.  What can you do to make everything the same?

Moving into LED Lighting Solutions is the key.  With the manufacturers we work with (including Philips, Cree, Toshiba, Lighting Science Group and others) we can give you a consistent lighting look across all of your locations.  Every lamp will match, the output will be the same and we can easily take the lighting you have now, convert it to LED and save you between 50 and 75 percent of your energy cost on lighting.  Add in the benefits of long life (50,000+ hours), long warranties (up to 10 years) and absolutely color consistency and you can see that LED is ideal for operators of franchise locations.  The lighting is a huge part of making your product, both the storefront and your merchandise, look the same in the best possible manner.

Hurricane Grill & WingsEvery day that you wait to move into LED is a day of savings lost.  There is absolutely no reason to wait, especially with our LouMan Money program.  Get in touch with us today to explore how LED Source can make your business shine like never before (and for a lot less money out of your pocket each month).  Our experience with brands such as Massage Envy, Starbucks, Marriott, City Furniture, Hurricane Grill & Wings and others, has taught us a lot about how to work with a franchisee and franchisor to make it happen.  LED Source, being North America’s only LED lighting franchisor, also provides us special insight into the importance of respecting both the unit owners and the corporate higher-ups.

For more information on LED Source and our franchise opportunity please call us at 866.900.4533 or www.LEDsource.com

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LED Lighting and Gas Station Owner – A Love Story

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It is a classic tale that’s been around since the beginning of time.  Boy meets girl.  Boy falls in love with girl from afar.  Girl spurns boy.  Boy wins over girl with grand, romantic gestures.  They both live happily ever after.  The end.

LED Lighting and Gas Station Owner’s tale is much the same.  LED Lighting approached Gas Station Owner tentatively a few years ago.  It had been looking at the prospect of getting together from afar for some time.  LED Lighting knew it had the best solution for all of Gas Station Owner’s needs, but it just didn’t know how to go about expressing it.  Gas Station Owner flatly said “No, that’s too expensive, I don’t like the way you look and what we’ve got works.  Leave me alone LED Lighting!”  LED Lighting was devastated, but persevered on.  Finally, it dawned on LED Lighting exactly the way to Gas Station Owner’s heart.  “We have new, better fixtures that look great and since you’re open 24 hours a day, the return on investment and safety benefits can not be beat!”  Gas Station Owner swooned at the possibility of their lights costing from 50 to 90 percent less to run and being maintenance free for many, many years.  Soon, LED Lighting and Gas Station Owner were in love and have lived happily ever after.

The whole premise may sound goofy, but it’s completely accurate.  LED lighting provides a solution for every aspect of illuminating your gas station.  There are awesome, cost-effective lighting options for the canopy lighting, coolers, store illumination, service stations, rest rooms and anywhere else light is required.  And with the 24/7 operation of many gas stations and convenience stores, the savings are significant.

Give LED Source® the opportunity to show you that LED Lighting and Gas Stations truly are a match made in heaven. Call us today at 866.900.4533.

Switch To LED Lighting Today

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People ask all the time “Why should I move into LED lighting now?  What ‘s the advantage to doing it now instead of waiting for a year or two for the prices to come down?”  My answer is pretty simple “Think of all the money you’ll save over the next couple of years!”

Yes, the prices of LED lamps and fixtures seem to go down all the time.  But that’s just an illusion.  The least expensive products are generic, no-brand items that aren’t what we do here at LED Source®.  We only carry the best of the best, Philips, Cree, Toshiba, Lighting Science Group, Color Kinetics, EcoSense, etc.  Our portfolio consists of the best because we’re approached daily by a myriad of LED companies and we have our pick of whom to carry.   There is no reason to carry anything else since we pride ourselves on service, product knowledge and excellence.  Only brands that can offer the same need apply here.

Our fixture pricing is pretty consistent with our vendors, so we can offer you the best price on the best products today.  If I can lower your electric bill by 30% a month by replacing your lights with LEDs and the entire job will pay for itself in less than two years, how can you afford not to switch?  There might be something bigger, brighter and better a few years down the road, but you’ll already have something awesome in your space and have saved enough money to pay for it a few times over.

LEDs are exactly like computers.  There might be something bigger, better and less expensive around the corner, but can you wait on getting one?  Generally, the opportunity cost of waiting is much greater than moving forward with the best thing available now.  As I’ve said, LED lighting is not just the future, but it’s the present.  Do your facility and yourself a favor and give LED an opportunity to save you money, time and maintenance headaches.  I assure you, the conversion is worth it.

For more information or to speak with one of our LED lighting experts, contact LED Source® at 866-900-4533.

Switch Your T12 Fluorescents To LEDs Before It’s Too Late

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We get tons of inquiries here about people looking to replace their old, worn out or dead lights with the new, latest and greatest LEDs.  Sometimes it’s for cosmetic reasons, sometimes it’s to save money, and sometimes it’s to go green.  If you currently have T12 fluorescent fixtures in your space, you can accomplish all 3 goals in one fell swoop.

LED Source® carries multiple lines of 1×4, 2×2 and 2×4 LED fluorescent fixture replacements.  We have several excellent options from Cree.  They are the CR14, CR22 and CR24 respectively.  They come in a very attractive package and at a very attractive price.  Check out the picture, look how sharp that fixture looks.  Go one, check it out, I’ll wait.  Not only is it a looker but lasts longer and that saves you money.  The LED lamp will last over 13 years if you use it 12 hours a day.  T12 lamps claim to last almost 3 years at that amount of usage, but we all know that they’re very dim if they make it that long and usually burn out well before that from the on/off cycling they undergo.  That doesn’t even take into account replacing the ballasts in your system every few years.  Add up the costs of the parts and labor to do that and you’re looking at a significant maintenance cost.  Plus, T12 lamps are going to be phased out as early as late 2012 and won’t even be available!

Not only do you save on lamp and ballast replacement costs, but you will also save on your electrical bill every month.  The typical T12, 4 lamp fixture uses 172 Watts of power between the lamps and ballast.  The Cree CR24 equivalent uses only 50 Watts.  So, not only are you saving money and time not having to replace components, but you are also using 71% less energy per fixture.  That’s significant savings on just a few fixtures; imagine if you have hundreds or thousands of these in your facility what the savings would be.

And finally, if you’re looking to go green, LED is the lighting solution for you.  They are mercury free (all fluorescent lamps have mercury in them and must be specially disposed of), recyclable and don’t contain the dangerous chemicals that are in other types of lighting. With the combination of easy maintenance, cost savings and excellent good looks, there is no better solution on the planet than to replace your fluorescent lighting with LED fixtures from LED Source®.

Give LED Source® a call today at 866.900.4533 and speak with one of our LED lighting experts.

Parking Garages and LEDs – A Match Made in Heaven

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If you own, run or work for a parking garage, you know the challenges inherent in lighting it.  The lights you have now are expensive to run.  They’re energy hogs.  You’re swapping lamps out because they burn out all the time. During the lamp replacement, you have to hire a maintenance person to replace the bulbs and not to mention that drivers are trying to kill you as they fly through the parking garage to get in and out.  When these bulbs burn out, they cause dangerous black holes in your space.  These lamps must be on 24/7 with no downtime.

All of these challenges lead to one solution, LED lighting.  Generally, you’re talking about a 200-Watt fixture being used to light the various areas of your garage.  What if I told you that we could replace that fixture with a 60-Watt LED fixture?  Not only does it use 65% less energy than what you’re currently using, but it will last nearly 7 years if you ran it for 24/7 and it requires no maintenance.  There is really no downside to replacing what you have now with new LED fixtures except is one thing… the price.

People perceive LED lighting as being expensive and if you look at it purely from the perspective of the initial cost, you’re absolutely correct.  They’re more expensive than what a typical legacy lighting solution would cost.  When you look at the Return On Investment (ROI) and factor in lamp replacement costs, energy savings and the time wasted replacing lamps, you’re looking at the MOST inexpensive solution available.  How can you beat that?  LEDs will save you the most money, time and headaches. Make the switch today.


For more information on LED lighting, contact the LED lighting experts at LED Source – 866.900.4533.

What Do LEDs Have In Common With Diamonds?

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Many people wonder why the price of LED lighting products vary so widely.  Why can I pay so little for some LEDs (Christmas lights, inexpensive flashlights, etc.) and so much for lamps and other lights?  It is simple, just like diamonds; LED lights come in many different grades.  The highest graded LED lights are what many of the leading name brand manufactures such as Philips, Toshiba, Color Kinetics, Lighting Science Group, Cree, EcoSense and Coemar, use in their fixtures and lamps.

Sometimes the reason for LED lamps and fixtures being more expensive is that these LED lighting manufacturers all use very high quality chips and back their products with multi-year warranties.  Many inexpensive manufacturers will offer sub par LED chips and offer a nice long warranty on their lamps, but good luck trying to get a replacement out of a foreign company with little or no representation here in North America.  You’ll never have an issue with a valid warranty replacement for any product from these manufacturers. In fact, as one of the largest LED lighting distributors, LED Source® works very closely with each of these manufacturers to support their warranty programs.  Many of the lamps we carry have a 3-5 year warranty and our fixtures carry a 2-5 year warranty.

Another advantage of using LED Source® is that we stock our warehouse full of LED lamps, fixtures, strings and almost anything related to LED lighting.  Although we don’t carry Christmas lights or Car accessories, we have everything else to light your home, commercial space, restaurant, school, stage, church or warehouse.  This enables us to provide cost-effective and fast lighting solutions for a wide variety of clientele.   We can sell products to an ESCO, a contractor, and a home or business owner – just about anyone. While some LED lighting companies only focus on one segment of the market, the LED lighting Experts here at LED Source®, cover a gamut of market segments. This enables us to help almost anyone.

Just like there are many different cuts of diamonds, there are many different manufacturers making LED lighting products. Let our experts guide you through the maze in selecting the right product for your specific project. Contact an LED Source® sales representative today. We know how to make your lighting really shine.

LED Lighting Is Getting Better By The Day

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We get a lot of customers who hold off on LED lighting, citing that the price will go down and that they’ll get more bang for their buck in a year or two.  Is that really true?

 

The short answer is no, it’s not.  LED lighting fixtures are like computers in that way.   Both are a solid-state technology (computer chips and LED diodes).  You’ll notice that computers always cost about the same amount, but what you get for the money changes.  You’ll get a faster; better computer in two years for the same money, but you’ll be without a computer for two years.  Does that make it a better deal?

The shift is even more radical with LEDs.  How much money would you save in a year or two using LED lamps as opposed to the other, less efficient alternatives?  In a lot of cases, you’ll save more than the cost of the lamps in that timeframe.  How much more will you enjoy the beautiful, rich lighting that you can have in your home now instead of waiting two years for lights that may or may not be less expensive?  It’s hard to quantify everything with LEDs, but the monetary savings are certainly there.  I think the other parts of this equation, the beautiful light you’ll enjoy, the maintenance free lifetime of use you’ll get, etc. far outweigh waiting it out for something cheaper.  It might not even happen.

Not only that, but there are many local, state, federal and even energy provider rebates available for LED lights these days.  In many cases, you can get back most of the purchase price of the products.  If you’re looking into LED for your home or business, contact LED Source for some insight on how to get these lamps and fixtures working for you today instead of sitting on the sidelines, waiting for something to happen.  Don’t be the one who waits for great things to happen to them, make great things happen now, and start with LED!

For more information on LED lighting, visit the LED lighting Experts at www.LEDsource.com

Science and Saving Money with LED Lighting

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As you enjoy the warm summer weather, we want to get you ready for winter.  It seems like winter is getting colder and colder each year.  How can Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and the light they create save you money and keep your home warmer?

Most people don’t realize the huge effect that lighting has on your heating costs, but they add up.  All incandescent and compact fluorescent lamps create heat, and you would think that would help add to the heat in your house and lower your bill.  But that’s not the case at all with recessed fixtures.

Have you ever felt a draft come in from recessed lighting in your ceiling? It’s not just that the can isn’t sealed up properly (it’s pretty difficult to get an air-tight seal), it’s the Venturi Effect.  Whenever you heat up gas it increases the rate at which it rises.  That creates a “chimney” or “stack effect” that makes your precious, expensively heated air shoot out of those recessed lights even more quickly than just from the whole in your ceiling.  As your lights are on more in the dark winter months, they’re literally shooting warm air out of your ceiling, into your attic and out into the world, costing you big dollars.

Since LED lighting doesn’t get nearly as hot as compact fluorescent or incandescent lights the air that escapes it greatly slowed, giving what’s been known as a “draft buster effect.”  Places that used to feel cold and drafty in your home will now feel warmer, with less gas or electric heat required to do so.  You win in two ways, a lower heating bill and a warmer, cozier room.  Tough to beat that, isn’t it?

The best part about all of this is that it saves you more money on top of the electricity savings the lamps already provide.  And during the summer, the lamps aren’t getting hot, so your air conditioning bill is lower.  LED lighting is the only lighting solution that is good for your wallet, your comfort and your pocket.

For more information on LED Lighting, ask the Experts at LED Source. Call us at 866.900.4LED or visit our website at www.LEDsource.com

Using LED Lighting To Display Art

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When considering LED lighting, most people think of one benefit: saving money.  And it’s true, LED lighting will save you the most money of any lighting technology over it’s life, but there are many other benefits to LEDs that people don’t realize.  LED lighting has come a long way from their origins back in 1962 when they came in any color, as long as it was red.

LED Lighting by LED SourceOne of the ancillary benefits of LED lighting that often gets overlooked is the fact that LED lights do not produce harmful UV rays or heat.  If you’re a museum, art house or even a homeowner that displays precious objects, this alone could be enough to move you in to LEDs.  Your fabrics won’t fade from the light shining on it, artwork will stay as crisp and clean as the day it was hung and even old papers will not degrade from the LEDs lighting it. And not heating up the air around these objects is going to reduce the wear on them as well.  Imagine the cost savings on restorations to fine art or furniture you’ll preserve not exposing it to a harsher lighting fixture (that darn money-saving thing just won’t stop popping up!)

LED Lighting by LED SourceAnother benefit that LEDs provide is a wide range of color temperatures and beam spreads.  In the past, LEDs looked blue to people. Now, they come in a myriad of color temperatures from 2700K to 6500K and more in white lighting.  That provides you with a broader brush to “paint” walls, areas and other objects with the exact light required.  You’ll also be able to achieve brighter, crisper whites for task lighting and office settings, and warmer lighting for residential applications and cozier spaces.  All of these options are available because of the versatility of LED lighting.  The possibilities of what can be done with LED lamps and fixtures these days are unparalleled.

LED Lighting by LED SourceAlso, because of the high CRI (color rendering index) available in LED lighting, the true colors of objects are displayed.  It means that all of the colors will be faithfully reproduced, just as the artist or designer originally intended.  This may just be a fancy way of saying that things will look like they should, but that’s something you can’t discount when you’ve worked hard to put together an amazing room design or are showcasing works of art.

Saving money is top of mind for most people when choosing a lighting solution.  It’s no secret that LED lights provide the best return on investment in lighting, but as we’ve discussed that’s not the only thing that makes LEDs superior to other lighting products.  There are so many hidden benefits that you should not ignore when thinking about the switch to LEDs!

LED Source® is the nation’s leading supplier of high quality and name brand LED lighting. Speak with one of our LED lighting experts for your next project. Call 866.900.4LED or visit www.LEDsource.com.

Are LED Lamps As Expensive As You Think?

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Let’s face it; LED lamps are much more expensive than traditional incandescent lamps.  There is no denying that fact.  When you look at what you’ll save during the life of the light however, I think you’ll find that they’re actually quite a bargain and a very smart investment.

For example, a typical 50W, 12V Halogen MR16 that can be found in your track lighting, uses more than seven times the energy of its replacement: a Toshiba MR 16 Generation 2 LED lamp. 

What does that mean in real dollars?

Over the lifetime of the LED lamp, you’ll save over $119 in lamp and energy costs.  That, compared the expense of the initial investment, is a no brainer.  Aside from the cost benefits, you also won’t have to hop up on a ladder to change that light for the next 11 years (if you use it 6 hours a day).  Now multiply that times the number of lamps you have in your house.

Another example is to consider the high hats you have in your ceiling.  They draw a ton of power and since they’re used for general illumination, they’re on for many hours in the day.  Let’s replace them with LED and see what happens.   Many high hat lights use Par 38, 80W lamps, so if we replace them again with the Toshiba Generation 2 equivalent Par 38 LED, the savings over the life of the lamp is $306.68.  And that’s PER light.  If you have a kitchen with six of these, you’re looking at nearly $2,000 dollars in your pocket over the course of the lamp’s life. If you use them 8 hours a day, the Toshiba Generation 2 LED Par 38 will last almost 14 years.  If you have tall ceilings in your home, you know how difficult these can be to change as well.  You can kiss that problem goodbye for a long time.  The savings on this light will pay for itself within the first few years of use, and the rest is all yours.

The bottom line is that the initial cost of LED lighting may seem scary, but if you look at the big picture, the savings are astronomical.  Imagine if everyone in the United States swapped out just one incandescent bulb in their home for an LED.  The effect on greenhouse gas emissions is the equivalent of removing 1.3 million cars from the road.  It reduces our energy consumption so much that we can power 1.5 million more homes on the same electricity we produce today.  Small changes can lead to BIG results if we all pitch in.  To look at it in another way, small changes in your house can lead to huge savings on your home electric bill.

For more information about LED lighting in your home, please visit www.LEDSource.com or call us at 866.900.4LED [4533].