Tag Archives: Materials and Supplies

Nothing Out Of Pocket For LED Lighting

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LouMan MoneyI know it sounds a little “pitchy” but in fact, this is 100% a true story. Our company has recently started a finance program appropriately titled “LouMan Money®” in order to fund Lighting Solutions for our commercial clients. LouMan Money® provides not only the financing for lighting products, but will also include all design, install and even disposal or recycling costs for the products being removed.

So what does this all mean to you? I am glad you asked!

Lets say we use our fancy analysis tool, the Lampinator®, to figure out what you’ve got  for existing lighting and what LED products we’ll put in to replace it. For the sake of this example, lets say that we determine we are saving you $10,000 / year with an initial cost of $20,000 in product, installation, etc. So, that’s pretty easy math, right? $20,000 will take exactly two years to reach “payback”. Then, we can dig a little deeper and calculate ROI (Return On Investment) based on the expected life of the state-of-the-art LED products. Lets use 10 years for the sake of this example. So how does the math look so far?

  • Investment: $20,000
  • Annual Savings: $10,000
  • Payback Period:  2 years
  • Life of new LEDs 10 years

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LED Lighting LED SourceSo based on the above, your eventual ROI (not including rate increases, inflation, etc) will be (savings) 10,000 X (life in years) 10 – (Investment) 20,000 = $80,000. Yes, it’s true. In 10 years, you will have earned a profit of 80,000 on your initial investment of 20,000. Sure, some will say “but what if those products don’t last the full 10 years”… well, even though the rating on the lamps may be as long as 20+ years, lets say they ONLY last the 5 year warranty… you’re still looking at a $30,000 profit on the 20,000 investment.

The argument then can only be “well, we’ve been through a rough 5 or 6 years with this crazy economy. For our business to put $20,000 into lighting products, when our lights are working perfectly makes little sense to us”. I understand. Trust me, in my own businesses, it’s hard to justify investments in anything other than staff and inventory.

The answer is this. “Invest someone else’s money!” This is where we come in. LouMan Money® allows our clients to pay for the entire project, from start to finish, with other people’s money. We match the payment closely to the savings, then give you all sorts of options on what you want to do. Lets say for example:

  • Project Total: $20,000
  • Monthly Savings:  $833
  • Down Payment:  $0
  • LouMan Money 24 mos: $891
  • LouMan Money 36 mos: $612
  • LouMan Money 12 mos: $1,726

So, using this example, if you pay for the lights over 36 months, you’re seeing Positive Cashflow from month 1 of $221 from the very first month. You’ve paid nothing out of pocket, there are no personal guarantees (in most cases) and only the LED lighting serves as collateral. Yet, you are realizing savings month one!

You also have options to pay for the lights in a shorter, or sometimes even a longer period. The flexibility is there.

LouMan Money® offers so many more benefits including easy application process, the availability of master lines (allowing you to approve multiple locations at once, but ship only as needed), and much more. Heck, we can even easily finance governments and municipalities! The goal is only to provide as many businesses as possible with better lighting solutions, improving the world and your bottom line while we do it.

For more information on LouMan Money® or LED lighting products, visit www.LEDsource.com or call (866) 900-4LED (4533).

5 Ways You Can Become A Facility Engineering Superhero – Part 1

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Let’s face it; sitting in a facility engineering position is more than demanding.

Whenever the phrase ‘budget cuts’ starts to creep up, it usually results in leaner maintenance crews or losing valuable long-time employees. Maintenance replacement is part of inventory budgets, which are critical to a smooth operation, are usually reduced drastically or diminished completely and purchasing anything becomes a knee-shaking event. It’s no secret that times have changed and it’s hard to be loved as a facility engineer. After all, we are asking for money all the time to keep our facilities running at peak performance. Very rarely are we recognized in such a way that we get the VIP parking spot for Employee of the Month, even though we are responsible for the VIP parking sign and the painted parking stripes.

Well what if you could impress your executive leaders so much that they give you the parking spot for a year? And who knows maybe even a little extra change in your pocket for a special lunch. Sales people and marketing teams spend their careers figuring every possible method to bringing in operating cash and boy do they get recognized when they do. What about accountants? They get the corner office with real windows when they save the company some money in taxes every year. Now, it’s your turn to shine.

The solution is an LED lighting retrofit. I know what you’re thinking: “Here we go again – another creative idea that I end up paying the bill on.”  Well contraire my friend, this is your secret to success! Interested? Before you run out to your local home center store and get sticker shock from the LED lamps on the shelves, consider the following:

  1. First and foremost if you think a home center is going to give you what you need to get into that corner office then you belong in the basement! Remember this: experts, experts, experts – got it? LED lighting experts, such as those at LED Source, not only know how to save you money but they know how to make your lighting look incredible, which of course makes you look good.
  2. Pay attention to the wattage savings – yes, they are real. Often times, you’re replacing 60-Watt bulbs with 7-Watt LED lamps. That’s a huge reduction in wattage, which results in big savings on your lighting bills.
  3. Let the experts audit your facility and tell you where you can save and where it does not make sense to change. One very important note here: Never pick a vendor who is locked into one manufacturer because you will quickly find out that one manufacturer does not have the best product for every application. Pick a an LED lighting solutions company that has access to all the best manufacturers and products on the market.

Part 2 of this article will be available in our next post. Stay tuned.

For more information on LED lighting and how you can save, visit the LED Lighting Experts at www.LEDsource.com

Is it time to switch to LEDs in your home?

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LED Lighting has changed drastically over the past few years and there are many affordable and excellent quality products available that actually live up to their advertising. The key is finding the correct company to spec the products that will work for all your applications and usage. Retrofitting your existing home has never been easier with many items being as simple as screwing in a lamp! But, to many LEDs are still completely foreign. Here’s a easy list discussing pros and cons:

Benefits:

  • Saves more than 70% energy usage compared to Incandescent.
  • Eliminates maintenance and replacement for 10 years or more
  • Provides more design options than any other light source
  • Reduces cooling costs due to much lower operating temperatures compared to both Incandescent and Fluorescent
  • More landscape and exterior lighting options and better bug control due to reduced heat
  • No more tall ladders or expensive electrical contractor charges for at least 10 years.
  • Cuts existing lighting loads by a substantial amount allowing for more circuit expansions.

Drawbacks:

  • Must pick the proper products and professional organization to efficiently take advantage of the benefits of using LED lighting.
  • All LED lights are not created equal and many factors can render the incorrect choice causing a substantial loss in investment.
  • LED lighting’s price tends to scare homeowners away. But, it’s important to take in account all costs involved. We as homeowners tend to have no problem buying cheap incandescent lamps 3 to 6 times a year, hire expensive electrical contractors to change light bulbs in our high ceilings and think nothing of paying that electric utility bill each month. We scrutinize all our other monthly bills but always forget the one monthly bill that does nothing but increase annually. So the next time you’re faced with changing a light bulb, do not look at the cost on the price tag look at the long-term costs involved and you will easily see that picking up that LED lamp is a no brainer.

What if I’m building a new home, does it make sense to use LED lighting?

Absolutely! The benefits are not only the same as retrofitting an existing home but there are additional energy rebates available for you and your builder. There are also more advanced lighting design options and fewer circuits needed due to lesser loads.

Adding LED Lighting To Your Nightclub Or Bar

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I get calls all the time from nightclub and bar owners seeking to improve the appearance of their establishments. Often times they have heard of and seen LED lighting but are not sure how or where to use it. The best place to start is the area that pays the bills and keeps their pockets fat – the Bar!  Here are a few additional tips on how to effectively incorporate LED lighting into your facility:

Bar ShelfBottle Shelf: One great area to illuminate is a bottle-shelf, which can be custom fabricated to fit into the décor of the establishment and become a focal point of any bar or nightclub. Accentuating the liquor bottles with color-changing light will create quite an impressive effect, yet should be an easy project for the local lighting and audio installation company. This type of bottle-shelf works especially well to illuminate some of the premium vodkas, as their bottles are made of a frosted glass that diffuses the light while the alcohol inside is clear.

Under the Bar: Another great home for LED lighting is underneath the bar. Fixtures can be mounted directly to the underside of the bar and adjusted to direct light onto the face of the bar, creating an attractive, ambient glow without glaring into customer’s eyes. This creates a comfortable environment for patrons to migrate to.

Dance Floor: Installing an LED dance floor could really light up the room. Use LED light panels and put the controls in the hands of your DJ, who can match certain colors, flashes and intensities of light with different beats from the music.

The ideal LED fixture to use at the bar is the iColor Cove QLX manufactured by Philips Color Kinetics. This product is an extremely versatile light due to its combination of high output and compact form factor. It is available in 6” and 12” lengths that can be incrementally addressable to create a gradient color fade or a chasing effect across multiple fixtures. A single power supply will support up to twenty 12” iColor Cove QLXs, which can be linked end-to-end with attached power connectors that are designed to make 180° turns. 1’ and 5’ jumper cables are available to connect multiple fixture runs and to bypass obstacles. The fixture itself sits on a mounting foot that can either be screwed directly onto a surface or easily snapped into 4’ mounting tracks, which will ensure a straight run of fixtures. Another nice feature is the adjustable rotating  locking hinge that allows the beam of light to be focused 180°.

For more information on LED lighting for your nightclub or bar, check out our website at www.LEDSource.com or give us a call at 866.900.4LED [4533].

LED Lighting Continues Adoption in the New Year

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The end of 2010 proved to be a pinnacle year in LED lighting, where more electrical end users began to understand the full benefits of converting to LEDs. In fact, many large companies such as Macy’s and Starbucks received a lighting makeover while others began to make plans for the New Year. Companies are beginning to commit and prioritize their budgets to convert to LED. This will allow these companies to take every advantage of the savings involved all year-long.

There is no other lighting source that compares to the savings experienced with a LED retrofit. The benefits are quickly being made aware with an extremely long lamp life, which generally lasts 50,000 to 70,000 hours or longer. Much improved color rendering and options such as instant startup and better lighting control, including the ability to dim, are adding to the continued adoption towards LED lighting. Heat generation is greatly reduced with the use of LEDs. This is creating cooling savings as well as insect clouded lens reduction. More often, we’re seeing LED products included in the Energy Star list, creating broader rebate opportunities and a facility engineer’s favorite benefit: minimal to zero maintenance for the life of the lamp. Imagine not replacing a 25-foot high lamp every year or sometimes twice a year. Think of the maintenance cost savings!

Another advantage of LED lighting has to do with the reduction of hazardous waste. First, LED lighting has no Mercury and most LED products have lead-free solder in their circuit boards. They are environmentally friendly so no EPA stringent rules or extra costs are required for lamp disposal.  Let’s not forget to mention that the longer life means less waste in our landfills.

We are seeing more products to fit almost every application and prices are stabilizing, making it more affordable for our average user.  Consumers are experiencing payback within two years in most cases. LED is the new wave in energy conservation and it will dominate the energy market in the New Year and for many more to come.