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8 reasons why you need LED lighting in your workplace

Offices and workplaces have been slower to make the switch to LED lighting, as many still use T5 technology due to its cheaper cost. However, LEDs are getting more and more efficient and popular. This article highlights the reasons why you too should make the jump to LED lighting in your office to improve productivity, health, wellbeing, safety, energy-usage, ergonomics, and cut business costs.

1. LED Lighting is Energy Saving
LED stands for light-emitting diode and are an incredibly energy efficient source of lighting. An LED light can last 50,000 times longer than a traditional halogen light. 95% of the energy in LEDs is converted to light and only 5% is wasted as heat. LEDs are also free from toxic elements found in other lights and are recyclable. They have a longer lifespan so have lower carbon emissions and fewer lights are needed so energy consumption is reduced.

2. LED Lighting Saves Your Business Money
Switching from normal light bulbs to LED lights not only saves energy, but saves your business money. The longer life of bulbs saves money for your business as less is spent replacing them. Switching to LEDs can save your company up to 80% and keep your bills low. Lighting also improves productivity, health, and employee well being, therefore boosting your business whilst keeping operating costs low.

3. LED Lighting Improves Safety
Emergency signs use LED lighting to highlight the nearest exit in emergencies as they are clear, bright and long-lasting. High-quality LED lighting allows workers to see hazards. Office space, stairwells, and exits are all well lit for an easy and safe emergency exit.

4. LED Lighting Benefits Health
Health is a big consideration for workplace lighting as poor lighting can cause health issues such as headaches, discomfort, eye strain, dizziness, and tiredness. Bruskin Goldring Research found that 85% of workers suffered from headaches as a result of poor lighting in the workplace. Kensington Technology Group listed eyestrain as a leading cause of stress in the workplace, and stress can lead to major health issues like anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma and arthritis.

The Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health found that light influences human vitality, energy, mood, alertness and work performance. LED lighting can have a positive impact on employees and boost physical, physiological, and psychological health and well-being, which enhances performance and reduces absenteeism.

5. LED Lighting Enhances Productivity
With better health comes better productivity. Productivity is an important factor when choosing the right office lighting, and there is a direct correlation between light levels and performance in the workplace. Poor lighting and lack of brightness can reduce productivity and motivation. Bruskin Goldring Research found that workers believed that improved lighting in the workplace could improve mood, increase energy levels, and enhance productivity. Cornell University found that 24% of office workers claimed poor lighting as a cause of loss of work.

This study also found, however, that LED lighting can increase productivity by 3% – 5% throughout the day. LED lighting can regulate the body clock, boost mental performance, and make employees more alert and energetic. The EU’s Lighting for People project has proven that sufficient lighting in the workplace, such as LEDs, increases productivity, and the higher quality lighting, the better productivity.

6. LED Lighting Optimises Ergonomics
Ergonomics focuses on fitting the worker to the job, not the job to the worker, and aims to find the best way to get the most from the worker and increase efficiency. Lighting is consistently rated as a workplace concern by workers as lighting can either enhance an employee’s job or limit them, and impacts mood, comfort, and performance.

Lighting which causes reflections in screens, glares, and shadows are examples of bad workplace design and negative ergonomics, but LED lighting combats this by creating different environments for workers which makes the space more comfortable for them. LED lighting can be tailored to the worker’s needs and preferences to help them work to the best of their ability and ensure optimum performance.

7. LED Lighting Enables More Worker Control
LED lighting allows different people to use different levels of lighting. It is flexible to worker’s requirements and can be adapted to each employee’s needs. With LED lighting, workers can alter the controls themselves at their desks, so each worker is more productive and happier at work, using the lighting suits them.

The rise of controls has come hand in hand with the rise of LEDs. We are working in new and different ways and mobile working and hot-desking are growing in popularity with many working in different spots throughout the day. Task lighting is becoming more important to give people easy control over their own lighting and work more comfortably and productively throughout the day.

8. LED Lighting Promotes Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is a corporation’s initiatives to take responsibility for the company’s effects of environmental and social well-being. To resolve corporate environmental issues, LED lighting reduces energy and carbon dioxide emissions and is environmentally friendly.

In relation to social responsibility, LED lighting improves employee health, safety, productivity, and ergonomics. One study found that 68% of all office workers were concerned about lighting, and Kensington Technology Group state that office workers consistently rated poor lighting as the first or second work environment concern. LED lighting can ease employee concerns about lighting as improves health, well-being, performance and comfort in the workplace.

It is clear that LED lighting will benefit your workplace and business in many ways. From saving energy, cutting costs, improving safety, and improving health, to enhancing productivity, optimising ergonomics, enabling worker control, and promoting corporate social responsibility, you need LED lighting in your workplace – it’s a win-win for employees and employers alike.

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Why LED lighting is so quickly becoming the norm

When it comes to technology, we are certainly used to seeing new innovations take hold, and then quickly replace the things we were using before should they offer something the older alternatives didn’t.

The flip phone was quickly replaced by the smartphone. VHS was quickly replaced by DVD, and then DVD began to dwindle in popularity as streaming services became more easily available to consumers.

The same thing is true when it comes to more domestic things, though the process is usually a little slower, as things we interact with in the home tend to be replaced less often than things like personal tech and media. Toilets with water saving flush features have become the norm for new toilet installations, for example, although many homes that haven’t replaced their bathroom suites in a number of years still don’t have them.

LED lighting has been around as an option for home use for quite some time now, but it is only really in the past five years that it has become the mainstream choice for lighting. Recently, GE, who were the main manufacturers of the older style of energy saving lightbulb, announced that they would be ceasing production of these older bulbs and focusing on LED. This is a big sign that LED is not only the future of home lighting but is rapidly becoming the present, too.

The main reason why this is only happening now is that the cost of LED light bulbs used to be considerably higher. Better manufacturing and the economies of scale that come into play when something goes mainstream have meant that LED bulbs for normal home use cost a fraction of what they used to and are only slightly more expensive than traditional bulbs. That extra cost is recouped very quickly due to the fact the bulbs cost less to run and last much, much longer.

So, now that these bulbs are within the range of affordability for most homes, consumers are choosing to switch to them when they need to replace a light. Moreover, a lot of consumers are choosing to replace all lighting inside and outside of their homes with LED, even if the lighting they currently have still worked just fine, due to all of the advantages LED has over older products such as compact fluorescent lighting or halogen bulbs.

Here are some of the advantages of switching to LED lighting:

Energy Efficiency

One of the most talked about draws for LED lighting is its energy efficiency. In an age where people are increasingly concerned with the environmental impact of the things they use in their homes, it is no surprise that a reduced carbon footprint alone is enough to drive many people to switch to LED. However, even for those who don’t list their carbon footprint as a priority in their purchasing decisions, LED’s vastly improved energy efficiency when compared to other means of lighting make it far cheaper to run, and so the reduced energy costs are another big selling point for consumers.

While the actual efficiency improvement you can get by switching to LED depends on a lot of factors, including the type of lighting you are switching from, how powerful the LEDs you need are, and what kind of energy tariff you are on, LED is the most energy efficient mode of lighting that is widely available and suitable for domestic use. This outperforms other types of bulbs that used to be dubbed ‘energy saving bulbs’.

Attractive Design Options

One of the things that prevented compact fluorescent bulbs from ever really becoming as widely used as their creators expected was that while they were more energy efficient than traditional bulbs, they also had cumbersome, ugly designs that meant that they didn’t lend themselves to a lot of design aesthetics where the bulbs are not hidden. LEDs, on the other hand, can be fashioned into just about any design you want, mimicking the look of traditional bulbs or forming spotlights, lighting tubes, and all kinds of other shapes and looks.

Additionally, LED can be made to generate light in whatever colour you want. In the past, if you wanted a coloured bulb, this was created by using coloured glass with a plain light filament inside. This would mean the light was fixed to one colour. LED can, however, be made to change colour, as well as change brightness. This is why so many ‘fun’ types of lighting like disco lights and Christmas lights have been made using LED technology for a long time, but you can also see a lot of other interesting applications of LED, such as colour changing shower lights used to give a luxurious experience in the bathroom.

Great Outdoor Lighting Potential

Outdoor lighting usually requires greater brightness, as well as fittings that are designed to withstand the elements. With LED, it is possible to create very bright outdoor lighting, including floodlighting and security lighting, which is still relatively cheap to run. The design options that come with LED technology also mean that outdoor lighting for more decorative purposes can be created with any kind of look you want.

Another benefit of LED for outdoor use is that it is low maintenance. This allows you to position your lights on parts of your house that can be a pain to reach. Eliminating the need to dash up a ladder every few months to replace a bulb. Some LED installations can last for decades of normal use before bulbs need to be changed.

Easy To Switch

Even with all of these advantages, people would still be reluctant to change to LED if this meant making major changes to all of their light fixtures and circuitry. In fact, you can simply install an LED light bulb into existing screw or bayonet light sockets without making any other changes, and if you do have an unusual lamp or light fitting, there is usually an inexpensive adaptor available that will allow you to install a normal LED bulb.

As with older light bulbs, you do have to be careful to find a bulb with the right size and style of fitting, but there is the same range available as with other types of bulb, so you don’t need to do anything more than shop for LED equivalents and switch them straight in!

There are a huge number of benefits to LED over other types of home lighting, including longer lasting bulbs, greater versatility for outdoor lighting, lower energy expenditure for the same brightness, and ease of making the switch. Since LED outperforms older types of lighting in just about every category you can judge a bulb on, it is the obvious choice when choosing new lights, and switching to LED for older lights is also a very good option in many cases.

If you are one of the many consumers who has been waiting for the prices of LED bulbs to decrease or for LED to become completely mainstream before updating your home to use it, then you should find that now is the time to take the plunge and start seeing the advantages of LED at home for yourself!

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Here’s why LED lights might be the next bright idea on climate change

THE GOOD NEWS:

LED light has proven to be very effective at reducing carbon emissions.

When it comes to reducing carbon emissions, one of the biggest hurdles is the simplest: habit. Strangely enough, one of the brightest ideas on skirting that challenge is … a lightbulb.

The LED lightbulb, to be precise.

According to new data analyzed by the firm IHS Markit, we now have evidence that the growing use of LED bulbs is having a distinct, positive effect on emissions — despite its minimal impact on changing the way people carry on their everyday lives.

“The efficiency of LEDs is essentially what makes them environmentally friendly,” explains Jamie Fox, the firm’s principal lighting analyst. “LED conversion is unlike other measures, which require people to reduce consumption or make lifestyle changes. While other activities affect climate change more than lighting does, it is still a very strong contribution from a single industry sector.”

Just how strong? Last year alone, LEDs took more than half a billion tons off the table. That could amount to a one and a half percent reduction in the world’s carbon footprint, the equivalent of mothballing more than 160 coal-burning power plants.

Those gains come courtesy of LED lights’ ridiculous efficiency. While they’re not yet always as easy to replace or dispose of as traditional bulbs, they throw off the same degree of light, while chewing up 40% less energy than fluorescent bulbs. Relative to incandescent bulbs? They deliver twice the savings.

Of course, LEDs aren’t magic. Their virtues can tempt us to think more in terms of relative savings than absolute use. Some teams have been exploring the possibility that growing LED use could counter carbon gains by increasing the use of lighting in total. German researchers recently published a paper observing that, with over 2% more artificial outdoor light each year around the world, this so-called “rebound effect” could become a powerful factor over time.

Right now, however, LED lights offer two things for the carbon-conscious: proof of quick energy savings and hope that technology can add swifter gains while bigger, more difficult changes in consumption develop smoothly over time. Even if we can’t solve problems with the flip of a switch, sometimes that’s all it takes to get started.

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New tool allows agents to check property EPCs ahead of MEES change

An ‘instant EPC ratings check’ has been created on the website of Mortgages for Business allowing agents to check the ratings of properties under their management.

New regulations known as MEES – the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards – mean that in just over four weeks, on April 1, residential landlords and agents acting on their behalf will not be able to grant a tenancy to either new or existing tenants if the property’s EPC rating is F or G.

From April 1 2020, if there is a tenant already in situ, it will become illegal for residential landlords to continue letting the property out if the EPC has a rating of F or G.

Mortgages for Business says the new tool will provide a starting point for compliance.

To check a property’s EPC rating, agents and landlords need only to enter the property’s postcode into the tool.

“Simply put – no EPC, no buy to let mortgage. For this reason, it is important to us that our landlord clients understand how the new EPC rules will affect them” says Steve Olejnik, the chief operating officer of Mortgages for Business.

Mortgages for Business is holding a free 30-minute webinar at 1pm today, looking at the new rules and how they might affect borrowing. This webinar will also cover the new guidance for mandatory HMO licensing and minimum room sizes.

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Fluctuating LED office lights offer workers caffeine-like energy boost

Philips has installed a system of LED lights in an office in Prague that are designed to support workers’ circadian rhythms throughout the day.

The lights, installed in the refurbished Czech Republic headquarters of energy company Innogy, could provide the same energy hit as drinking a cup of coffee, claim the designers.

“We’ve taken our knowledge of how light physiologically benefits people from successful projects in hospitals and schools and applied it to the offices space,” said Jiří Tourek, country manager at Philips Lighting.

“We know that exposure to a certain comfortable bright light setting for one-hour can provide a mild energy stimulus similar to a cup of coffee and supports wakefulness.”

Along with light intensity, which is measured in lux, energy levels can also be affected by the colour temperature, which is measured in kelvins.

According to Philips, exposing the human body to light settings of 5,000 kelvins at 780 lux for between one and four hours has been shown to increase alertness.

Based on this research, brightness and colour warmth levels have been programmed to change at set points throughout the day to increase office workers’ energy at key times.

“At the beginning of the day the office lights mimic natural daylight, providing a useful energy boost,” said Tomáš Michna, senior manager for facilities and services at Innogy.

“The light levels decrease until after lunch when we give another boost to help staff over the post-lunch energy dip.”

Workers can override the light settings depending on their needs, and the system can also be set to perform a specific task by using wall-mounted touchpad controls. These can also be used to raise or lower the window blinds.

The new lights are part of a complete renovation of the company’s 10,000-square-metre headquarters in the Limuzská district of Prague.

A new open-plan office design and the adaptable lights were part of an overall plan to “enhance the comfort, wellbeing and productivity” of the 550 employees who work across the three buildings.

The office redesign replaced fluorescent tube lighting with 2,000 LED lights, blinds and control systems, as well as adding a new restaurant serving healthy food and “creativity spaces” for workers.

Also installed were 150 sensors that can detect human presence and automatically turn the lights off should a room become empty.

Combined with the use of energy-efficient LEDs, the designers estimate this new system will use 50 percent less electricity for lighting than the previous fluorescent lights.

 

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