In the world of Commercial Real Estate, property owners, developers, and operators are constantly thinking about how to best invest in their assets to attract those demanding tenants or to retain their valuable employees. Commercial lighting is no exception: the choices are many, and it can be a daunting task to determine investments with the most long-term value.
Addiction to Fluorescent
One way to look at the challenge is to think about investing in the health of a building for the benefit of all occupants. It is time to recognize that for the past several decades, commercial lighting has been unhealthy. It comes in the form of the fluorescent bulbs that are used to light a majority of commercial office spaces. Introduced decades ago, the vacuum tubes known as fluorescent bulbs have had a pretty amazing run. Over the years, billions of them have been “inhaled” by the built world. Interestingly, the voracious consumption of these light tubes is akin to commercial buildings having a smoking habit. Why, you ask? Just think for a moment about your experience in a space that is lit by fluorescent bulbs. The light they produce makes you:
– Look bad because their light is unnatural: it tends to wash out colors and fails to capture and render your natural skin tones accurately.
– Feel bad because they flicker and buzz which causes eye fatigue and headaches.
– Spend money inefficiently because fluorescent bulbs are a fully matured technology so their ability to increase efficiency and lower a building’s energy consumption is all but finished.
A Healthy Option
The good news is that there is now an alternative available to help commercial buildings “kick the habit”. LED lighting technology has evolved to a price point and performance level that is now enabling it to penetrate the commercial lighting market. Innovative companies are now unleashing the full potential of LED technology to deliver incredible value to the commercial real estate market. Most people associate LEDs with energy efficiency and electricity savings. This is certainly the case today, and it will only get better as the technology continues its development towards ever increasing efficiency.
In addition to saving money on electricity bills, the best LED-based lighting products offer a dramatic improvement in lighting experience by delivering soft, full-spectrum light to create a healthy daylight quality environment, which has a positive and healthy impact on all who occupy the space.
It is inevitable that fluorescent technology will be moved aside and replaced by a vastly superior LED technology to benefit of all. The exciting part is that this transition is happening much faster than expected due to the rapid improvement in LED performance coupled with the significant cost reductions that support LED lighting products.
For forward thinking property owners, developers, and operators, the time to invest in LED lighting technology starts now.
Like any new technology introduction, there is a lot to learn and know to make the right decision on which LED-based products and solutions best meet the needs of your particular application and situation.
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