Follow the Global Trend: Your Company Needs a “Smart Office”

We are following an emerging global trend of companies who are switching over to smart offices through LED lighting, such as sensor equipped lighting, smart flooring solutions and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Making the switch to smart buildings are allowing companies to save money and encouraging them to facilitate their operations in efficient and sustainable ways – a global trend we are due for.

Sensored Lighting in Offices

When an office or workspace is considered a “green business,” it refers, for instance, to new LED installations in the building. An example of LED installations could include sensor equipped lighting; sensor-equipped lighting is an indoor motion detecting device used to detect the presence of a person to automatically control lights, temperature or ventilation systems. In its Manhattan headquarters, the publishing giant The New York Times recently installed smart sensored lighting. As explained by Lexology,  the original office was designed to use 1.28 watts of lighting power per sq. ft. After introducing the energy saving LED lighting system, the company received a 70% saving in energy use! This case study proves that by switching over to a smart office and participating in “green business,” The New York Times heavily benefited from reduced energy use and cost.

Further to this, the U.S. telecommunications company AT&T is currently testing out the benefits of new lighting management via LED smart systems. It’s reported that the company replaced 240 properties with energy saving LED lighting; this included smart sensor systems, monitoring occupancy, light levels, temperature and energy usage. As Lexology states, it has saved At&T approximately $8 million USD per year in lighting costs.

Productivity Boosts in Offices Due to LED Lighting

Philips has installed a system of LED lights in their office in Prague that are designed to support workers’ circadian rhythms throughout the day; often referred to as the “body clock,” the circadian rhythm is a cycle that tells our bodies when to sleep, rise and eat – regulating many physiological processes. source

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.

If you would like to read more about the LED smart systems in this Prague office building, check it out here: Human-Centric Lighting

Case Study: LED Lights on Construction Job Sites

According to a case study by News Wire and Ontario owned construction company Lind Equipment, the company has made the switch to LED lighting on job sites. Lind Equipment found that they are not only saving money; but are also contributing to the global need for running operations in an efficient and sustainable way. Brian Astl, President of Lind Equipment explains, “we are excited to be contributing to the energy savings in the construction industry. With LED job site lights, the energy savings alone can pay back the cost of the lights on the first project they are used on.”

Lind Equipment states that the LED job site construction lighting was used for a 600K sq. ft, 27 story office building. The company concluded that the CO2 emissions were reduced by almost 7,800 metric tons; this is the equivalent to removing 1,630 cars off the road! Source

Furthermore, as reported by News Wire, “having tracked in real time the energy savings of their clients’ projects, Lind Equipment state-of-the-art LED job site lighting solutions have just reached one hundred million kWh of energy savings. This is the equivalent to removing 16,000 cars off the road for 1 year, or powering 11,000 homes on an annual basis.”

Next Steps: Use Energy Audits to Turn Your Business Green

While it’s true that LED products have higher initial costs than conventional lights, over their working lives LEDs offer dramatic savings by greatly reducing electricity consumption, lamp replacement costs and maintenance costs. Our qualified LED consultants evaluate the energy consumption and maintenance costs of your current lighting configuration and will prepare a comprehensive energy analysis to go over with you:

• The time needed to recoup your investment in LED products (including the cost of installation);
• The cost of waiting to upgrade to LED (unrealized savings);
• Your project’s internal rate of return.

Contact our sister company, Smart Energy Alternates, today to eliminate the guesswork and learn how switching to LED lighting solutions is good for the environment, good for business and great for your bottom line! Smart Energy Alternates Contact