Practical advice on commercial lighting from LED retrofits to lighting design.

When big shopping holidays like Black Friday and back-to-school shopping hit the retail world, it all too often means stores everywhere are scrambling to get the lighting right. 

Last year, we published our first-ever LED Buying Guide. We say over and over again around here that our goal is to make lighting easy for our customers, and the LED Buying Guide was published with that objective in mind.

The lighting world has undergone rapid changes over the last decade with the emergence and proliferation of light emitting diode (LED) lighting technology. Just seven years ago, in 2010, less than 10 manufacturers made up 90 percent of the lighting market. Last year, that market share was spread between more than 400 manufacturers, each with its own fluid, iterative product line.

That's a lot to keep up with.

So, how do we make things easier for you?

Poor Robert Kelly. He has all but lost his name. He is no longer Dr. Robert E. Kelly, political science professor at South Korea's Pusan National University and sought-after expert on South Korean politics. To most of the world, at least, Robert Kelly is now, simply, "BBC Dad."

If you haven't yet seen the video of BBC Dad's unfortunate, cringeworthy 15 seconds of fame, well, here it is.

This is the fourth article in our series exploring savings and payback calculations for lighting retrofits. The complexity of lighting payback calculations can make your head spin and make you wonder what applies to you and what doesn't.

This article focuses on the labor savings that you gain when you switch to long-life lighting products, like LED.

You've heard the buzz about lighting as a service but you're not sure if it's actually worthwhile or if you'll end up paying more in the end. You're not alone.

Whether you're a Chief Engineer, Director of Maintenance, or Energy Manager, you're probably responsible for finding the most energy efficient and cost saving solutions for your company. But oftentimes with LaaS, there seems to be a lack of clarity around what actually goes into pricing. We're here to shed some light on the topic to help you make the best decision for your business.

We often stress the importance of careful product selection on this blog. From comparisons between fixtures and lamps, to checklists of questions to ask lighting manufacturers, to comprehensive LED Buying Guides, our product-centric content is pretty extensive.

But as you know, selecting the right product is only one half of the process when you’re gearing up for a lighting project. 

Unexpected lighting maintenance expenses can make it hard to know how to budget for facilities and even harder to keep that budget.

If this sounds like something you encounter year-after-year –– or, perhaps, every other year –– figuring out how to tame those unexpected expenses can be a burden. But don't fear, there are solutions out there.

Here are four ways to reduce your unexpected lighting maintenance issues:

If you've been wondering how your business can afford the initial investment in a LED lighting retrofit or how you can convince upper management that it's worth the money, lighting as a service may be an option worth considering.

The lighting industry has started moving in this direction as long-life LED products continue to get more efficient and it is getting harder and harder to compete for internal capital requests and building operations often lose out to more glamorous requests.

Warranties are almost always an important consideration in the buying process. Whether you're buying a new car, new tires, or a new stereo, smart buying is knowing what kind of protection you have on your purchase should the product prematurely malfunction. 

Buying lighting is no different, especially these days when more and more buildings are switching to long-life lighting. When you make that purchase, you want to know for sure that your lighting will last you as long as the manufacturer says it will.

But malfunctions happen from time to time. So how can you find that security?

Completing a lighting audit is a helpful tool for keeping lighting projects on time and on budget. Are they a must-have?

Well, not on every project, but in some situations, the risks of foregoing an audit may greatly increase the likelihood of completing that project late or over budget. 

What are the benefits of a lighting audit? In general, a quality audit will give you a better handle on the expected project cost and return on investment. Additionally, it will give you a clearer picture of installation conditions, minimizing surprises when it's time to install.