Whether your multifamily building is apartments, condos, or retirement homes, you're probably facing a common problem: energy costs.
Practical advice on commercial lighting from LED retrofits to lighting design.
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Topics: Lighting Retrofits, Multifamily
Multifamily properties are an increasingly popular housing option. Around one in six households in the United States live in an apartment or condo.
It's no wonder why energy costs are so high. You're supplying multiple families who choose their own air conditioning set points and light levels.
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) found that if every multifamily property made energy-efficient upgrades, utility costs would decrease by $3.4 billion across the U.S.
Topics: Lighting Maintenance, Energy Savings, Multifamily
Plug-and-play LED bulb vs. LED fixture: Pros and cons for your next project
It seems like there is an endless sea of LED light bulbs to choose from these days. But LED lighting has changed more than just replacement products. There is also a whole new category of options: LED fixtures.
We commonly get the question: “I’d like to upgrade to LED lighting, but how do I know if I should go with a screw-in replacement product or a new LED fixture?”
Topics: LED, Lighting Maintenance, Hotels, Education, Multifamily, Commercial Office, Hospitality
Plug-and-play vs. ballast-bypass and other linear LED solutions
If you’re looking to convert your linear fluorescent lamps to linear LED lamps, there are now more options and additional risks to consider.
Topics: Product Comparison, LED, Hotels, Education, Fluorescent Lighting, Multifamily, Commercial Office, Hospitality
Common incandescent light bulbs and LED retrofits by application
There's a long and heated debate about the use of incandescent light bulbs. We have debunked the myth that incandescent bulbs were banned in the US, but the reality is that efficiency standards have changed the way consumers shop for lighting.
And with changing efficiency standards come changes in product availability.
Regardless of your stance on the political side of this issue, we still need light in our homes, offices, schools, gyms, airports – you get the idea. So, we get regular questions about where to buy incandescent light bulbs or what the best options are for converting to LED.
We're interested in making lighting easier for our customers, so we've put together a list of the most common places you might find an incandescent bulb along with links for where you can buy either the incandescent product or a compatible LED upgrade.
Topics: Product Comparison, LED, Energy Efficiency, Hotels, Incandescent Lighting, Lighting Retrofits, Multifamily, Hospitality
Answering your questions on energy savings [Ask the expert series]
Bo Klune is our Regional Lighting Specialist Manager who oversees the Dallas and Atlanta regions. Bo has many years of experience in the lighting industry – finding the most efficient energy savings for his customers. Every day we answer countless questions surrounding the topic of energy savings so he's here to help answer some of the most common. Here's Bo with more:
Topics: Savings, Payback, & ROI, Restaurants, Energy Efficiency, Retail, Parking, Healthcare, Hotels, Industrial & Warehouse, Education, Multifamily, Commercial Office, Hospitality
There are a lot of big numbers that get thrown around in lighting retrofit discussions. The savings – from the cost of energy to the lessened maintenance workload – can be eye-popping.
Yet, oftentimes, the only number that is really eye-popping to your boss is that of upfront cost.
The reality is, no matter how common sense a retrofit may seem, big expenditures rarely get passed swiftly. (And sometimes, the sheer size of the number on the price tag can delay a quick-ROI, "common sense" project for years.)
If you're like so many of our lighting-savvy customers who have had trouble getting budgetary approval for an energy-saving lighting conversion, maybe one of the ideas below can help you to get something pushed through and start saving your company money with a refreshed look.
Topics: LED, Savings, Payback, & ROI, Restaurants, Movie Theaters, Retail, Parking, Healthcare, Hotels, Industrial & Warehouse, Education, Multifamily, Commercial Office, Hospitality
Here are some lumen per watt (LPW) targets for common LEDs
Let's be honest. Usually, choosing between LED products is no straightforward undertaking. Which product specs matter for you and which are nonessential?
Topics: LED, Savings, Payback, & ROI, Restaurants, Energy Efficiency, Parking, Hotels, Multifamily, Commercial Office, Hospitality
The secret to saving on lighting costs: Retrofit these 8 places in your building for super fast ROI
LED is an exciting technology, but completely changing the lighting in your building over to LED may not always be practical nor the best choice today. We still get a lot of questions from customers asking where in their buildings are the best places to convert to LED.
Oftentimes, the switch to
Topics: LED, Savings, Payback, & ROI, Restaurants, Movie Theaters, Retail, Parking, Healthcare, Hotels, Multifamily, Hospitality
How a SoCal real estate developer met code, design intent, budget, and deadline through expert lighting design
When you're in the business of opening beautiful places – be they retail stores, restaurants, office buildings, or apartment complexes – life can feel like a game of compromises.
Typically, you have four main objectives: meet building code, maintain design intent, stay within budget, and open up on time. And oftentimes, achieving all four of those things feels like a pipe dream. Just choose two or three. Something almost always has to give.
It doesn't have to be that way.
Topics: Title 24, Project Management, Energy Code & Restrictions, Multifamily, New Construction