26 Jul 2021
Cost & Energy Efficient Solutionspower benefits your business.
Warehouse Lighting Options.
Lighting accounts for up to 40% of electricity usage in commercial buildings, with warehouse lighting being a high contributor to overall operating costs for many Australian businesses. Time and money spent on maintaining industrial lighting systems can be an additional drain on resources, while the quality of your warehouse lighting can affect your team’s visual perception, task performance, safety and security.
These are all strong reasons for considering how different types of lighting technology stack up. Could your industrial lighting be costing you less, taking up less of your resources in maintenance and performing better? For industrial warehouse lighting, LED technology has proven to be the strongest contender in meeting these criteria.
LED Energy Costs.
The higher the wattage of a light globe or lamp, the higher its running cost. Compared to traditional forms of industrial lighting, LEDs have significantly lower wattage for the same level of light output. That’s why switching to LEDs significantly reduces electricity consumption and, accordingly, your power bills.
For example:
- The wattage range for common metal halide high bays is 175 watts to 1000 watts, compared to 95 watts to 495 watts for LEDs
- A 10W-1000W LED flood light can directly replace 50W-2000W metal halide flood lamps
See our case studies below for examples showing exactly how much some of our clients have saved on their energy costs after upgrading their warehouse lighting to LEDs.
Lighting Maintenance (LEDs vs Fluorescent).
Lighting maintenance can be an unexpected drain on finances and time. Factors that can reduce the maintenance demands of a lighting system include longer lifespan of parts and lower generation of heat, minimising deterioration.
On average, LEDs have a life expectancy of 50,000 hours. That means, if the light is run for 10 hours/day, the lifespan should be more than 13 years. Compare this to all other conventional lighting technologies and LEDs come out the clear winner.
Metal halide and halogen lamps in particular generate a significant amount of heat, which wears on a lamp’s components and reduces its lifespan. LEDs run much cooler, which puts less stress on their components and less frequent need for repairs.
Additionally, all fluorescent and most metal halide lamps contain mercury, while LEDs do not. Even low-mercury lamps need need to be disposed of as per government regulations. This can also be a maintenance hassle within your warehouse if a bulb breaks.
Industrial Lighting Performance
LED warehouse lights can replace lamps and bulbs in most common types of industrial lighting systems, which have specific, heavy duty performance requirements. Industrial LED lighting has considerably more benefits to the alternative.
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LED HIGH BAYS
Traditionally run on technologies such as metal halide, mercury vapour, fluorescent or high intensity discharge (HID) lamps. High bays can be replaced entirely with LEDs.
These have the benefit of evenly distributing light through a space, as opposed to the tendency of HIDs to form a bright spot under the lamp, which is less than ideal for efficiency and safety.
LED high bay sensors are a means of further amplifying energy savings from LED high bays. These ‘set and forget’ devices automatically turn off and on when depending on whether the warehouse is occupied. These sensors reduce energy use by up to 35%, compared to relying on manual switching.
INDUSTRIAL LED FLOOD LIGHTS
Halogen and metal halide are the conventional options for outdoor warehouse lighting. LED score higher on brightness and ability to illuminate large areas, and do so while consuming less energy than these other technologies. For example, one LED flood light is able to perform the work of 2-3 halogen flood lights.
Government LED Rebates VEET & ESS Schemes.
The Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificate (VEEC) and the NSW’s Energy Saving Certificate (ESC) are state-specific incentives that can be applied to commercial lighting upgrades. There are a number of prescribed activities that can create VEECs and ESCs, warehouse LED being among them.
Certificate trading schemes such as these are one of the key incentives put forward by the Australian federal and state governments for making the switch to energy-saving technologies. Certificates are created at their current trading price when a specified and approved energy-saving activity has been completed. In some circumstances, you can claim these certificates yourself, or we will claim certificates on your behalf and offer them to you in the form of a rebate on your LED lighting system.
Cherry Energy Solutions uses accredited persons for claiming NSW and Victorian government energy rebates. We offer these rebates to you at the time of quoting, resulting in an immediate upfront discount – you don’t have to wait for your rebate to be processed. We can also advise you on the details of your state’s energy saving scheme.
Qube Logistics’ were looking to become more energy efficient in their use of lighting, which was a key contributor to their overall energy costs. At the same time, the warehouse areas of their large logistics centres required the high lumen output required for a bright, safe working environment in accordance with OH&S.
We upgraded over 390 400W metal halide highbays to Cherry LED 200W high performance LED highbays with photometric sensors. The upgrade generated VEECs certificates equivalent to a $18,370 discount off the cost of the project.
The LED upgrade is saving Qube >62% on their energy expenditure on lighting, saving 338,720 kWh per annum, equivalent to $38,467 and 440,336 kg CO2. In addition to the significant savings on their energy bills, Qube will benefit from reduced maintenance costs exceeding $7,000 per annum due to the longer lifetime of the LED lights and their guaranteed warranty periods.
TNT were interested in conducting a suite of LED lighting upgrades across 13 depots in NSW, ACT, NT, QLD and TAS. They were seeking a lighting solution that would provide a payback within 2 years and achieve a lighting energy reduction of at least 30% on all sites. The project presented the challenge of maintaining lighting to the depots during the works such that all parties had uninterrupted use of all parts of the depots and minimum disruption to operations.
We installed more than 2,000 LED lights, and TNT received more than $120,000 in VEEC/ESC subsidies towards the total cost of the project. The final payback period for the project was just 1.3 years. In addition, the emissions savings of the LED upgrade are equivalent to taking 340 passenger vehicles off the road each year, contributing enormously towards offsetting TNT’s carbon footprint.
Reimagine Energy with Cherry Energy Solutions
Interested in learning more about how LED warehouse lighting solutions could help move your business forward? Cherry Energy Solutions has worked to create future-ready businesses across Australia, and can work with you to reimagine your industrial lighting system. Get in touch today to find out more about commercial LED solutions today.
