Even those with the best of intentions cannot escape the fact that a commercial drive for energy-efficiency has been hampered by a downturn in the economy. The rising cost of energy has a serious impact and an increasing number of businesses continue to explore ways to reduce overheads.

While CSR specialists continue to deliver carbon reduction targets, finance directors are demanding greater return on investment from energy-saving technology. However, the proposition offered by companies such as Greenled becomes increasingly persuasive thanks to a combination of both energy and cost savings.

“As lighting constitutes 20% of western societies’ energy bills, it’s a huge concern,” explains James Millar, Greenled’s Managing Director. “It’s also an obvious starting place to begin saving energy. It uses electricity, is easily addressed and cost correlations are highly visible.”

The level of interest the company received at the Energy Solutions Expo, held at London Olympia in October, was clear evidence of a genuine interest in the benefits offered by Greenled’s LED lighting. Enquiries came not only from CSR/energy management and carbon reduction specialists, but also from a large number of facilities managers; particularly those working in hospitality, looking for an alternative to halogen lighting.

“Some 90% of lighting power is lost through heat using halogen downlighters – a tremendous waste of energy,” asserts Millar. “Considering that lights are on for much of the time in hotels, any saving is worth investigating. Additional utilities overheads and the time facilities managers spend on lighting maintenance have a corresponding cost. All things considered, a great deal of businesses are effectively haemorrhaging money on inefficient lighting systems, when they could already be saving.”

Although once regarded as an emerging technology, significant technical leaps and bounds have been made in LED development. Unlike halogens, LEDs convert energy straight to light, resulting in running cost savings of up to 90% on standard energy bills. Thanks to careful component selection and engineering, Greenled LEDs are able to produce the same light quality as halogen bulbs, but reduce energy consumption by up to 75%.

“Although our mission is to deliver safe, economically and environmentally-viable lighting using LEDs, we realise that in economically uncertain times, immediate cost-savings are required,” says Millar. “However, many of our customers have seen return on investment in a matter of months, with even greater savings scheduled for the long-term.”

Greenled is in talks with a number of businesses across the UK and Ireland, in addition to running product trials for a number of restaurant, bar and hotel chains including JD Wetherspoon, Radisson, Marriott and the Jurys Inns Hotel Group. Facilities management staff from these companies are trialling Greenled LEDs in a number of high energy usage areas: back offices, toilet facilities, bedrooms and corridors, and are seeing some compelling evidence.

“A trial in JD Wetherspoon’s Waterend Bar in St. Albans is saving the company nearly £6.50 per day,” explains Millar. ”Multiply that figure by 365 days and then by 700 pubs and the numbers speak for themselves.”

Greenled is also in talks with Manchester University, who has also agreed to a trial in its university museum. In addition to energy, heat and cost savings, Greenled LEDs contain no UV light – which can spoil museum artefacts.
“LEDs are now justifiably more efficient, safer, longer lasting and better at using energy than other lighting technologies,” Millar explains. “It’s as simple as that.”

Email: dbarton@clearcommunications.co.uk