LED Lighting – A Winning Hand For Casinos

While the odds of winning in casinos have not improved, LED lighting technology is winning the approval of casino patrons and operators alike.

Much thought is given into the design of casinos. From the obvious “no clocks” in plain sight initiative to the pattern on the carpets, all with the idea of keeping you there longer and spending more.

How is LED lighting a smart bet for casino owners and operators? Casinos need to be a well-lit and safe environment for a variety of reasons. According to industry experts, patrons who enjoy gambling seem to prefer well-lit gaming tables, lobbies and pedestrian walkways.

Security professionals also love LED lighting. Having multiple close circuit video cameras, LED lighting provides superior color rendering benefits that can aid in helping to catch cheats and improves the odds of the facial recognition software as well.

In addition, LED lighting technology can help save energy in a variety of lighting fixtures and video gaming systems. Casinos have entire floor spaces devoted to hundreds and hundreds of slot machines, each consuming energy at an alarming rate. For example, the Monte Carlo Casino in Las Vegas, an MGM Grand International property, spends $5 million a year in energy costs, much of it attributed to lighting.

According to the EPA, replacing the conventional existing lighting in the Monte Carlo Casino slot machines to LED lamps provided an 85% energy usage savings that they can take to the bank.

That kind of energy savings can extend to the entire facility. Using LED lighting in recessed, cove and track fixtures can save up to 90% of all lighting energy costs.

With an average life expectancy of 50,000 hours, maintenance costs can also be significantly reduced. Recently Harrah’s Rincon Resort and Casino in California replaced over 7,000 incandescent, halogen and fluorescent lamps with energy-efficient LED lighting, thus saving over $200,000 per year. The entire project cost $362,000 and installation took place over three weeks.

The trend is starting for casinos to take a serious look about ‘going green’ with LED lighting. Since the odds always favor the house, making the switch will continue to add more green to their bottom line.

For more information contact the LED Lighting Experts at LED Source.

Switch From Fluorescent To LED Lighting

LED lighting contributes to health benefits and eliminates harmful exposure to fluorescent lighting.

Everywhere around us we are surrounded by light. Both natural and artificial lighting impact our health on a daily basis. Our eyes are closely attuned to the light output of the sun, but not all artificial lighting is the same.

If you are familiar with term CRI (Color rendering index), then you will know that natural sunlight is defined as having a CRI of 100. This means that we can see all colors clearly and accurately by its light

But for those of us who work in an office or other building environment, we are constantly being saturated in fluorescent light. We have been conditioned to perform under fluorescent lighting with little regards to how it is affecting our health. Our schools, offices and wherever commercial lighting is prevalent, humans are exposed to this type of light.

However, fluorescent lighting was never meant for mainstream. They were designed for use during WW II as an inexpensive alternative to keep the wartime factories churning 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.

It is now common knowledge that these lamps contain harmful levels of mercury and disposal of these products has become an environmental issue. Gone are the days when a fluorescent tube could be tossed out in the day’s trash. Today, fluorescent tubes are considered hazardous material and must be disposed off under strict guidelines.

Adults and children performing tasks under fluorescent lighting usually experience headache, eyestrain and memory loss from continued exposure to this type of artificial lighting.

Even worse, as fluorescent products near the end of their useful life, the gaseous mercury can leak out and escape in to the building envelope from the degrading weld points on the ends of the tubes. Have you ever seen the ends of a fluorescent tube turn black?

Recently the most common fluorescent tube, the T12 4’ tube, has been placed on the government’s restricted list for a variety of reasons including energy inefficiency.

The safe, smart alternative for indoor applications is LED lighting. Whether in the form of a direct tube replacement or an entire LED fixture, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends the removal of older fluorescents from schools.

A recent study found that students in schools with natural light, instead of fluorescent, had a 10% to 21% higher learning rate and higher test scores. Since LEDs are as similar to natural light as any technology currently available on the market, they are considered a full spectrum light source, thus making it a perfect alternative source to fluorescent lighting.

To learn more, contact Your LED Lighting Experts™ at LED Source.

Energy Efficient Is Energy Efficient, Right?

Wrong!  I frequently have people tell me: “I’ve already got those LED things – the swirly ones!”  Of course I politely educate my clients that “those swirly ones” are not LEDs and are not as good as they’re made out to be.  I find that we are in education mode right now.  That’s a good thing – people are curious and they want to better understand LED lighting.  I’d much rather a potential customer asks me questions and make an informed decision than to just take everything they see and hear as gospel.

A case-in-point are those “swirly” bulbs.  I am of course talking about compact fluorescent (CFLs).  Fluorescent technology uses a mercury vapor inside of a glass tube.  When electricity is passed through that gas, it starts moving, atoms get excited and collide, and light is produced.  For some “light” reading, check out HowStuffWorks. 

Fluorescent bulbs are definitely more efficient than incandescent, but homes and businesses can go even further with LED technology.  They can be even more energy efficient and long lasting – but also get additional benefits over fluorescent.

Here’s an example straight out of my LED Source Wichita conference room.  If you’ve never been to an LED Source office, you should definitely stop by for a tour.  We all have a conference room that shows different types of lighting side-by-side so you can make your own observations and conclusions.  The picture below shows three identical photos with PAR38 floods shining on them.  The left one is a 50w halogen, the middle is a 23w CFL, and the right is a 16w LED.

The CFL is lit much more poorly – even though it is advertised as a 90w equivalent!  I gave the CFL the benefit of the doubt by taking this picture over 2 minutes after turning the lights on.  I measured the CFL as three times as bright versus when I first turned it on.  The halogen and LED are at full brightness immediately.  You’ll also notice that the LED coverage is much more even than the halogen.  No trick photography here!  LouMan is also “feeling the heat” from that Halogen!  The CFL will never get as bright as advertised, eventually flickers after a few hours, and the white background turns pink.

Here’s a picture of the side panel for the CFL. Check out the stats and figures and note that even though it says it’s producing light like a 90w bulb, it’s not!

Not all energy efficient products are created equal!  At LED Source we carry high-quality products produced by reputable manufacturers.  The last line on the box is very fitting:  “To save energy costs, find the bulb with the light output you need, then choose the one with lower watts.”  In this case, the light output from the CFL is NOT what you need.  Choose an LED that is and uses even fewer watts!

Just because something says it is energy efficient, doesn’t mean it does a produces quality light efficiently.  LED technology is a reliable, energy efficient lighting solution that works flawlessly in a many applications.  At LED Source we will provide expert advice, education, and design the perfect LED solution using quality LED products for any application big or small!

Lumen Output – Halogen vs. LED

You have probably heard of the many benefits by switching to LED lighting. In this blog post I will be talking about lumen output and in doing so, I will compare Halogen and LED on the basis of lumen output.

In our example, I am comparing a Halogen PAR30 and an LED PAR30. See the table below for the technical details:

	Halogen	LED
Shape	PAR30 Longneck	PAR30 Longneck
Energy Use	75w	16.3w
Lumen Output	980	800
Beam Spread	25	23
Application	6” ceiling can
Foot-candles	89	104

I’d like to call your attention to the lumen output and the foot-candle measurement in the above table. The Halogen lamp has an output of 980 lumens while only producing 89 fc and the LED lamp has an output of 800 lumens and is producing 104 fc. Note: Each light was measured in the same ceiling can with the same ambient lighting.

So how are 800 lumens outperforming 980 lumens? A true LED lighting expert will tell you it’s the difference between initial lumens and delivered lumens. Initial lumens are the quantity of light output measured after the first 100 hours of operation using controlled system characteristics. What? Basically, initial lumens is the light output of the lamp or luminaire before any light loss factors are considered. Delivered lumens is the light output of the lamp or luminaire including factors of light loss, optics, heat, etc..

So why is this important when you switch to LED lighting? It’s simple really. If you are happy with your light levels and think you can switch to LED based on similar lumen output you are likely in for a very BRIGHT surprise! I would recommend that you consult with your LED lighting experts at LED Source before you make the switch. This will ensure you get the right amount of light for your application, and who knows, you might be even able to reduce the number of lamps or fixtures that were previously used. Another bonus point for LED lighting!!

Looking For Halogen PAR Light Bulbs? The Ban Continues…

It will take you longer to find your favorite HALOGEN PAR light bulbs these days. Due to elements of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, light bulb phase outs of inefficient lighting continue to happen, and the list keeps getting longer.

The future is looking dim, excuse the pun, for PAR lamps of all shapes and sizes. The ban, which takes effect July 14th of this year, covers most Halogen PAR bulbs between 40-205 watts and includes the PAR 20 bulbs in your track lights, PAR 30 bulbs in your recessed lighting and also the PAR 38 that is illuminating your beautiful landscape in an outdoor fixture.

Of course you have heard this before since the phase out already includes the 100W and 75W incandescent. This is soon to be followed by the 60W and 40W. Yes Virginia, the Thomas Edison lighting bulb is being retired, along with its friends.

In January 2012, we were all impacted when the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 demanded that our classic 100 watt standard incandescent no longer be manufactured.  While many homeowners hoarded and stocked up while they could, many others were left with replacing their tried-and-true bulbs with energy-efficient counterparts (CFL, LED or lower-wattage incandescents).

So what is one to do?

CFLs have made some improvement after Energy Star and Underwriters Laboratory testing, but the CFL is not a quality light source. CFLs do not dim and each time you turn it on and off you shorten its lifetime. In addition the health concerns related to the CFL containing toxic mercury.

The only LEDucated answer is LED lighting. LEDs will outlast the CFL by thousands of hours. LED lamps are fully functional when it comes to dimming and quality LEDs come with Energy Star rating and rebates in some areas!

LED color temperatures range from warm white (2700K) for the reading lamps in the family room to bright crisp white (4000K) for the workshop or kitchen recessed lighting. Whatever your use, you will find a quality LED lamp replacement.

Let’s not forget the economic benefits of LED lighting. In a recent Consumer Reports study it was stated that “For every dollar you spend to power a regular light bulb, it’s only going to cost you 20 cents to power an LED.”
The time is now to make the switch to PAR LED lamps. Quality LED manufacturers already have complete lines available in various color temperatures that are dimmable. It is time that consumers stop looking at lighting as disposable but rather something that enhances our lives while saving us energy and money. The future is bright with LED lighting.

Related articles

• The LED Light Bulb Has Arrived (getleducated.com)

The LED Light Bulb Has Arrived

After a recent visit to a big box hardware store I had to explain to my 9-year-old daughter why we had to deposit our old compact fluorescent light bulbs in the big blue container with the skull and crossbones on it. I explained that this was a hazardous material and disposing it in here was good for the environment. So without missing a beat she asked, “If that was the reason, why was it safe to use this light bulb in my bedroom?” Great question!

As with most families we stretch our budget to its limit and try to save money where we can. We have only read about the day when a quality LED lamp (bulb) would be available to the masses. So for many of us waiting, we can finally exhale since that day has arrived.

Our family is now on a mission to replace our energy wasting incandescent and toxic compact fluorescent light bulbs to safe, long-lasting LED lights.

Businesses have seen the many benefits that LED lighting provides from saving energy and operating costs for the past few years, especially as the technology has improved and a variety of retrofit options hit the market.

In my own home, if I change my exterior light bulbs, which are on for 10 hours per night, and the interior light bulbs, (extremely high family room and kitchen ceilings) I should have my payback in less than 12 months!

Due to the long life span of LEDs, I won’t have to chase my family around the house shutting off lights in rooms where no one is sitting, or ask my neighbor to borrow his extremely high ladder to change those hard to reach light bulbs.

Recent industry predictions that LED lamp prices would be coming down were realized when a major LED manufacturer matched it’s cost to marketplace need with a reasonably priced, quality LED light bulb aimed squarely at the residential marketplace. Offering a line of LED light bulbs to replace the 40W and 60W incandescent, they have achieved the sweet spot for many household budgets – between $10 and $13.

We can now safely install a truly green product, which is safe to handle, offers a quality light source, all for the price of a combo meal at a fast food restaurant!

For LED lighting solutions, visit the experts at LED Source – 866.900.4533

Related articles

• A tale of two tests: why Energy Star LED light bulbs are a rare breed (gizmag.com)
• New LED Light Bulb Looks and Lights Like an Incandescent (mashable.com)

LED Lighting Adds Beauty, Consistency and Value

My friends have been looking at me in a funny way for the last 7 plus years.  You see, I’m in the lighting business, so every place I enter, the first thing I do is look up.  It’s a habit now that seems to drive my wife crazy.  I’m curious how the lighting looks, if all of the color temperatures match, if they have the correct lighting levels, etc.  Until I started doing this, I didn’t realize how unbelievably hard it seems to be to make a clean, beautiful lighting plan work.

If you are the owner of a franchise location (or more than one), you know the importance of keeping the image of the brands you represent consistent.  With traditional lighting technology, the color temperature, hours of life and energy usage vary based on the technology you use, how old the fixtures are, etc.  That means if you open your first location one year and a second two years later, you may not be able to match the lighting between them.  What can you do to make everything the same?

Moving into LED Lighting Solutions is the key.  With the manufacturers we work with (including Philips, Cree, Toshiba, Lighting Science Group and others) we can give you a consistent lighting look across all of your locations.  Every lamp will match, the output will be the same and we can easily take the lighting you have now, convert it to LED and save you between 50 and 75 percent of your energy cost on lighting.  Add in the benefits of long life (50,000+ hours), long warranties (up to 10 years) and absolutely color consistency and you can see that LED is ideal for operators of franchise locations.  The lighting is a huge part of making your product, both the storefront and your merchandise, look the same in the best possible manner.

Every day that you wait to move into LED is a day of savings lost.  There is absolutely no reason to wait, especially with our LouMan Money program.  Get in touch with us today to explore how LED Source can make your business shine like never before (and for a lot less money out of your pocket each month).  Our experience with brands such as Massage Envy, Starbucks, Marriott, City Furniture, Hurricane Grill & Wings and others, has taught us a lot about how to work with a franchisee and franchisor to make it happen.  LED Source, being North America’s only LED lighting franchisor, also provides us special insight into the importance of respecting both the unit owners and the corporate higher-ups.

For more information on LED Source and our franchise opportunity please call us at 866.900.4533 or www.LEDsource.com

Related articles

• LED Source Wraps up Strong Year, Plans for Continued Growth in 2013 (prweb.com)

Skyscrapers Going Green with LED Lighting

As power plants struggle to keep up with the demand of the world’s electricity requirements, it is essential that the biggest consumers of electricity, such as commercial buildings, find various way to reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint. Retrofitting a skyscraper with energy-efficient LED lighting can seem like a daunting task, but the benefits and savings can certainly outweigh the initial expense. In many cases the ROI for an LED lighting upgrade is less than 3 years and “Green Buildings” can attract the most environmentally conscious tenants.

With lighting being responsible for 35% of energy consumption in buildings, finding ways for building owners to lower operating costs while being environmentally responsible has become a priority.

Solid state LED lighting not only provides better performance than most conventional light sources, it has the added benefits of increased durability and longevity. It also lowers the environmental impact especially when compared to incandescent, halogen, metal halide and fluorescent lighting.

Tenants and building owners looking to become more green friendly have also noticed that by upgrading to LED lighting, not only are they reducing their carbon footprint, they are also lowering operating expenses. Today, there are many tax benefits and rebates being offered by both federal and local governments for building looking to go green. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) even offers incentives to buildings looking improve their energy efficiency.

One example of a skyscraper making the switch to LED lighting is the 47-story Miami Tower in downtown Miami, Florida. The building’s previous exterior lighting system consisted of 382 metal halide fixtures consuming 878,519 kWh annually. To achieve an ever-changing color effect, it required the manual changing of high-maintenance and expensive color gels for each fixture.

LED Source® worked with the team at Philips Color Kinetics to provide a new LED lighting system using the ColorReach Powercore and ColorGraze Powercore fixtures. Using only 216 fixtures, new LED lights have a color palette of 16 million colors and can be changed at the touch of a button.

It is estimated that the Tower will have an annual reduction of 807,688 kWh – a total energy savings of 92%, equivalent to 1.2 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, Jones Lang LaSalle, the building’s owner and Management Company, would subsequently save nearly $260,000 annually in energy, maintenance and operating costs.

Through the use of LED lighting, city skylines are able to reinvent themselves while becoming environmentally conscious. If other skyscrapers around the globe took the same initiative as the Miami Tower, imagine the savings and benefits to the planet that would be achieved from LED lighting.

Miami Tower Reinvented with LED Lighting

When you look at buildings in your city’s downtown, are they just plain skyscrapers with little architectural design, or are they modern works of art? Many buildings throughout the world have just the basics when it comes to exterior lighting. But what if there was a solution that not only saved money for building owners and helped the environment, but also brought the building alive with color?  Through the use of energy-efficient LED lighting, reinventing a city skyline with almost limitless color possibilities, is a reality today.

In most cities there seems to be one building that stands out in the concrete jungle. The building design tends to separate it from the rest and most times, it is lit at night with some architectural lighting to enhance or highlight certain areas. Many times it is just in white and in some cases, a handful of colors are used through the use of colored gels. While the use of lighting on a building exterior adds a nice touch, it does come at a significant cost to building owners and conventional lighting systems are manually intensive.

To light a building, there are several different traditional fixtures that have been used in the past. This consisted many of 400-watt or 1000-watt metal halide fixtures and if color was required, maintenance crews added lens or gels. While these fixtures were the best solution in their day, times have changed and LED lighting has made a dramatic entrance.

For the city of Miami, the Miami Tower has been an icon since opening back in February 1987. The colorful lights illuminating the exterior of the building has made it a landmark for the city. In recent years, the aging lighting system, which consisted of 382 metal halide fixtures, had become highly inefficient and required constant maintenance to change lamps, ballasts and even the colored gels. To find a solution to their lighting problem, Miami Tower called upon the LED lighting experts at LED Source®. State-of-the-art LED lighting fixtures were chosen from Philips Color Kinetics that provided the versatility of color changing while reducing energy costs.

To update the metal halide fixtures, 216 ColorReach Powercore and the ColorGraze Powercore LED lights were used. These fixtures are able to produce 16 million colors and offer hundreds of lighting effects. The new LED lighting system not only reduced lighting related energy consumption by 92%, it also allows the Tower to change colors at the touch of a button without any additional maintenance expense. The building owner will save nearly $260,000 annually and 1.2 million pounds of CO2 emissions.

What does it take today to create an icon for city skylines? Look no further than architectural LED lighting to add color to your building.

For more information on the Miami Tower LED lighting upgrade project, please contact LED Source.

Related articles

• Miami Tower changes colors instantly with new LED lights (miamiherald.com)
• Jones Lang LaSalle and Philips partner for Miami Tower LED exterior lighting project (greenerideal.com)
• Miami Tower Changes Colors Instantly With New LED Lights (huffingtonpost.com)

The Durability of LED Lighting Fixtures

On a recent sales trip to Orlando, I was performing an LED fixture demo at a warehouse for a client. The Philips ExceLine 4-Pod BayLyter HighBay LED fixture met the client’s project goals and was the fixture selected.

As any good sales person knows, the best way to demo a fixture is to show the customer how it will work in their environment. At the warehouse, the client had a large gantry crane and the idea to lower the hook, connect the fixture and raise it to the ceiling. This way the BayLyter would illuminate the area at approximately the same height as the existing metal halide fixtures. Sounds like a good idea in theory right?

As I proceeded with the demo and connected the BayLyter LED fixture to the crane, at about 15 feet in the air, my worst fear came true. The cable on the crane broke right at the hook and the fixture came crashing to the ground. The BayLyter landed on the power cord, immediately severing it and making the warehouse go completely black. The existing metal halide lights in the warehouse were turned on, and after they warmed up in about 5 minutes, we went to survey the damage. The BayLyter LED fixture had landed on one of its corners and took a 5”x2”x1” deep chuck out of the concrete floor. The corner on the LED fixture was dented and one of the four pods on the BayLyter was knocked loose. To my amazement, the glass was not broken and the LED boards were still attached and intact. Needless to say I had to reschedule the demo, but that is only one part of the story.

The next morning at the office, I decided to see if the BayLyter still worked. After attaching a new power cord, I plugged it in and yes the fixture worked perfectly. All the LEDs from each board lit up, even though it dropped from about 15 feet. The only thing that needed to be fixed was the bracket that held in one of the LED boards.

All of us in the LED lighting industry love to speak about how durable LEDs are, but have you ever heard of a fixture being dropped from this height and still working? Could your metal halide fixture do this?

In the past, I have heard a story of an electrician on a ladder installing a Lighting Science LED lamp in a recessed can, loosing his grip, dropping it and still working, but nothing to this extreme. I too have dropped a Toshiba LED lamp from a second story balcony and it survived. I find it amazing to see that with all these similar stories involving an LED lamp or fixture falling, the end result is still the same – the LEDs continued to worked.

Imagine the above situation happening with a T5 High Output HighBay. I can guarantee the lamps would all be broken, and you would have to evacuate the area because of the poisonous mercury that was just released. When the dust settled and the area cleaned, you would find the fixture completely destroyed. The reflector would be bent and I am certain there would be a few sockets broken. Basically the fixture would be useless.

The next time you are thinking of upgrading the lighting in your warehouse, be sure to consider the many benefits and durability LED lamps and fixtures can offer.

For more information, contact the LED lighting experts at LED Source®.