LED Lighting is Most Cost Effective Lighting Solution

Consumers commonly hear one main argument against LED bulbs: they are too expensive.  However, factor in that LED bulbs last up to 6 times longer, use as little as 1/30th the wattage of incandescent bulbs or CFL’s, and can offer a large dent in your electricity bill, and buying LED bulbs becomes more cost effective than purchasing new incandescent bulbs.  Although the cost of current LED products are higher than that of incandescent or CFL bulbs, the savings are recovered in the long run because your LED bulb will last longer, use less energy and ultimately result in less trips to the store for more bulbs.

As LED bulb usage picks up steam, new LED products are hitting the shelves at lower prices.  Certain new LED products will be priced for less than $15 and represent a new move to not only be superior to incandescent and CFL technology in terms of quality, but also in terms of cost effectiveness at the check-out counter.  As incandescent bulbs are phased out and LEDs take the forefront in the lighting battle, prices will continue to lower on LED products.  By 2015, LED lighting should hold around 30% of the commercial lighting market alone.  The upcoming change to packaging by the Federal Trade Commission will also make buying LED bulbs as simple as incandescent and CFL products.  No more need to calculate across lighting products; you will be able to directly see the energy efficient savings that purchasing LED products provides.

The trend in lighting is moving towards more widespread use of LEDs for residential as well as commercial use.  As LED bulb prices continue to go down, this trend is going to grow.  New Tek Partners is an LED provider who can help you save during the phasing out of incandescent bulbs.  They carry cost effective LED lighting solutions for residential homes and commercial use, such as screw-in bulbs, flood/wall packs, street lighting and tube lighting.  New Tek Partner’s LED GREEN technology provides a state of the art and cost effective product to this trending market.

Your Guide to Making the Change From Watts to Lumens

Most times, with new technology comes a new vocabulary.  Many consumers have gotten used to using “watts” to refer to how much energy an incandescent bulb will use when lit.  We can see the difference in brightness between a 60-watt and 150-watt bulb, but the term gives us a basis of comparison for when comparing across the different lighting platforms such as LED, CFL and incandescent.  For example, with the introduction of CFL’s, consumers had to get used to thinking about watts in a new perspective, since a 15-watt CFL bulb produces equivalent light of a 60-watt incandescent.  To take the comparison even further, a 6-watt LED is equivalent to a 15-watt CFL bulb. 

Mental lighting math, however, will become a thing of the past.  Now that regulations are changing in the lighting industry and new technologies are emerging, consumers will have to get used to new terms such as Coloring Rendering Index (CRI) and Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) to help standardize the lighting solutions available.  Luckily for consumers, to make this easier, the Federal Trade Commission has mandated a change in the packaging for all bulbs. 

Effective in 2012, the new standard for measuring a bulb’s brightness will be “lumens”.  Lumens will replace wattage as the reliable way to gauge a bulb’s brightness.  To give you an idea of how lumens scale, a standard 60-watt incandescent bulb produces about 800 lumens.  Even though a CFL bulb uses fewer watts to produce that same amount of lumens, you don’t need to convert since lumens refer to light output rather than energy consumption.  This means that lumens can be used to compare brightness of any bulb, without conversion, whether it’s CFL, incandescent, or LED technology. 

The good news for consumers is that this change in labeling allows you to better compare lighting solutions available and determine which is best for your budget.  Pairing this change in labeling with the emergence of LED technology and the phasing out of traditional incandescent bulbs, consumers will find it even easier to choose their lighting solution.

New Tek Partners can help ease this transition.  We carry a wide range of LED products to help familiarize you with the latest in lighting technology.  Our lighting products are efficient, durable and environmentally safe.  In addition, our products meet the latest changes in packaging and lighting regulations.  Let us show you how to save with LED lighting today!

Prices on the Rise for Fluorescent Lighting

A blow to non-LED lighting solutions in the market occurred recently when Sylvania, GE and Philips all announced that they were raising prices for their fluorescent lamp products, including CFL’s.  This is the second price increase in the past 3 months for these particular products.  This is due to the reduced amount of rare earth oxides that China is making available for export; a move that has led to the drastic rise in prices for these materials. 

Rare earth elements contain phosphors, which are substances that radiate visible light when energized.  An increase in global demand and restricted supply across multiple industries has been the cause for limited supply to the lighting industry itself; an industry which uses less than 10% of the Chinese export quota for these materials.  China’s economic growth is creating a greater need for them to use these rare metals for their own products. 

Overall, consumers can expect the price for all fluorescent bulbs to increase by 25% as of August 1, 2011.  These rare earth elements are also an important component of some incandescent and halogen products and will affect their pricing as well, raising them by as much as 10%. 

Consumers, however, should not worry about this price increase.  The need for fluorescent and incandescent bulbs has waned in recent years due to the emergence of LED technology.  LED bulbs are more cost effective and safer than common lighting solutions and do not utilize any of the phosphors or mercury that standard bulbs do.  A move towards energy efficiency has prompted companies to explore alternative means of lighting, thus making LED lights poised to take over the lighting market in the near future.

New Tek Partners is one such company that offers relief for those looking to part ways with their expensive and outdated lighting solutions.  With their cutting LED technology, New Tek Partners can offer lights that last up to 10 times longer, use less electricity and need to be changed less often than ordinary lighting solutions.  Whether you desire street lamps, tube lamps or simple LED bulbs for your home, New Tek Partners has a lighting solution to cover every need.

How to Lower Your Energy Bill with LED Lighting

These days, everyone has gadgets around there homes.  TV’s, computers, multi-use monitors, kitchen appliances and many other electronics that make it necessary to have power strips protruding from almost every electrical socket in your home.  Not every gadget is completely necessary for daily function, however it is nice to retain the ability to use your devices when you want them, while also being able to employ cost saving techniques to lower your energy bill.  Also, don’t forget: the bigger the gadget, the more power you will draw.  So how do you cut down on electricity?
 
A couple of common sense solutions spring immediately to mind.  You can start by turning off your devices when they are not in use, unplugging appliances when they are not in use and setting you’re A/C at an acceptable, consistent level.  Another common energy drain is lighting.  Simply turning your lights off when they are not in use, especially if your current lights are incandescent bulbs.  Incandescent lights use up to 6 times more energy (measured in KHW) and have a tenth of the lifespan of LED bulbs. 

While your common household appliances and devices are limited in how often you can change them out (because of the cost, convenience and material attachment), light bulbs are easily replaceable.  In the case of LED lights, due to their approximately 60,000 hour bulb life, the ease of replacement is increased ten-fold.  Using LED lights in your home means less bulb swapping and less energy usage and ultimately results in a significant savings in your energy bill; especially when paired with the aforementioned common sense solutions.

New Tek Partners offers LED lighting products which can complement the common sense solutions you implement around your home.  New Tek Partners even offers a free lighting audit to help you ascertain how much energy your current lights are using and provide you with an assessment of how much LED lights could save you.  With the way the lighting market is moving, LED lights are poised to be the future lighting solutions for your home; and with good reason: they will save you money and help you lower your energy bill.

What other tips do you have to help lower your electric bill?

Schools Save With LED Lighting

A positive learning environment is extremely important to your child’s education.  Most would not think of lighting being a factor in the learning environment; it not only effects how your child learns, it also affects the type of education that their school can provide.  Not only can children benefit from a stable, well lit learning environment; schools can afford to provide a higher quality education if they are energy conscious.  Reduced energy bills can free up need cash for other pressing and important requirements like buying new books, computers or upgrading teaching infrastructure. 

Close to 40 schools in Austin are saving $480,000 annually ($12,000 per school) after energy saving retrofits.  The Twin Falls school district revamped the energy systems of 11 schools and achieved savings of US $3.5 million per annum that works out to almost $319,000 per school. The US Green Building Council estimated that on an average a green school would be able to save at least $100,000 per annum. Translated into education equivalent terms – these green schools would save enough money to “hire two new teachers, buy 200 new computers, or purchase 5,000 new textbooks.” They further estimate that over the next ten years green schools could save $20 billion in energy bills alone. With over 95,000 public elementary and secondary schools and 29,000 plus private schools in the United States - the target seems to be well within reach.

So how can schools potentially reach these savings?  Lighting and heating are the two most important heads of energy consumption in a school, with lighting being the single biggest source of energy consumption.  As much as 50% of the electricity bills of a school are from lighting alone; however, despite this, lighting is also the area where it is easiest to reduce electricity bills.  Replacing incandescent and fluorescent lights with LED bulbs can increase energy efficiency by up to 9 times.  This means LED’s can achieve the same levels of illumination while using up to 90% less electricity.  Schools can also reduce their electricity bill by using lower wattage bulbs and de-lamping – which means placing lights strategically so not as not to lessen the lighting coverage.  De-lamping is also effective since LED’s provide better light levels through producing directional light.
 
New Tek Partners offers an alternative to the strobe-like effect of fluorescent lights in the LEDGREEN LED light tube.  Casting a calm, natural light, this LED light tube eliminates the inconvenient and potentially harmful flickering.  Computer desk lamps, bathroom lights and other bulbs of varying shapes and sizes are found throughout schools.  New Tek Partners provides a multitude of LED bulbs that can be used for such applications.  Next time you are in your child’s school, take notice of the lighting and think how it can affect their education.