Make the Switch to LED Lighting - Your Electric Bill Will Thank You

In today's economic state, people are looking for everything they can do that will help them save some of their hard earned money.  Whether you are looking to make drastic changes or just a few minor ones, there are ways you can save.  Reducing your electric bill is a great place to start and LED Lighting is part of that answer.  Not only will reducing your electric bill keep some money in your pocket, it will also help to reduce your carbon footprint on the earth!

But why is LED lighting so energy efficient?  What are the real differences between traditional incandescent bulbs, compact fluorescent bulbs, and even halogen bulbs versus LED bulbs?

Pretty soon you won't be able to purchase incandescent light bulbs anymore.  In January 2012, the Energy Independence Security Act began phasing out production of general-purpose incandescent lightbulbs, starting with 100-watt bulbs.  Exceptions will be made for some incandescents, however, including 3-way, appliance, and ceiling fan bulbs.

Fortunately, the alternatives are more energy efficient, better for the environment, and provide similar - or better - light quality.

Let's take a look at the comparison of LED's vs. compact fluorescent vs. halogen.

LED
1. The estimated cost per year is $1.58 compared to $7.90 for a 60-watt incandescent bulb (keep in mind that currently there are no 100-watt equivalent LED bulbs on the market).
2. Will last approximately 25,000 hours
3. Are the most energy efficient and long lasting and come with dimmable options.
4. Are best for your health, as they are mercury free, as well as other health benefits.
5. They do cost more to purchase, but you make up for it in energy savings over the life of the bulb.

COMPACT FLUORESCENT
1. The estimated cost per year is $3.42 compared to $13.17 for a 100-watt incandescent bulb.
2. Will last approximately 10,000 hours
3. Are a cost-effective, energy saving solution.
4. Many color temperature options are available.
5. Do contain mercury and requires safe disposal.

HALOGEN
1. The estimated cost per year is $9.48 compared to $13.17 for a 100-watt incandescent bulb.
2. Will last approximately 1,000 hours.
3. Produces a high quality of light.
4. Give off a lot of heat.
5. Are not as energy efficient as CFL or LED.

Well there you have it, an actual comparison of the three lightbulb choices you have.  It seems pretty clear to us which bulbs you should choose!

New Tek Partners is an LED technology based company and our mission is to develop and produce high quality LED lighting products and provide alternative lighting solutions to our clients.  Please don't hesitate to contact us with questions about how we can help you reduce your electric costs, as well as reduce your effect on the environment.   Like our Facebook Page for free shipping on certain bulbs, helpful tips, lighting ideas, pictures, and much more!

LED Lighting – The Best Lighting Choice for Hospitals

Healthcare is one of the hottest topics heading into the New Year.  Hospitals worldwide are investing in energy efficient lighting to provide better patient care while saving in operating costs. 
LEDs are the best substitutes for incandescent globes and halogens and have very low maintenance cost, but high efficiency.  They not only provide a clearer, whiter light, which helps patients feel more at ease, but they also help lower operating costs for the hospital, allowing for that money to be better spent on front-line patient services such as medical supplies and staffing.  A recent report shows that sealed LED lighting units protect patients from harmful bacteria, while providing uniformly-distributed dimmable light. 

The long LED lifespan (estimated at 60,000 hours or seven years) also eliminates the need for routine bulb replacement, which stops harmful bacteria from being distributed into the atmosphere.  Using LED lighting in place of incandescent lighting can also lead to tax breaks, such as the Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings Tax Deduction. 

Within the hospital itself, LED lighting can serve as an important component in different patient services.  MRI facilities require nonferrous lights because of the magnetic fields from the equipment.  Incandescent lighting tends to give off minute impurities that are affected by the high intensity magnetic field of the MRI.  This drastically reduces the life of the bulb.  Fluorescent lighting is not suitable either because of the noise artifacts generated in scans.  In comparison, LED lights are virtually unaffected by magnetic fields, provide no noise interference and last longer.  

LED lights are also dimmable, making them ideal for CT scan, ultrasound rooms and other places where adjustable lighting is needed.  LED bulbs and tubes are a great “assistant” for surgeons in operating rooms.  They deliver high quality light without high temperatures.  This allows for surgeons to view body tissue in its natural colors, while at the same time providing a safe environment for the patient. 

Not only does New Tek Partners have LED lighting solutions for home and office, they also provide optimal solutions for the healthcare industry.  The variety of bulbs, retrofit tube lights and flood lighting is perfect to fully equip a hospital inside and out.  Next time you are thinking about healthcare, consider how the proper lighting can impact your care.

New Tek Partners is an LED technology based company and our mission is to develop and produce high quality LED lighting products and provide alternative lighting solutions to our clients.  Please don't hesitate to contact us with questions about how we can help you reduce your electric costs, as well as reduce your effect on the environment.  Also connect with us on our Facebook Page.

LED Lighting Solutions for Retail Stores

We’ve seen how small business owners save money with LED lighting: the low energy consumption of this technology means a lower electricity bill.  Better, clearer lighting, such as provided by LED bulbs and tubes, can also lead to increased productivity.  Easy solutions like upgrading fluorescent tube lighting with LED retrofits and replacing work area bulbs with LED bulbs are the best way for businesses to start; however, not all businesses are created equally.  Lighting is often used differently in an office environment, like that of a lawyer or call center, than it might be in a retail store.  So how can LED lighting benefit those businesses that customers frequent on a regular basis?

In a retail setting, lighting is a critical part of the business strategy.  Lighting sets the right mood for shopping, highlights desirable products, illuminates display cases and creates an overall identity for the store, whether it’s a brightly lit grocery store or a stylishly lit clothing boutique.  The U.S. department of energy estimates that 42% of electricity bills of U.S. retail stores are made up by the lighting they utilize.  Chain stores especially can experience this multiplied across all of their satellite affiliates. 

In this environment, operating expenses become a large concern and all stores must be equipped with the same infrastructure to maintain stability in the operating budget.  LED bulbs are a great solution because they last so long and use only a fraction of the energy-impact than incandescent and fluorescent lighting solutions.  Retail stores also tend to leave certain lights on 24-7; whether it’s outside signage or indoor display lighting.  Since cost-savings with LED is more apparent over an extended period of time, those businesses which leave lighting on at all hours will notice savings sooner than the average private business.

Food retailers can not only notice cost savings with store lighting, but also in refrigeration costs.   The refrigerated display cases you find in every grocery store use a large amount of electricity.  Keep in mind that incandescent bulbs are typically used in these display cases: the same incandescent bulbs which give off a large amount of heat.  Food retailers, from large chains all the way down to a small privately run deli, could all benefit from using LED lighting in their display cases.  LED lighting is cool to the touch and can assist in making sure cold items stay cold.  Unlike incandescent bulbs, LED bulbs do not contain mercury and are thus safer for use in close proximity to food.
 
New Tek Partners carries lighting solutions that any retail establishment could implement into their strategy, including LED tube lighting retrofits and screw-in bulbs.  Their bulbs can be used for task lighting in a back work-office or as accent lighting as part of a retail display.  Whether a single retail business is looking for ways to cut costs or a chain retail outlet seeking to improve its bottom line across the board, New Tek Partners provides lighting strategies to help reach those goals.

New Tek Partners is an LED technology based company and our mission is to develop and produce high quality LED lighting products and provide alternative lighting solutions to our clients.  Please don't hesitate to contact us with questions about how we can help you reduce your electric costs, as well as reduce your effect on the environment.  Also connect with us on our Facebook Page.

LED Lighting Prevents Mercury Emissions

There are many reasons to switch from incandescent lighting to LED lighting: lowering your energy bill, less maintenance, more lighting coverage with less expense.  Recently documented use of LED’s by hospitals in the UK has led people to notice another health-related benefit of LED bulbs: lack of mercury emissions.  LED bulbs do offer many other health benefits as well, such as reducing eye strain, headaches and irritability; however, a readily quantifiable benefit is that LED bulbs have 0% mercury emissions because no mercury is used in the manufacturing of the bulbs. 

Even competitors to LED technology, such as Compact Fluorescent Lamps, have to be disposed of in the proper manner to prevent from poisoning the environment and negatively impacting your health.
Mercury itself is a well known neuro-toxicant that slows neurological developments and impacts your cardiovascular system.  A CFL, for example, contains 4-5mg of mercury.  Most pundits will argue that a miniscule amount such as that will not harm anyone.  Realize though, that over a billion CFL’s are disposed of every year.  When you add it all up, mercury emissions do become a problem.  

Incandescent bulbs contain an even higher amount of mercury and are more widely used than CFL’s.   Factor in that CFL bulbs and incandescent bulbs last less than half as long as LED bulbs and you have an ongoing disposal and mercury emission issue.  With LED bulbs, there is no special disposal procedure and no worry of lingering after effects on the environment from transport and use.

In a world where environmental safety and greenhouse effects are a priority, it is essential that you equip your home or business with the latest in energy-saving technology.  New Tek Partners offers industry standard mercury-free lights for safe use in your home or business.  Our focus is on providing technologically advanced and environmentally safe products that make for a more sustainable Earth.

We have various products, sizes, configurations, lumens and color temperatures to equip your home or office with.  If you are looking to provide your family with safely disposable, high quality lights, turn to New Tek Partners to provide you with all of your lighting needs.

Where in your home or office will you start making the switch to LED lighting?

New Tek Partners is an LED technology based company and our mission is to develop and produce high quality LED lighting products and provide alternative lighting solutions to our clients.  Please don't hesitate to contact us with questions about how we can help you reduce your electric costs, as well as reduce your effect on the environment.

Health Benefits of Switching to LED Lighting

LED lighting has been praised for its numerous benefits: they help you save money on your energy bill, have a long lifespan and use a fraction of the electricity that traditional incandescent bulbs use.  It also turns out that LED lighting not only helps you save money; they are also a healthier option over traditional lighting solutions.

Consider that general lighting features such as flicker, hum, burnout, wasted heat and mercury, can be harmful to your health.  We’ve all seen these features and experienced their negative effects, which range from headaches, eye strain, and irritability to hyperactivity, fatigue and attention deficit.  Fortunately, using LED lights can eliminate these ailments, especially for those who already experience health problems and need to limit any potential negative effects the environment can cause.

LED lights are typically powered by DC voltage, which does not cause flickering.  Additionally, the humming sound associated with fluorescent lights, commonly used in hospitals, is also eliminated because LED’s use no filaments or extraneous moving parts.  Other common negative effects such as heat, burnout and mercury emissions are eliminated due to the long-lasting, environmentally safe way these next generation lights are constructed.

Even hospitals are realizing the positive health effects of LED lighting.  Recently, select hospitals in the UK started using a sealed LED lighting unit to protect patients from harmful bacteria, while also providing an evenly lit and relaxed environment.  Hospitals are also one such place where the need for quality and cost-effective lighting is paramount.  Using LED lighting and being able to reduce AC costs, eliminate mercury emissions and cut down on general maintenance costs are just a few ways that hospitals can redistribute their funds to the needs and comfort of patients.

New Tek Partners is a company that focuses on designing and manufacturing quality LED lighting products.  This means that issues, such as health and environment, shape the way they make their products.  From tube lights to screw-in bulbs, New Tek Partner’s LED products are cost effective, carbon-reducing and mercury-free.  If you are looking for a proven solution for safely lighting your home, street or place of business, turn to New Tek Partners for the latest in LED technology.

Where else are you seeing the switch from traditional lighting to LED lighting?

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.

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.

LED Lighting Solutions are Mercury Free ~ Best For Your Health

One of the many benefits of LED lighting is that they do not use mercury in their construction.  But what does that mean for consumers?  Mercury is a known neuro-toxicant.  It stunts neurological development and impacts the cardiovascular system.  An alternative to LED lighting called the Compact Fluorescent Lamp claims to have less mercury than incandescent bulbs, measured at around 5 mg per CFL.

Additionally, because of this mercury risk, CFL’s have to be disposed of a certain way.  Why risk the chance of using a lighting solution with heavy metal?  With LED lighting, there are no worries with heavy metal pollution and no need to dispose of them in a special manner.  Using LED lights not only lessens your health risk, but it also lessens the risk of harming the environment.
 
If you’re looking for a refined lighting solution, then LED bulbs are the way to go.  They do not employ any mercury in their constructions.  They also emit less greenhouse gases that either bulbs or CFLs due to a number of reasons:

• The mercury released by CFL’s is 5.01 milligrams and that by bulbs stands at 4.56 milligrams over 6000 hours of operations. LED bulbs produce a minuscule 0.6318 milligrams of mercury in this time frame. This is 7 times less than either CFL’s or bulbs.

• They use around a seventh of the electricity used by incandescent bulbs and half that of CFL’s.

• There are no greenhouse gas emissions of reverse logistics as will happen in the case of CFL’s.

• They last for almost a decade compared to a year or less for bulbs and 2 years for CFL’s– the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the transport of LED's is obviously less than that for either of those lighting devices.

All of New Tek Partners LED lighting solutions are mercury-free.  They are safe for use outdoors or in your home or office.  New Tek’s LED lights are also 100% recyclable and come with a minimum three year warranty.  If saving electricity and cutting down mercury emissions is part of your plan, then look to New Tek Partners to provide you with the proper lighting solutions.

Where in your home or office can you replace incandescent bulbs with LED lighting?