Gregor MacNaughton, head of property management at Principal Hayley Hotels, has highlighted the reasons why it is worth investing in new lighting solutions from a commercial perspective.
Head of technology and delivery for the Carbon Trust Geoff Smith recently told the BBC that lighting currently comprises anything from 20 to 50 per cent of the total power consumption in commercial properties. Evidently, this is a disproportionate amount, considering all of the other electrical applications implicated in many industries.
Mr MacNaughton told Lux Magazine how there can be a tendency for businesses to be solely motivated by profits, meaning that sustainability and corporate responsibility can slip by the wayside.
However, this must not happen, he says, as many potential clients - especially larger ones - will look into a company's responsibility policies before considering doing business with them. In this way, being sustainable can help to drum up business - regardless of the product or service being offered.
In short, it pays to have invested in good lighting that is not destroying the environment.
Older, more traditional lighting solutions were not engineered with the planet in mind. Therefore, companies should consider a retrofit project to install more modern fittings, which have been designed with ecological responsibility and functionality each as important as each other.
For an office building, fitting some new ceiling spotlights in communal areas could make an enormous difference to operational costs and emissions as these will invariably be turned on throughout the working day.
In addition, the bathroom and toilet areas of commercial properties should not be forgotten when designing a new lighting scheme. Installing some new bathroom light fittings will invariably help slash costs and a company's carbon footprint further.
The property management director went on to talk about the comfort benefits of using LEDs which do not emit heat energy. Saying that corridors used to get very hot during the middle of summer when lit by older, more traditional lights, he added: "LEDs don’t emit as much heat. The corridors are actually a lot more comfortable for guests to walk through now," which can only be another plus for businesses.
