Fewer businesses have a greater appreciation for lighting than automotive dealerships, or at least those who pay the energy bills. According to Energy Star, auto dealerships use, on average, more energy per square foot than a typical office building.
For dealerships, lighting can represent up to 45 percent of their energy costs, which comes to a staggering US $1.9 billion dollars annually or an average of US $111,765 across the 17,000 dealerships in North America. That’s approximately US $50,000 per year towards lighting. At an average operating profit of 2.3 percent, saving 60 percent on lighting energy costs is equivalent to increasing earnings before taxes by 4 percent.
But the benefits of a lighting upgrade don’t stop at energy reduction. By upgrading lights from legacy technology to LED, fixtures need to be re-lamped less often which reduces maintenance costs and minimizes inconvenience. Additionally, LED luminaries can be specified for interior and exterior spaces in a number of Correlated Color Temperatures (CCT) with higher Color Rendering Index (CRI) values, which can enhance the visual appeal of merchandising on the showroom and sales lot.
There are of variety of other potential benefits to an LED upgrade as well, including a reduced form factor and Effective Projected Area (EPA), which can reduce the cost of poles (for new installations). The specialized optical systems used by LED luminaries have the ability to increase light levels on cars, but reduce light pollution (sky glow) and glare. LED luminaries are controls friendly, which allows for increased savings through dimming light levels where and when 100 percent output is not required.
