The trend when it comes to lighting is clearly going in one direction: LED. Whether for offices, industry and warehouses, underground garages or as safety lighting for the area of your headquarters: LED is worthwhile in several ways. The advantages are obvious, because not only does the environment benefit from the light-emitting diodes, but also your finances: With LEDs you save up to 90% on energy costs! And that’s not all: We have four other strong arguments in favor of switching to LEDs, which will calm both your monetary and ecological conscience. The days of energy-saving lamps, halogens and flickering fluorescent tubes are over. Find out now why you can expect significantly more from your lighting!
The most important advantages at a glance:
- LEDs are more efficient, more environmentally friendly, and save costs
- They help to reduce CO2 emissions
- LEDs have a long lifespan
- They have no maintenance costs
- They can be recycled in an environmentally friendly way
- Energy-saving lamps, halogens and fluorescent tubes have fewer advantages and more disadvantages than LEDs
Advantages of LED: Our top 5 reasons for switching
LEDs offer a profitable and contemporary lighting solution. Would you like to modernize your office, your supermarket, your warehouse, public spaces or street lighting? With LED lighting, you don’t just keep up with the times. You also save costs and set a public signal that you are acting in a green and resource-saving manner. Here we show you 5 advantages of LED, which offer perfect reasons for the switch:
LEDs are energy efficient and cost saving
A decisive advantage of LEDs is that they are much more efficient in their consumption: Their light output is often over 100 lumens ( what is lumens? ) Per watt. As a user, you therefore consume little electricity without having to fear loss of brightness. You can also save up to 90% energy with LEDs compared to conventional light sources. In this way, the relatively expensive purchase price of the LED pays for itself in a short time and the savings become a plus on your account. This phenomenon corresponds to the return on investment, and clearly shows the financial advantage of LEDs. An example: if you replace a single halogen lamp with an LED, you will save around € 80 a year. If you extrapolate this to a service life of, for example, 5 years, you will get a saving of € 400.
By the way, you can easily calculate your personal energy saving potential yourself. Simply use a practical energy saving calculator .
LEDs reduce CO2 emissions
Because LEDs consume little energy and less energy is required to manufacture them, CO2 emissions are reduced – a decisive advantage for the environment. Estimates assume a CO2 saving of over 1.8 tons of CO2 per year for individual companies in Germany. In this way, for example, part of the business trips by employees can be compensated. The switch to LED ensures a better ecological footprint and has a positive effect on the greenhouse effect. The latter is responsible for the observable consequences of global warming, such as rising sea levels, natural disasters and much more. You will therefore be more environmentally friendly when you use LED technology.
The big numbers speak for themselves: In 2017, LEDs saved 570 million tons of C02 emissions worldwide. Become part of the change this year too!
LEDs have a long lifespan
The service life of LEDs is many times longer than that of conventional light sources. For example, the light-emitting diodes last 20 to 80 times longer than light bulbs, 10 to 40 times longer than halogens and up to 4 times longer than fluorescent lamps. Depending on the product, the service life can reach 15,000 to 100,000 hours, which corresponds approximately to periods of 5 to 30 years . Here you will find another practical overview of the respective lamp service life:
| Bulbs | Lifespan lumens | Approximately equivalent to lumens | Length of the lifetime lumen improved by LED |
|---|---|---|---|
| LED | 20,000 to 100,000 hours | 6 to 33 years | – |
| Lightbulb | 1,000 to 2,000 hours | 4 to 8 months | 20-85 times longer |
| Halogen lamp | 2,500 hours | 10 months | 10-40 times longer |
| Fluorescent tube | 7,000 to 20,000 hours | 2 to 6 years | Up to 4 times longer |
LEDs require little maintenance
Thanks to the long service life, LED products need to be replaced less often. Accordingly, the numbers for production and disposal are also falling. Less energy is used for production, less CO2 is emitted and the environment is less polluted. With LEDs, there are no replacement and maintenance costs for you over the entire service life , so that you have to invest less time and money than with traditional light sources.
This is an advantage for industry, for example: the high ceilings in warehouses make it difficult to replace the lamps or panels, so that a mechanic or a passenger elevator is also required. With LED you prevent this effort for several years and you can focus on the actual work.
You can find more information on the subject of maintenance costs in our blog post Maintenance costs of LEDs .
LEDs are recyclable
Unlike fluorescent lamps, LEDs do not have to be disposed of as hazardous waste. They do not contain any toxic mercury or other pollutants – another benefit for the environment. However, they do not belong in the household waste either, they have to be recycled. This is indicated by the symbol of the crossed-out garbage can, which is printed on the pears. Old LEDs should therefore be handed over to municipal collection points, such as mobile hazardous substances and recycling centers, or to manufacturers’ take-back systems.
They contain valuable components that can be recycled. These include rare earths and electronic components such as diodes and semiconductors. This benefits the earth’s natural resources and thus, once again, the environment.
Would you like more information on the subject? You can find detailed reading on recycling in our blog post Can LED lamps be recycled?
Energy Saving lamps? Pretty much 1995!
From the mid-1990s onwards, energy-saving lamps (Compact Fluorescent Lamp, CFL for short) were touted as the more environmentally friendly alternative to incandescent lamps because they consume less energy. But they have many disadvantages They have a greater environmental impact and require more energy to manufacture. They also have a shorter lifespan and often require a certain warm-up time before they light up. If the lamps break, mercury vapor can also escape, which is harmful to the human organism.
More details on the comparison of Energy-saving lamps and LEDs can be found in our article LED vs. energy-saving lamps.
Halogens? Quite forbidden!
The final stage of the EU-wide ban on halogen lighting has been in effect since September 1st, 2018. Since then, both the production and import of certain halogens on the European market have ceased. The sale of non-directional halogen lamps has been prohibited in Switzerland since September 1st, 2019. The aim of this regulation is a significant reduction in energy consumption. Halogens have a very poor energy balance and are often only available with an energy efficiency labelof level B or C (the best level is A ++). The luminous efficacy of halogens is approx. 20 lm / W. The advantages of LEDs are obvious at around 100 lm / W. In addition, halogens have a shorter lifespan of an average of 1,000 hours and generate a lot of heat. Although halogen bulbs are a big step forward over incandescent bulbs, they can’t compete with modern LED lights.
Fluorescent tubes? Pretty slow!
Fluorescent tubes need a certain time to warm up from the time they are switched on until they light up. This is very inefficient because the tube is already consuming energy but not giving off any light. In addition, the tube often flickers, which is not only stressful for the nerves but also puts a lot of strain on the eyes and can lead to headaches or migraines in the long term. In addition, noises can arise due to so-called resonance vibrations if the socket of the lamp starts to vibrate and thus generates a humming sound. Last but not least, the tubes contain mercury, which is harmful to humans and the environment. Therefore, the light source must be deposited at special disposal points and must not be disposed of with household waste.
More reasons why fluorescent tubes are a thing of the past can be found in our blog article LED vs. fluorescent tube.