In today’s economy, every penny saved can be a huge asset to a business owner.  While there are many different ways to save money in your business, one great and easy way is to upgrade your building with energy-efficient materials.

Updating your lighting fixtures is an easy first step.  For many commercial businesses, lighting costs can account for up to 35% of your energy bill.  By making a few upgrades and installing energy-efficient features, you can seriously reduce the amount of money you are spending on your energy bill.

When you are beginning your transition to energy efficient-lighting, it’s important to take into consideration the different types of lighting in your building and which ones are using the most amount of energy.  The most common types of lighting fixtures in commercial buildings are fluorescent fixtures (which give general, ambient lighting), high-bay fluorescents (for ceilings higher than 15 feet), recessed downlights (for either ambient or accent lighting), wall sconces (accent lighting generally used in hallways), track lighting (for highlighting products or features), exterior wall-mount fixtures (to provide safety lighting on walkways or buildings), and outdoor security lighting.

Of course, not every energy efficient bulb is the same.  There are different types of bulbs that offer different types of savings.  Traditional incandescent bulbs are considered inefficient because they use a large amount of energy to produce light – and a large amount of that energy is lost as heat.  All energy efficient bulbs work to provide the same amount of light with less energy, thus helping reduce your energy costs.

Some popular energy-efficient light bulb choices include energy saving (or halogen) incandescent (which give you about a 25% energy savings), compact fluorescents lamps (CFLs – about 75% savings), and LED lighting (about 75-80% savings).  Each of these different bulbs vary in the strength of light they can emit, their enduring power, and their overall costs. The right light choice will depend the type of lighting you are using (i.e. a high-bay fluorescent will need a different bulb than your track lighting).  Talk to your commercial lighting expert to explore the different energy-efficient bulb options that are available for the type of lighting used in your business.