College and university campuses are like small cities with multiple groups of residents whose interests are not always in alignment. One of the few areas in which those interests will align involves LED lighting for colleges and universities. LEDs provide a safe and energy-efficient environment. They reduce operating costs and satisfy student and faculty demands for green energy and eco-friendly solutions. They also provide superior durability in physical environments that can place extreme stresses on lighting fixtures and standards.
The Many Advantages of LED Lighting
Because of their superior energy efficiency over more traditional lighting systems, LED lighting allows colleges to save substantial amounts of operating and maintenance costs. An LED bulb might consume less than half the energy as a traditional bulb while generating the same or better quality light. College administrators who need to provide safe walking paths among building can save tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual electrical utility costs simply by lighting those walkways with LEDs. As students and faculties become more proactive in pushing administrators to lower a college campus’s carbon footprint, those administrators can point to LED lighting for colleges as objective proof that the institution has reduced its load on power-generating facilities.
The quality and characteristics of LED lighting also improves the overall safety of a university environment. Dark or unlit pathways can be havens for assailants who prey on vulnerable students. LED lighting for colleges can facilitate more consistent and uniform lighting across an entire campus while eliminating dangerous shadows and dark areas. Because LED lighting is more efficient and less expensive to operate, college administrators can configure pathway lighting with more fixtures and light standards to further improve lighting uniformity.
Why LED Lighting for Colleges and Universities is a Good Investment
LED lighting for colleges will also generally last longer and be more durable than other campus lighting options. With a bit of care and maintenance, an LED bulb will continue to generate light at a level equal to 70% or more of its original luminosity for more than 50,000 hours, and in some cases up to 100,000 hours. Entire classes of students will pass through a college campus before an LED bulb wears out. This durability adds maintenance cost savings on top of the utility bill savings that LED lighting for colleges can provide. College administrators can then channel those saved funds to providing better educational opportunities to students.
All areas of college and university campuses are amenable to LED lighting retrofits or new LED fixtures. Different types of fixtures are available to fit the lighting requirements for walkways, buildings and classrooms, parking lots, gymnasiums and natatoriums, and administrative offices. Many existing lighting fixtures will accept LED bulbs with no further technology changes. More advanced options will give campus administrators unprecedented control over newer forms of LED lighting for college campuses. For example, LED lighting comes to full illumination almost immediately after being powered on. With this capability, motion sensors can be integrated with LEDs to turn lighting on and off in response to greater or lesser amounts of traffic.
