If the lighting systems in your building consist of incandescent light bulbs and on and off switches, you are essentially using technology from the 19th century. Today, there are much better ways to light buildings effectively and to make certain that the lighting used is as energy efficient as possible. LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. You’ve probably heard the term “green” used in reference to the construction of buildings. LEED is a rating system that sets up a national standard for a green building. The ratings system is determined by the United States Green Building Council.

LEED provides a way to quantify exactly how green a building really is. This has become more important over recent years, as energy efficiency has established itself as an important goal of new construction and as better methods of retrofitting older buildings to make them greener have made it possible to vastly increase the energy efficiency of those buildings.

What it Means

In many ways, LEED involves taking more time to really engineer the lighting in a building. Instead of simply hooking up rights based on just aesthetics, other factors are also taken into consideration. Aesthetics, energy efficiency and occupant comfort are all taken into account to create lighting systems that provide a great deal of improvement in terms of a building’s use of energy but that also do not diminish the practical aspects of lighting.

There are many different ways that LEED concepts can be used to make buildings more energy-efficient. In fact, many of the methods involve simply using existing resources in more intelligent ways rather than installing new equipment, though new equipment is sometimes a significant part of how a building is made more energy efficient. When a building is designed to be sustainable, it oftentimes is a much better place to work or live and, on top of that, the amount of money that the building owners save on electricity can be substantial.

Daylight

Utilizing sophisticated design techniques and even automation, daylight can be harvested to offset the needs of a building for lighting. Many inefficient buildings have their windows and other features arranged so that they are not optimized for managing daylight. Not only does using daylight provide a way to save money, daylight is also one of the most pleasant forms of interior lighting available.

Dimming systems, though usually associated with ambience, can actually make a big impact on how much energy a building uses. By lowering the amount of light being put out by lighting devices at times of the day when daylight can be used to provide lighting, the financial savings can be substantial. Even florescent lights can be dimmed, allowing buildings to take advantage of the energy efficiency and longevity of florescent lighting. This provides their employees with a more pleasant place to work and is a great deal more energy efficient, due to the reduced power usage.

Not every task requires intense lighting. In fact, in some interior spaces, dimmer lighting is actually preferable, as it is easier on the eyes. By customizing the lighting conditions to the tasks being performed, businesses can ensure that they are not wasting money on too much lighting for areas where it is not needed.

The Specialty Group provides innovative technologies and methods of application that allow buildings to function more efficiently and that allow the world to get by without building more and more power plants to satisfy wasteful electric demand. With the right technology, buildings can be well lit and ideally suited for the work performed in them and still save building owners a great deal of money.