Green Blog

Advanced Lighting Systems, LLC is a youthful corporation that is on the cutting edge of a vast Green market. These new lights are the future of resourceful installations that will certainly substitute the somewhat bothersome CFL bulbs. The Green Business League has certified ALS and developed a close partnership with them. Advanced Lighting Systems (ALS) is the distributor of LED and induction lighting systems.

Advanced Lighting Systems, LLC is a company of Solid State Lights (LED) conversion kits which utilize pre-existing light fixtures. By retrofitting current lights with their High Efficient LED lights, customers can save up to 80% on electricity and reduce their carbon footprint into the environment. LED lighting is an energy efficient choice for replacing Metal Halide and Mercury Vapor Lighting, which is expensive to operate and maintain. All products have an 11-year life span and come with a 5 year limited warranty. Contact us for more information on sub distributorship or for direct purchase.

The mercury content of fluorescent and CFL bulbs is a looming hazard. If broken, the health threat is a concern. If thrown into the trash and landfills by the millions, the mercury could accumulate to unhealthy levels and leach into the adjacent ground. While CFLs are an efficient form of lighting, these bubs are likely considered an interim fix to the energy conservation movement.

ALS has engineered a wide assortment of retro-fit and reasonably priced fixture lights with the induction system when there is a need for high output lighting. Induction lighting is the high output cousin that does not involve the ballasts of standard fluorescent, and thanks to a distinctive solid capture system, the minute amount of mercury is held in a break-away tip that is easily recovered.

One of the most valuable aspects of the ALS products is the ability to retrofit nearly any existing system with the LED or induction systems. One of the big expenses for any company eager to cut its energy bill is the cost of installing new fixtures as well as bulbs. New lights that can save energy most often require the purchase and installation of new fixtures as well as new bulbs. The immense cost of the new installation must be recovered before the savings take over. The ability to use ALS bulbs minimizes the initial cost and allows the savings to kick in sooner.

For any business, the concern for the return on investment is always part of the decision process when Going Green. Since there is practically no installation that cannot be improved with LED or induction lighting, the decision to install new lights is made far more rewarding with the ALS offerings.

The Green Business League is pleased to see Advanced Lighting System take the initiative on becoming a certified Green Business. By the way, not all LED systems are created equal. The high output systems must be combined with breakthrough diffusion techniques makes the ALS systems a very smart choice in upgrading existing light options. Lights account for a large part of the electric used in any company, and that seriously impacts the profit and loss of the company. The prospect of a 25%, 35%, or 45% decrease in electric use is more than an environmental commitment. Savings hundreds and thousands in company expenses is an unmistakably good decision.

If you want to know more about how your business can be authentically Green then go to the Green Business League website. Contact Advanced Lighting Systems if you want to put LED lights in your facility and cut your cost. Not only are they more efficient but they are cost effective.

Conventional light bulbs (also known as incandescent lamps) convert rather less than 20% of the electricity they consume into actual light. This is because they quite literally burn a thin metal filament and as with all burning, most of the electricity is wasted as heat. To suggest they’re not therefore particularly good at doing the one thing they’re supposed to do (i.e. turn electricity into light) is understating things somewhat.

As diminutive heaters, regular light bulbs are actually quite good, but unfortunately this heat is typically lost somewhere completely unhelpful like the ceiling; also if you want instead to keep the temperature down then they simply make your air conditioning work harder. However you look at it, you are spending good money on heat you most likely didn’t want and getting a rotten deal on light into the bargain.

Energy saving or “low energy” light bulbs that are significantly more efficient have been available for quite a while now. These mostly take the form of compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and are currently the most commonly available type of energy saving bulb for the domestic market. CFLs have not really caught on though, most probably because they’re oversized, take a noticeable amount of time to reach optimum brightness and are expensive by comparison with incandescent bulbs. Despite some improvements to make CFLs more discrete, attain full brightness in less time, and reduce the price but there is no hiding the fact that they have a poor image, which is not helped by the fact that they also contain poisonous mercury vapour and are thus not easy to dispose of in an environmentally friendly way.

The new breed of energy efficient light bulbs are based on light emitting diodes (LED). These are massively more energy saving than today’s CFLs but until fairly recently have not been quite bright enough for regular home lighting.

However LED bulbs recently appearing in the market are indeed available as genuine alternatives, and in particular those made as substitutes for GU10 and MR16 halogen lamps. But anyone thinking about going down this path should also know that a lot of white LED bulbs, and in particular ones described as “cool” as distinct from “warm” white) may appear slightly blue which some folk find fairly attractive but which generally do tend to stick out rather if mixed with other kinds of lighting.

There is no doubt though that far and away the main advantage of LED lights is that they turn nearly all their input energy into light and waste virtually none as heat which quite simply means that they require a great deal less energy in operation. Approximately 10 times less, which represents a massive saving in expenditure because the cost of electric lighting is almost totally due to the operating cost. The cost of the actual light bulbs is really quite trivial by comparison.

It’s also a fact that LED lights last twenty or more times longer and thus require replacing much less often. The advantages should be fairly plain then; LED lights not only save you money, they also aid the environment. The manufacturing process is more straightforward than for CFL bulbs and there are no unpalatable disposal headaches.

But the biggest environmental impact is down to the fact that because they consume less energy then less energy has to be produced which in turn means less CO2 emissions.

As should be clear from this article it’s difficult to see what’s not to llke about GU10 LED lamps; to learn more review this article about replacing halogen bulbs with LED.

There is no shortage of evidence that many of the major problems of the world can be blamed on modern technology. Mass production of goods and mass transportation together with the factories and vehicles that enable all this devour the planet’s resources and pollute on an epic scale.

When it comes to the fuel that powers these modern technologies there is an even more depressing legacy. Our energy source of choice is the burning of fossil fuel, in other words oil, coal and gas. However there is now rather less fuel left than has already been burned and what has already been burned has raised levels of atmospheric CO2 to record levels. We’re caught on the horns of a twin dilemma.

The party’s over - the bottle (or barrel) is all but empty and a toxic hangover and a vague recollection of reckless merriment are all that await. The last ironic gasp of this bygone age of technology might yet be a global pandemic of some new disease or virus, spread around the world in just days or weeks thanks to widespread access to easy travel.

But is this really how our world ends? And is technology really the evil root of it all? Well probably not. This won’t be the first time that humanity has had to face up to the painful consequences of some pretty dumb (in hindsight) behaviour. Yet we’re still here.

The fact is that you cannot separate people from technology. It’s what defines us. Go back however far you like into prehistory and wherever a few old bones are identified as being human in origin you will find evidence of technology.

Tracing the human race back as far as possible we can never find a period when we actually didn’t engage in making clothes, decorations, tools and weapons, or cooking food, painting pictures and making music. These things in a sense define what it is to be human, just as wings or a poisonous bite help define other creatures. We are compelled to invent and employ technology just in order to get by.

Whoever first painted animal shapes on a cave wall set us inexorably on the path to writing, printing, and now digital telecommunication. That first flint spear head was destined to lead eventually to nuclear armaments, just as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony would not have been possible had someone not thought to hollow out a small animal bone to make a simple flute.

There has never once been a time when human technological evolution ceased in its quest to adapt and improve. Ironically this is often because the failings of an earlier technology become all too apparent. Our modern sewage systems and clean flushing toilets owe their origins to the success of the steam technology that drove the Industrial Revolution, thereby creating urban crowding and rampant disease from contaminated water supplies.

So we can be assured then that even if technology is indeed to blame for the current sorry state of affairs, it is still the only means we have to fix things again. Reverting back to some “Golden Age” before modern technology is a naive and dangerous idea; the solution lies in developing better eco-technologies (e.g. extend use of the internet and embrace high efficiency solar energy and low power consumption light emitting diodes).

These new eco-technologies are far less resource hungry and polluting and can help reduce the huge amount of travelling that goes on these days, while simultaneously actually improving the quality of life and offering increased choice. Doubtless we will some day discover that they too are flawed in some as yet unimagined way, but that’s alright, we know what to do about that.

If you enjoyed this piece then be sure to click this link to read more from this author.

Few people can have escaped noticing that conventional incandescent lighting is rapidly being phased out and that the preferred (over Compact Fluorescent Lamps) alternative is LED, which is widely regarded as the way forward to a environmentally friendly, low cost lighting future. The question though is: where to start?

Well you could simply rush out and buy LED replacements for every light bulb you presently own but I wouldn’t advise it. First of all it would be really quite expensive, but also the odds of getting things badly wrong with this approach are quite considerable.

Getting to grips with LED lighting doesn’t happen overnight - this is a completely different technology to incandescent lighting and requires a bit of getting used to before you can get it just right for your own needs. But stick with it and the end result is superior quality lighting that also happens to save massively on electricity costs.

Accordingly, you ought to pick a location that you planned on refurbishing anyway or that otherwise uses a great deal of lighting (either lots of lights, or lights left on a lot). The likelihood that you will quickly notice a difference in operating costs (and also light quality of course) will be thus enhanced.

Getting off to a successful start this way is important since it provides the encouragement to proceed with further steps towards finally replacing all your incandescent lighting with LED. The room that most people nominate to start with is, unsurprisingly, the kitchen. This usually has many lights that also get used a lot and a kitchen lighting makeover invariably seems to appeal.

The average modern kitchen tends to feature a sizeable collection of halogen spot lights (typically either recessed or set on tracks). The amount of electricity that these literally burn is quite extraordinary, yet replacing them with LED lamps that consume a fraction of the energy is no more complicated than pulling out the old halogen and pushing an LED back in its place. At least for GU10 LED lamps it is - for the low-voltage MR16 format you should also replace the existing 12v transformers with one or more LED drivers.

The same holds true for concealed lighting tucked under, above or inside cabinets as these too can be replaced with LED strips or mini spots. This is also a great opportunity to add lighting whilst you’re at it since LED strip lighting is easy to install, lightweight, and is packaged in a variety of forms that can be trimmed or joined as required. LED lighting to accent covings, plinths and set into kickboards to illuminate the floor are all popular techniques.

Three key considerations should be borne in mind with regard to LED lighting.

1. Quality. It’s true that in general quality costs more but with LED quality counts for everything; so be prepared to pay a premium and avoid the path that leads to false economies and disappointment with cheap products. Look for recognised brand names such as Sharp Zenigata or anything using Cree LED technology. Remember, incandescent light bulbs are also cheap and yet they cost vastly more in running costs over time.

2. True cost. Or what is known as TCO (total cost of ownership). Over a period of 50,000 hours a single LED will incur zero replacement costs and cost as much to run as it costs to buy. Over the same span a halogen lamp will need to be replaced at least 25 times and is likely to incur 1,000 times its purchase price in electricity costs. Even if an LED costs 20 times more (and many do) it’s cheaper just on replacement costs alone and orders of magnitude cheaper on electricity costs.

3. Usage. An issue many people have with LED light is that it can be both blindingly bright yet unable to project luminosity over distance. An easy way around this is to direct the lighting away from direct line of sight and reflect it off walls, floors, ceilings and features in the room. The obviously accents interesting aspects in the space with the added benefit that it also produces a softer light that does then spread out well. It does however require more individual light units to create this effect than if using conventional incandescent general lighting.

For further information check out these articles that examine the subjects of Cree LED and 12v LED lights in more detail.