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A brighter future for backlit displays: the business case for advertising contractors
The outdoor media industry is under increasing pressure to reduce it’s carbon footprint.
Advertisers want to reduce their environmental impact without reducing their impact on consumers.
Local and national governments are setting new targets for reducing carbon emissions across all industries.
At the same time, backlit media is growing fast, for one simple reason: advertisers love it.
Green pressures meet the increased demand for backlighting. It’s time to take a fresh look at the way the industry backlights.
The trouble with fluorescents
Backlit displays have traditionally been illuminated by fluorescent tubes. Increasingly, this dependence on fluorescent lighting has become unsustainable:
- Fluorescent tubes waste energy. Patented in 1901, the are last century’s lighting technology. They convert only 7-10% of their energy into light. The rest is wasted as heat - which often needs to be removed by power hungry air conditioning
- They demand costly, regular maintenance. Tubes fail suddenly and unpredictably, forcing annual replacement - further waste and cost.
- They create hazardous waste. Fluorescent tubes are hazardous to manufacture and expensive to dispose of, with the risk of releasing mercury into the air, water and food chain.
Aesthetically, fluorescent backlighting often falls short as well, with uneven illumination, ‘striping’ patterns and dark zones when tubes fail.
A better way to backlight
Now there’s a new way to backlight your displays that looks better, costs less and reduces energy use by as much as 88%, dramatically reducing the carbon footprint of each and every display.
We call it Sustainable Backlighting™, from Bright Green Technology, and it’s changing the way advertisers and contractors look at illumination.
Sustainable Backlighting™ uses a new generation of solid-state LED technology to drive down the cost, carbon footprint and maintenance burden associated with fluorescent tubes.
- Bright Green systems use up to one-eighth the energy of a traditional ‘tube box’.
- Bright Green systems are zero maintenance, with no need for costly annual re-tubing and tube disposal.
- Bright Green systems last longer – typically 5 + years before needing a fast, simple and safe LED replacement (with no hazardous waste to dispose of).
A green initiative that pays for itself.
By using less energy, lasting longer and requiring no maintenance, Bright Green systems don’t just reduce your carbon footprint, they pay for themselves.
With advertising rates and occupancy levels subject to volatility, Sustainable Backlighting™ is an easy way to increase profit margins, returning significant savings straight to the bottom line.
Carbon footprint: Bright Green vs Tubes
A single, poster box puts 6-8 times more carbon into the atmosphere with fluorescents than with a Bright Green system (and incurs 6-8 times the energy costs), so over five years the needless carbon emissions really add up:
| One Year | Fluorescent Tubes | Bright Green |
| Illumination | 6 x 58W tubes | 2 x EdgeSticks |
| Total power | 348W | 58W |
| Energy cost/year* | $610 | $102 |
| Carbon emission** | 3,053 lbs/year | 318 lbs/year |
| Five Years | ||
| Energy cost* | $3,050 | $510 |
| Carbon emission** | 15,265 lbs | 1,590 lbs |
* $0.20 per kW-hr
** @ 1 pound of carbon per kW-hr
Running Costs: Bright Green vs. Tubes
A single fluorescent tube box (with 6 tubes) costs $3,310 more over five years than the Bright Green equivalent:
| Five year saving | Fluorescent Tubes | Bright Green |
| Tube/ballast cost | $230 | – |
| Tube disposal | $60 | – |
| Labor | $480 | – |
| Energy | $3,050 | $510 |
| Total | $3,820 | $510 |
You can see the return on investment on economics alone - the green benefits can be seen as a bonus.
The warm glow of a happy advertiser
Sustainable Backlighting systems look better than traditional tube-boxes and support more creative uses.
The LEDs are optimized for advertising display, giving a soft, warm light that makes any creative ‘pop’. And because there are no tubes behind the posters, there’s no striping – just an evenly illuminated display surface that always looks its best.
Unlike fluorescent tubes, Bright Green systems can be dimmed, programmed and turned on and off, saving more energy and opening up new creative opportunities.
Finally, advertisers are increasingly rewarding suppliers that can demonstrate sustainable solutions and reduced carbon emissions.
A sustainable system for any site
There’s a Bright Green solution for every application, from 6-sheet bus shelter to backlit billboard. Two different systems are on offer:
- Bright Green EdgeTM - the super-thin, edge-lit system suitable for 6-sheets and smaller.
- Bright Green MatrixTM - the patented LED Suspended ArrayTM technology that’s scalable and retrofittable.
Chosen by top contractors around the world
Bright Green solutions are in daily use by some of the industry’s most progressive contractors, including CBS Outdoor, Clear Channel and Titan Worldwide.
The systems are easy to install and can be retro-fitted into an existing box in about fifteen minutes.
About Bright Green Technology
Bright Green Technology is the technology and market leader in solid-state LED backlighting systems for the advertising and signage industries.
Bright Green develops and markets proprietary backlighting systems built on our own patent-protected technology.
Our mission is to dramatically improve the environmental performance and ROI of all backlit advertising and signage by replacing fluorescent tube boxes.
