So .. we’ve demonstrated fantastic energy savings, we’ve convinced you that maintenance will drop to practically zero, you’ve calculated that the carbon savings will be substantial and (crucially) you’ve calculated an ROI of less than 3 years. Next step is to issue a PO right? But wait, there’s nothing in the budget and you’ll need to wait months to get started.
This is frustrating for everyone but now we have a solution - our new financing plan. Put simply, we fund the purchase, calculate the energy savings and set the repayments below the savings. This means that you save money as soon as you throw the switch on your new LED system. We can usually structure this as a service and keep it off the balance sheet.
The usual small print applies - there’s a credit check and the minimum loan value is £25,000.
Find out more by downloading a brochure (on the economic case page) or pick up the phone.
It’s a 6 sheet scroller, originally fitted with 5 x T5s (top left) which we replaced with our Bright Green Matrix system. Not only does it look great - there are no stripes - but it’s maintenance free, 200kg of carbon per box is saved every year and there’s a 2 year ROI. It’s hard to see how tubes can compete with this.
A recent article in LEDs Magazine highlighted a discussion in the House of Commons recently when the merits of LEDs were discussed for their energy saving properties. This is what was said: “Joan Ruddock, Under-Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, was asked if there had been discussions between her department and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on the effect on electricity consumption and CO2 emissions of the installation and use of LED lighting. Ruddock replied that “the Government certainly recognize the potential energy savings that ultra-efficient lighting technologies such as LEDs can offer. We continue to work to stimulate development and take-up, and officials in the two Departments have worked, and will continue to work, together on this issue.” The full article is here:http://www.ledsmagazine.com/news/6/3/6Ultra - efficient lighting technologies (their words not ours!) are clearly moving up the political agenda. Some kind of legislation looks inevitable; power is getting cheaper (hence more demand) and the CO2 targets aren’t going away - especially with the new ‘Obama’ effect. Energy use is notably uncontrolled right now - is this the next frontier for our legislation addicted politicians?
When you launch a new product that you really believe in - there is always a small part of you that worries if your potential customers will feel the same way, however much field testing and research has been undertaken.
So as Head of Product for Bright Green Technology I was delighted when we secured our first major distribution deal in the UK with the Bright Green Matrix TM only a few months old.
Our distributor, The Robert Horne Group, really believe in LEDs as an alternative to traditional forms of lighting for signs - in fact they have a dedicated Product Manager devoted solely to helping sign companies and the sales team understand and select the right product for the job in hand.
The cost associated with cost effectively backlighting large signs, display and billboards is now less of a challenge and increasingly we are having conversations with multi-site retailers prepared to invest in the benefits of reduced energy and carbon consumption. Return on investment can typically be between 2 and 3 years and with energy savings of between 60-80% when compared to fluorescent tubes it’s making a lot decision makers sit up and take notice. Not only that the headache and cost of replacing failed tubes can be eliminated once and for all.
I recently saw a large backlit billboard promoting the environmental efforts of a major oil company. We all know companies are jumping on the green band wagon in their advertising to customers and we are delighted when their actions confirm their messages; but they do need to be very careful how these messages reach their green aware customers. There are plenty of people ready to cry foul and worse if a company is not seen to be living its environmental claims. This poster was backlit with fluorescent lights - unnecessarily burning masses of energy and creating a recycling and disposal issue for its owners. No doubt the bulbs will break on a regular basis and a van will be sent to sort the problem out. More carbon, more wastage. Had the brand insisted on a low energy lighting solution (like ours) then up to 80% of the energy would have been saved, and there would have been no maintenance costs. Their claims would then have been consistent with their actions, and they’d have avoided potential and reasonable criticism. Oh, and the media site owner would have also saved money. Green aware companies really should dump the fluorescents.
I’ve been in New York all this week looking after the first US installation of ‘Matrix’ our direct LED backlighting system. The location couldn’t be better - it’s Grand Central Terminal, New Yorks’ beautiful central station and the epicentre of the advertising industry.
The backlit advertising panel replaces a bank of phone kiosks, hardly used now that we all have mobiles. The brief from our client was to deliver a system that was safe, easy to operate, looked amazing, was maintenance free and reduced energy use. As you can see from the picture, I think Bright Green Matrix has delivered - or, in the words of our client “it really pops”!
In spite of the large area, the power use is only 180W (1.6A from the mains) and at least 5 years of maintenance free life is expected. If you’re NY based, you can see it in the flesh at the end of the North East passage.
We’ll write this up as a case study in a bit more detail as soon as we can.
