It’s easy enough to prove that a lighting retrofit will lower a building’s energy consumption and improve the quality and quantity of light, but there’s another major benefit, perhaps less visible but just as valuable. A lighting upgrade is also a good financial investment, especially during an economic downturn. In some cases, it can cut utility bills by 30-50%. The new, longer-life equipment will also reduce maintenance costs, and the project can be financed and paid for out of future energy and operational savings.
In other words, you can avoid any upfront costs, replace obsolescent lighting with new equipment, and reap annual energy savings that will last far beyond the payback period – and that payback period may only be a few years. Think about that: in less than three years, this project could be making money for you. It’s hard to find a downside. In fact, the only real risk is that of waiting: by delaying a lighting retrofit, your business could be wasting tens of thousands of dollars a year in utility costs. So if you have put off replacing those old T12 fluorescents, metal halides or mercury vapor lights because it’s not in your budget this year, think again!
Below is an example of what we mean. Under this arrangement, a building could be retrofit with state-of-the-art energy efficient components with no up-front money. The monthly payments are always less than the energy savings realized, allowing the customer to save money each year of payment, receive all the tax benefits, and have an estimated positive cash flow over ten years of $629,000. Bottom line: this project will improve the company’s cash flow, putting money into its coffers that can be used to build the business. And that’s a proposition few businesses can afford to turn down.
