Upgrading School Lighting Can Improve Student Well-Being and Save Money
Like any large and high-traffic building, schools depend on an extensive lighting system each and every day. However, school lighting is especially important when it comes to ensuring student performance, and it also represents a large source of overhead costs for day to day operations. Therefore, when looking for ways to upgrade your school, lighting is an excellent place to start.
Here at TCA Electric, we’re experts at installing and upgrading extensive commercial lighting systems in a variety of large buildings and complexes, including schools. With the potential for major benefits and reduced upfront costs—including rebates and incentives—LED lighting upgrades make a lot of sense for school administrations to consider. Here’s what to know.
Why Upgrade School Lighting?
The benefits of upgrading lighting in your school are extensive. In addition to the potential for energy and money savings, upgrading school lighting can also improve student performance and well-being.
Greater Sustainability
Lighting represents a very large portion of any school’s overall carbon footprint, as schools need a high volume of lights to be turned on at all times. By replacing or retrofitting your lighting system with LEDs, your school will become much greener overall.
Save Money on Energy
At the same time, reducing your school’s energy consumption will not only make the school greener, but save money in the process. Lighting is a major overhead cost, and high-efficiency LED lights will reduce day-to-day energy usage. In addition, while LEDs are more expensive upfront, they last significantly longer and are far more durable than other popular lighting solutions such as fluorescent lighting. Overall, LEDs vastly outperform other types of lighting and are more cost-efficient in the long run.
Improve Student Lives
School lighting upgrades can make a surprisingly large difference in the day-to-day lives of students. In particular, lighting with the right colour temperature and brightness can help to regulate circadian rhythms and minimize the negative impacts of spending the day indoors. Additionally, improved lighting can help students to see and concentrate better, boosting their academic performance in the classroom.
When to Upgrade School Lighting
There are several reasons to upgrade school lighting. Here are a few factors to consider that indicate it’s time to upgrade:
- Multiple burnouts/outages throughout the school
- Complaints of poor light quality from students or teachers
- High energy usage and overhead costs
- Potential for rebates on lighting upgrades
How to Upgrade: Start with High-Burn Areas
Generally speaking, it’s best to fully upgrade your lighting system at once for the greatest cost-efficiency. However, not all schools will have the available budget to make such a wholesale upgrade. If this is the case for your school, it’s important to prioritize the most impactful areas of your school.
We recommend targeting the highest-burn areas of your school for initial LED upgrades. Cafeterias in particular feature a high volume of lighting that is in almost constant use. Other rooms like gymnasiums, auditoriums, and activity centers will also be impactful to upgrade, while exterior lighting may be a good target as upgrades to exterior lights will likely be less disruptive when school is in session.
Contact TCA Electric to Learn More About School Lighting Upgrades
At TCA Electric, our team has years of experience fully upgrading and retrofitting large buildings with high-efficiency LED lighting solutions. LEDs are an excellent upgrade that provides enhanced efficiency, cost savings, versatility, and much more.
In addition, as members of the BC Hydro Alliance of Energy Professionals, TCA Electric can provide access to potential rebates on commercial LED installations. If you’re looking for a school upgrade that can make a big impact for your students and your budget, consider LED lighting. Contact us today to learn more!