Sustainable engineering designs encourage cost savings and energy-efficient practices. RTM Engineering Consultants continues to see more and more healthcare facilities implement light emitting diodes (LED) lighting systems within their organization as a way to foster a safe, healthy, comfortable, and green environment for patients and staff.
Advantages of LED lighting within healthcare include:
- Optimal Visibility
The even distribution of colors provided by LED lighting result in more saturated and vivid color renderings that work together to allow optimal visibility. Due to full directional down-lighting, LED provides more illumination on working surfaces, as opposed to the diffuse glow produced by gas-filled fluorescent tubes. The color temperature, color rendering, and efficiency of LED lights combine to improve visibility, which is a major contributing factor to an individual’s level of satisfaction when receiving and responding to treatments. The higher levels of luminance delivered by LEDs ensure that details are not missed, even when lighting is dimmed.
- Little to No Maintenance Expense and Minimal Downtime
In a typical hospital, lighting, heating, and hot water represent between 61 and 79 percent of total energy use depending on climate—these tend to be the best targets for energy savings. High-quality LED products can last up to 20 times longer than any other artificial light source, reducing the time, cost, and effort of maintenance. LEDs require minimal maintenance due to their longer lifecycle, disposal costs, and smaller physical size.
- Energy Efficient and Sustainable
Hospitals that operate on tight budgets are nearly always looking for ways to save operating expenses so as to focus the budget on areas that will increase patient satisfaction. LEDs can save a healthcare facility up to 50 – 80 percent of its electricity bill, since LED lighting systems use 90 percent less energy depending on the type being installed. Known primarily for their energy efficiency, LED bulbs produce more lumens per watt, resulting in less power needed to produce more light output. LEDs are recyclable since they contain no mercury or mercury vapor—this results in zero hazardous waste and disposal expense, ensuring employees and patients aren’t exposed to any hazardous elements.
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