Environmental Impact of Efficient Lighting

Lighting Design Lab

Saving lighting energy means more than just a reduction in your building's operating costs. It also means reducing your impact on the planet. Here are some of the ways lighting improvements reduce the load on the environment.

Air pollution reductions: Seattle City Light estimates 1200 pounds of CO2 are saved for every megawatt hour of lighting savings. One megawatt hour is 1,000 kilowatt hours.

• Estimated achievable savings regionwide in 20 years in commercial lighting = 3,066,000 megawatt hours. Potential CO2 savings is 1,839,000 tons.
• Estimated achievable savings regionwide in 20 years in residential lighting = 4,642,800 megawatt hours. Potential CO2 savings is 2,785,680 tons.

When Energy-Efficient Bulbs Burn Out...

While energy-saving lighting can lessen impact on the environment and the facility budget, when fluorescent bulbs burn out they need to be recycled to prevent release of their hazardous mercury content.

The Bulb Eater® lamp crusher makes it fast and cost-effective for large facilities, while EasyPak™ mail-in containers are a simple recycling method for small facilities. Learn more » Air Cycle recycling solutions