LED lighting provides businesses with plenty of savings over the lifetime of the lights. However, the upgrade cost usually stops businesses from considering the upgrade, especially small businesses. But did you know businesses can upgrade to LED lighting for free?
How Businesses Can Upgrade to LED Lighting for Free
Learning how businesses can upgrade to LED lighting for free can help small businesses and large businesses alike. LED lighting provides businesses with plenty of benefits. The best benefits are environmental, but businesses mostly enjoy the cost of electricity with LEDs.
LED lighting uses less power to provide just as much light as traditional lighting. Businesses will enjoy lower energy costs simply by using LED lighting. However, there is a caveat; LEDs come with a high price to install. Businesses usually need to pay a good amount of money to switch from traditional lighting to LED lighting, and that’s what stops them.
Of course, it is essential to remember that the savings LED lighting provides essentially pay for installation over time. But learning how businesses can upgrade to LED lighting for free can change the game.
As a Service
Have you heard of “Lighting as a Service?” Lighting as a service is not exactly free, but it does break down the initial payment barrier. How it works is simple, a lighting company will come in, design, and install lighting throughout your business for free.
However, a monthly subscription fee will be charged to the business. This works for some businesses because the monthly cost is usually smaller than the amount of savings your business will get from using LED lighting. Some caveats should be considered before turning to lighting as a service.
The subscription fee is smaller than the savings, which means you will still be saving monthly. However, the interest rates vary and will result in a bigger cost in the long run over just paying upfront. There is also usually a contract that must be followed, making customizing more difficult.
Essentially, lighting as a service is a “free” way to get started but will cost more over time.
Energy Grants
We can now talk about what is needed to learn how businesses can upgrade to LED lighting for free. Grants are loans that are not required to be paid back that businesses can use for specific things. Some businesses use grants to start since starting a business can be costly.
But there are particular grants for particular things, like energy. Energy grants are grants offered by the federal government, state government, educational institutions, corporations, and even some private groups and individuals. The caveat here is that the grants aren’t always easy to find, and your business may need to jump through some hoops to qualify.
One tip is to start with state grants since there will be less competition than federal grants.
How Businesses Can Upgrade to LED Lighting for Free | Incentive Programs
As you can see, learning how businesses can upgrade to LED lighting for free is not exactly easy. Grants are fantastic ways to upgrade to lighting for free, but it isn’t the only way. Incentive programs are primarily for small businesses, though they don’t often cover the entire cost of the upgrade.
That is why businesses turn to Lighting as a Service. But incentive programs come in the form of rebates or tax credits for businesses. That means lower year-over-year costs in energy and taxes. Rebates often come from federal, local, or private individual sources.
Tax credits will need to be found by your accountant but often show up as a per square foot rate for businesses that meet energy efficiency requirements.