If I asked you how much lighting contributed to the overall carbon footprint, you’d probably be baffled about how to answer the question. It’s not something you can simply measure by taking a ruler out of your pocket. Thankfully, there are methods that the experts use in order to determine what contributes to the world’s pollution. Did you know that lighting makes up about 17% of the entire carbon footprint? Imagine how much power is consumed from all lights that are on at all hours of the day. That’s no drop in a bucket. 

But the good news is that there are technologies out there that can see that 17% drop significantly–perhaps even to zero if we play our cards right. I’m talking about public solar LED lighting. This short read will give you insights how this kind of lighting can reduce the carbon footprint. You can also save a lot of money in addition to the environment. Whichever is more important to you is your choice, but here’s how you can earn green while going green.

Why Solar LED Lighting Saves the Environment

We know you’re familiar with solar. In fact, we’re almost certain you’ve seen a solar panel before–a very mundane rectangular panel with a black or blue pattern of silicon on it. Nothing special to look at, but the benefits of the solar panels when coupled with LED lamps are fantastic. To put this in perspective, a sodium-vapor lamp uses 6 times as much carbon emissions as an LED lamp over the course of a year–and that’s without the use of a solar panel.

Care to guess what the carbon emissions level is for solar LED lighting?

Zero.

It has a nice ring to it. 

And The Other Kind of Green?

It’s obvious to many that solar pulls energy from the sun, so that means zero energy bills, too! We’re sure a business owner would be happy paying fewer bills. But there are a lot of hidden costs to lighting that solar LED lighting actually skips over. An average trenching and wiring price for a ten-light system (traditional grid-tie power) can tack on an extra 30 thousand dollars. Often times, solar lighting projects actually save companies and municipalities huge sums of money up front. The “zero bills” thing is green icing on the cake. A very expensive one.

Have Your Cake and Eat it Too

In addition to saving mountains of moolah, you can actually make money back. For 2020, there’s a solar incentive tax credit that returns up to 26% of your initial solar LED lighting investment. So if you drop 20 thousand on a system, you can save 5,200 come tax time. Buy the entire office building a massive cake for celebrating huge savings and environmental thinking. We just have one question: are we invited too?

Greenshine New Energy is a solar LED lighting company based in Lake Forest, California. With over 30 combined years of expertise under one roof, we know solar in and out. If you’re curious about how solar lights can save you money while protecting the environment, contact us. It tends to be a very “bright” idea!