Installing energy-efficient lighting in a building is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to save energy and money on the utility bill. Puget Sound Energy is offering various rebates to encourage business customers to install energy-efficient lighting.
These rebates include: $10-$25 for LEDs, $3-$12 for CFLs, $25 for CMH lamps and $1 per reduced-wattage T-8 fluorescent lamps (one-time rebate for projects relamping the entire building or floor).
Light Emitting Diode lamps (LEDs) are fast becoming more affordable, and replacing incandescent lights with LEDs has some significant advantages, according to PSE. LEDs use substantially less energy for the same amount of illumination and they have a long lifespan, up to 20 years. LEDs are usually dimmable and they don’t have warmup time — they turn on and off instantly.
Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) use a fraction of the energy and can be used nearly any place where incandescent lamps have been used for general illumination. CFLs can produce the same light as incandescent lamps yet last six to 10 times longer. They also create two-thirds less heat, making work spaces more comfortable and well lit. The problem with these is disposal when their useful life has ended. They are required to be treated as hazardous waste.
Self-ballasted ceramic metal halide (CMH) lamps are an energy-saving option for the replacement of incandescent flood lamps in track lighting and other fixture types. CMH lamps can produce the same lighting as the incandescent lamps yet last five times longer. They also produce less heat.
Even if you have already installed T8 lighting, you can still reduce your energy costs more by installing reduced-wattage T8 lamps. Each reduced-wattage, 25- or 28-watt, T8 lamp must be installed in place of an existing 32-watt T8 lamp and you must re-lamp the entire building or an entire floor of a building.
No pre-approval is required for these commercial lighting rebates. To qualify, the commercial customer must be purchasing electricity from PSE at the site where the new lighting is installed. Rebates are limited to qualifying products.
Be sure to check out the complete information on qualifying products and how to participate by visiting pse.com/ForYourBusiness or by calling a PSE Energy Advisor at (800) 562-1482.
