Being a home owner comes with more responsibility than some people realize, and it can get overwhelming. There are certain aspects about your home that you may have overlooked, or just thought wasn’t important, like your HVAC system. Not paying attention to your HVAC can become very troublesome for your home and cause several issues.

We all know or at least heard that converting from Metal Halide (High Intensity Discharge) to LED will save you money.

But how much? Are there any other reasons or difference you should know about?

In this article, we break down all the factors that you should be aware of before making a decision to convert from Metal Halide to LED. Here are the 9 reasons we think LED wins over Metal Halide.

Let’s take a look at the information on a typical 400 watt metal halide bulb. While specifications may vary, a visit to a popular online website that sells Metal Halide bulbs shows that a brand new bulb has the following specifications:

We have just as many customers wanting to convert to LED because of maintenance savings as they do for energy savings. Think about what we discussed, over the life of the LED retrofit kit, a customer would have to do 5-6 Metal Halide replacements. The higher the installation height, the higher the cost of replacement. And if you have a facility loaded with lights, this becomes a significant budget amount every year that you must take into consideration. Now, we know that reduced maintenance time on lights does not translate into dollars saved because it is highly unlikely that people will lose their jobs over the fact there is much less work to do. However, these people will have time to now work on things that matter, like fixing the machines that make the company money instead on replacing lights that cost the company money.

When you take a measurement of light with a light meter, it reads lumens. And this measurement of all the lights that contribute to the light at that location creates a measurement called foot candles. But let’s think about that light that is being measured. Metal Halide creates all sorts of light, in all spectrum’s, visible or otherwise. This includes UV and IR spectrum’s, visible to the measuring device but not visible to the human eye. LED, on the other hand, does not produce UV and IR. Therefore, its readings using the same light meter is only picking up visible spectrum’s.

So there is a fun little test you can do. Have 2 light sources, LED and Metal Halide. And first ask, which one is brighter? And if the right LED source was selected, they should say LED. And then use a light meter, and the light meter may say the Metal Halide area is producing more foot candles. And so now you know part of the reason, but wait, there’s 2 other pieces of information you need to know.

Click here to see our infographic on Retrofitting vs Replacing.

Conclusion

Rewiring an old house can seem like a big challenge. Older homes often need comprehensive rewiring especially when their existing wiring no longer meets building codes. Yet, no matter if a home is 50 years old or 150, it’s important to work closely with a licensed electrician throughout this process. A small mistake or a forgotten area of the home could lead to costly mistakes later.

Older homes can be full of electrical hazards. Many times, the need to rewire comes from two areas. First, you need to be sure the home is safe and electrical systems are working as they should. Second, you need to upgrade the home’s existing electrical system to meet modern needs and electrical capacity requirements. That’s not always easy to do.

To upgrade old house wiring, there are several key considerations. This is where you need to start with the help of a licensed electrician. Here’s the process:

It’s no secret that the lighting in a room can change the whole atmosphere of that space. From highlighting certain areas of the room to making rooms appear larger than they are, placement and type of lighting are integral to the interior design of your home.

When choosing indoor lighting, you’ll want to consider the color of your rooms, the room sizes, availability of natural light, and your furniture selection. These are all factors that our team can advise you one when you give us a call.

In general, darker color choices tend to make a room feel smaller and cramped, while light colors do the opposite. The illusion of space, for the most part, is defined by light reflecting off the surfaces of walls. So options such as track lighting or recessed lighting can do a lot to make a small room look bigger.

Perhaps it goes without saying that lighting needs to serve a purpose. Decorative lighting with no purpose won’t do much else than waste electricity. Think about this when choosing your lamps and lighting fixtures, as you may be attracted to a certain type, but perhaps it isn’t the best fit for the room you’ve intended it for.

Corner lamps, wall sconce lighting, and centrally hanging lights on a ceiling are all great for helping to brighten a room if natural lighting is not available. This helps create a visually larger space whether it’s a bedroom, office, kitchen, etc.

Another thing to consider is skylights or large windows if you want more natural light, or using sheer drapes and curtains rather than shutters to allow the maximum amount of light from your current windows. Of course, if these options aren’t available to you we can help you make the most of your lighting to create a similar effect.