Good lighting is essential for ensuring security around commercial and office buildings. It’s necessary for employee, client, customer, and visitor safety after dark. Among the many options available for outdoor lighting, LED flood lights have emerged as a leading choice. However, like anything, they come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Learn the pros and cons of LED flood lights for outdoor spaces.
Pros of LED Flood Lights:
Commercial LED flood lights have many advantages for outdoor lighting. These include:
- Energy efficiency: LED lights consume significantly less power than traditional lighting options, translating into considerable savings on electricity bills.
- Durability and weather resistance: In versions designed to withstand harsh outdoor conditions, LED lights prove robust and reliable over the long term.
- Brightness: LED flood lights provide excellent illumination over broad areas. They’re available in a range of color temperatures to suit different lighting needs.
- CRI: LEDs are known for their superior color rendering index (CRI). This means their illumination renders colors accurately to the human eye. This quality can be especially important for businesses like auto dealerships, where potential buyers want to see an accurate color representation for the models they’re considering, even when they’re shopping at night.
- Adjustability: LED lights can often be positioned to illuminate defined areas or dimmed to create the desired lighting effect. This offers a greater level of flexibility than other types of lighting.
- Environmental considerations: Because they use no mercury and lose much less heat, LED lights have a smaller environmental footprint. They emit no UV or infrared radiation and are recyclable.
- No buzzing or flickering: LED lights operate smoothly without the annoying buzzing or flickering associated with some HID or fluorescent lighting.
Cons of LED Outdoor Lighting:
While LED flood lights have become the standard choice for outdoor lighting, they still have some disadvantages to consider. Among them are:
- Higher upfront cost: The initial investment for LED lighting is higher than for other types, although this cost is often recouped over time through energy savings and lower maintenance needs.
- Brightness causes light pollution: The intense brightness of LED lights can cause light pollution, potentially disturbing neighbors and affecting wildlife.
Weighing Your Options
Though many commercial facilities may be satisfied with the less expensive HID (high-intensity discharge) type of outdoor lighting, LEDs deserve serious consideration. Often used as streetlights, HIDs take several seconds to turn on completely and have an orange-tinted glow that some find unpleasant. They may buzz and flicker, may contain toxic mercury, and tend to be less durable than LEDs.
While the pros of LED flood lights for outdoor spaces seem to clearly outweigh the cons, it's important to consider all the above factors when deciding what type of outdoor lighting your building needs. Weigh the higher upfront cost and potential for light pollution of LEDs against their energy efficiency, durability, greater environmental friendliness, and flexibility when choosing outdoor lighting. At Eco LED, we think the choice is clear. Browse our inventory and contact us with any questions you have about LED flood lights for your facility.
