Can LEDs Reduce Power Outages?

You can picture it: a strong summer storm comes ripping through town, or an ice storm overtakes the city and cuts off your access to precious power. How long will it last? 10 minutes? 2 hours? It’s always hard to tell when a blackout is coming or when you’ll lose power. While we think of power outages as the byproduct of bad weather, that thought process is quickly changing course. More people are using more power, to keep our homes cool in summer and warm in winter, to charge our phones and computers and iPads. Soon outages may be the byproduct of human energy consumption, and not Mother Nature. Yet, LEDs can help reduce the chances of these outages.

When energy consumption is high, the chances of a power outage increase. The most susceptible times of the year are summer and winter. People in summer are using AC almost 24/7, and in the winter heating systems are on full blast as well as lighting, as the days are shorter and darker. The increased demand during these times of year then increases the chances of outages. The power grids can become overloaded and shut down.

Traditional light bulbs, such as fluorescent tubes and incandescent bulbs, take much more energy to power than LED lights. These bulbs also utilize the energy poorly, using 90 percent of the power to create heat and only 10 percent of the power to create light. With LEDs, the majority of energy used to power them goes toward creating light, as LEDs give off much less heat, and need much less heat, when on.

Not only will changing out your traditional bulbs for LEDs lower your energy bill, it will decrease the amount of power needed, putting less pressure on the power grids, which in turn will reduce blackouts and power outages. The benefits of LED lighting  keep rippling out!

To get started on your LED journey, contact us today for a free walk-through and proposal at (319)-519-0039 or send us an email. We are here to help you save money while making a greater impact on the environment!

Posted in Energy Savings, LED Lighting Basics