Green Lighting Talk With MSI LED Lighting President John Burke on Blog Talk Radio

Green Lighting: My Talk With MSI LED President John Burke

It’s time for that Green Lighting aka LED lighting talk. Because it feels normal today all the while a struggle at the beginning.

That is why my conversation with John Burke, then president of MSI LED Lighting, was so interesting.

We were not simply talking about light bulbs. We were talking about energy efficiency, lower operating costs, American jobs, safer workplaces and a technology that had the potential to completely change commercial lighting.

More than a decade later, much of that transition has happened.

Yet the basic message from our conversation still holds up: better lighting can save serious energy and serious money.

Green Lighting Talk Shows how LEDs are Already Becoming Big Business

When I interviewed Burke on this green lighting talk, I’ve been working with organizations that wanted to move toward LED lighting.

One school project we discussed had the potential to save roughly $100,000 per year.

Think about that for a second.

That was one school.

Now multiply those savings across schools, offices, warehouses, stores, hotels, hospitals and government buildings nationwide.

Suddenly, changing the lighting system does not look like a minor sustainability project.

It becomes a major financial strategy.

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy continues to highlight LEDs as one of the most efficient and versatile lighting technologies available. Modern LED systems can also work with occupancy sensors, dimming systems, daylight controls and other technologies that reduce energy consumption even further. (The Department of Energy’s Energy.gov)

Green lighting talk with MSI lighting president — MSI

MSI LED Green Lighting Talk Started in an Unexpected Place

One of the best parts of my conversation with Burke involved the history of MSI.

MSI originally stood for Mine Safety Innovations.

The company had spent years developing LED lighting for miners working deep underground.

That environment created an extreme engineering challenge.

Traditional mining lamps generated heat. Batteries were heavy. Miners needed reliable light for long shifts. In some cases, workers could be miles underground.

MSI helped replace older halogen systems with lighter LED technology.

According to Burke, those experiences taught the company how to control LED optics, direct light efficiently and build durable lighting systems.

Eventually, that technology moved well beyond mines.

MSI began developing LED products for retail stores, restaurants, hospitality properties, museums, commercial spaces and homes.

From Mining Lamps to Retail Lighting

Retail lighting became one of MSI’s major opportunities.

Stores traditionally depended heavily on halogen spotlights and floodlights. Those lamps consumed significant electricity and produced considerable heat.

LEDs changed the equation.

During our conversation, Burke described replacing high-wattage halogen lamps with LEDs requiring a fraction of the electricity.

That created two forms of savings.

First, businesses purchased less electricity.

Second, their cooling systems did not have to fight as much heat generated by conventional lighting.

That second benefit can become especially important inside large stores filled with hundreds or thousands of lamps.

LEDs Can Dramatically Cut Energy Use

The efficiency advantage has only become clearer since that interview.

ENERGY STAR reports that LED lighting can produce light up to 90% more efficiently than incandescent lighting. (ENERGY STAR)

Meanwhile, the Department of Energy says good-quality white LED products commonly offer useful lives of roughly 30,000 to 50,000 hours or longer. (The Department of Energy’s Energy.gov)

Therefore, businesses can save money in several ways.

They use less electricity.

They replace lamps less frequently.

Maintenance crews spend less time changing burned-out bulbs.

Air-conditioning demand may also decline because efficient lighting produces less wasted heat.

For a large commercial property, those savings can add up quickly.

Retail Furniture Chain Sam Levitz Replaces Showroom’s Hot Halogen lamps with Super Efficient, Cool Burning LED. Estimated Annual Energy and Maintenance Savings of $268,000 Produces $3.1 Million in Savings Over Lifespan of the MSi LED. — Retail Furniture Chain Sam Levitz Replaces Showroom’s Hot Halogen Spotlights with Super Efficient, Cool Burning LED Lighting. Estimated Annual Energy and Maintenance Savings of $268,000 Produces $3.1 Million in Savings Over Lifespan of the MSi Lights.

The Furniture Store Example

Burke gave a simple example during our discussion.

Imagine a furniture store with roughly 1,000 lights operating throughout the day.

Under the scenario he described at the time, switching those lights from older technology to LEDs could dramatically reduce the monthly lighting-related electricity expense.

Yes, the LED upgrade required an upfront investment.

However, the long operating life and lower electricity consumption could help recover that investment relatively quickly.

That concept remains important today.

Commercial energy upgrades should not be evaluated only by purchase price.

Instead, businesses need to consider life-cycle cost.

The Department of Energy uses that same approach when evaluating efficient commercial lighting. Its Federal Energy Management Program notes that efficient LED luminaires can provide substantial lifetime energy-cost savings compared with less efficient equipment. (The Department of Energy’s Energy.gov)

Maintenance Savings Matter Too

Electricity gets most of the attention.

Maintenance deserves some love as well.

Imagine a department store with thousands of overhead lights.

With traditional bulbs, employees or contractors constantly replace failed lamps. That requires labor, equipment and sometimes lifts or ladders.

Then there is the visual problem.

A store with dozens of burned-out lights simply looks bad.

LED lighting can dramatically reduce that maintenance cycle.

The Department of Energy notes that LED luminaires generally require far less routine lamp and ballast replacement than fluorescent systems. Some LED luminaires can operate for extremely long periods under normal conditions. (The Department of Energy’s Energy.gov)

Consequently, long life becomes part of the financial case.

Better Light Was Just as Important

Burke also made another point that sometimes gets lost in energy discussions.

Efficiency means very little if the lighting looks terrible.

Retailers need good color.

Museums need accurate illumination.

Restaurants need atmosphere.

Homeowners want comfortable light.

Fortunately, LEDs created opportunities to control color temperature, beam direction, brightness and light distribution in ways older lamps could not easily match.

The technology has continued advancing.

Modern LEDs can work with dimming, color control, occupancy sensors and connected building systems. (The Department of Energy’s Energy.gov)

So the conversation moved from simply asking, “How much electricity does this bulb use?”

Now we can ask, “How intelligently can this entire lighting system operate?”

MSi Lighting is a supporter of the Green Living Guy while lighting up Macy’s, Ambercrombie and Fitch and working with 3M

LEDs Became Small Computers

Burke described LED lights during our interview as something close to computers that happen to produce light.

That statement was remarkably forward-looking.

LED systems contain electronics that can manage output, monitor performance and communicate with other systems.

MSI had already explored some of those capabilities in mining.

For example, Burke discussed technology that could help track miners underground while improving interaction between workers and automated equipment.

Commercial lighting later moved in a similar direction.

Connected lighting systems can now become part of a much broader building-management network.

Lights can respond to occupancy.

1. They can dim automatically.

2. They can integrate with daylight harvesting.

3. They can also provide data that helps building operators understand how spaces are being used.

Lighting is no longer just illumination.

It can become part of a building’s digital infrastructure.

Green Lighting Also Means Green Jobs

Another major theme of our original conversation involved employment.

Burke talked about MSI hiring workers while demand for efficient lighting technology grew.

That mattered then.

It still matters now.

Energy efficiency creates an economic ecosystem involving manufacturing, engineering, electrical contracting, installation, controls, building management and maintenance.

Therefore, sustainability does not have to compete with economic development.

Often, the two work together.

Businesses lower operating expenses.

Workers install new systems.

Manufacturers develop better equipment.

Building owners modernize aging infrastructure.

Meanwhile, energy demand falls.

That is the kind of green economy I have talked about for years.

Commercial Buildings Still Have Huge Potential

LED adoption has expanded dramatically since my original interview.

Still, commercial and industrial buildings have enormous opportunities to improve their lighting systems.

The next phase goes beyond simply replacing one bulb with another.

Lighting controls matter.

Occupancy sensors matter.

Daylight harvesting matters.

Networked systems matter.

Better fixture design matters.

The Department of Energy has emphasized that increased controllability and connected lighting could become an important source of additional energy savings as LED technology continues to advance. (The Department of Energy’s Energy.gov)

That means the LED revolution is not finished.

It is evolving.