Utility Rebates, LED Lighting and More Ways to Save Your Business Money

Looking for ways to save money for your small business? Lighting an office, retail store or small factory and need help keeping the electric bill in check? Confused about which light bulbs can take the place of your old incandescents, CFLs and HID metal halides?  

The pros at TCP have your back. Demystifying utility rebates, explaining LED lighting options and discovering ways to save money on your energy bill. These all add to the ways TCP Lighting levels up your business.

Read on for the lowdown on tweaks to your small business design that can deliver serious savings. Furthermore, they can support worker efficiency and create a brighter, safer workplace.

The Impact of Utility Costs on Small Businesses

You may have noticed that the utility bills at your business have been steadily rising. At the same time, you’ve likely encountered a lot of news stories lately about global warming and carbon emissions from commercial businesses. Both of these issues spurred the recent federal incandescent light bulb ban. Understanding your lighting options under this legislation may seem tricky. However, the projected outcome is very positive for both your bottom line and our shared planet.

The new rules from the U.S. Department of Energy require light bulbs to meet higher standards for energy efficiency. That means inefficient incandescent and CFL bulbs will no longer be manufactured or sold in stores. This paves the way for small business lighting that uses less energy to deliver equally brilliant illumination.

To help consumers make the transition to more efficient LED lighting, the government has authorized energy producers to offer utility rebates. These rebates will go to homeowners and business owners who invest in energy efficiency. The impact of high utility costs on small businesses cannot be overstated, especially if yours is a 24/7 operation.

Once you embrace the long-term benefits of LED commercial building lighting options, you’ll be able to save money on your electric bill. This will offset the initial investment in new light bulbs while elevating the look and feel of your business for your colleagues, clients and customers.

Ways to Save Money on Energy Bills and Lighting

Keeping the lights on at your small business can be expensive. But great lighting is an absolute necessity for worker safety, accuracy and efficiency. It’s also necessary for attracting customers and ensuring a safe visit to your brick-and-mortar locale.

Here are four ways you can adjust your small business design to save money while maintaining the best environment for your team:

1. Switch to LED Lighting

Have you been resisting the transition to LED light bulbs? This new legislation is the not-so-subtle push for finally embracing all the benefits of switching to LED lighting! Those benefits include:

Lower heating and cooling bills – LED light bulbs generate far less heat than other bulbs, so they won’t have as much impact on your HVAC system. That can translate to lower bills for keeping your facility at an even temperature throughout the year.

Lower electrical usage – LED lighting uses up to 90% less energy than incandescents, and you’ll definitely notice that difference on your electric bill.

Longer bulb lifespans – Incandescent light bulbs typically burned out after just a few months of use, so your crew had to replace them fairly often. LEDs emit vibrant, effective illumination for up to 20 years or more, depending on the daily hours of usage. That means far less time spent on changing bulbs and far less space required for storing replacements.

More flexible light color temperature – We all loved the soft, warm glow of an incandescent bulb. But LED light bulbs can deliver that same look plus a wide range of lighting color temperatures. What is lighting color temperature? It’s a measure of how warm (red/yellow) or cool (blue/white) a non-colored light appears, which can alter the entire ambience of a space.

Better eco-friendliness – Because LED light bulbs use less energy than incandescents while creating less heat, they often qualify as Energy Star certified, which means they’re environmentally friendly lights that align with your brand image and your customers’ values.

2. Take Advantage of Utility Rebates

In addition to reserving energy resources, the legislation banning incandescents has set its sights on helping consumers save money. To that end the government has authorized utility companies and light bulb manufacturers to offer rebates for both light bulb purchases and electricity usage. See how LED lighting rebate programs can save you money through mail-in reimbursements or utility rebates that lock in a lower rate for future energy use.

3. Choose Multitasking Lights

You’re already familiar with the value of multitasking in business staples like computer software, employee skill sets and manufacturing machinery. Save time and money with LED lighting that does more than one thing, too! TCP offers a variety of LED light bulbs that toggle between multiple lighting color temperatures, stay on when the power goes out or nix germs in the air while emitting daylight-caliber illumination. Keep reading for more details on our multitasking small office lighting ideas that can save you money by eliminating the need for other purchases.

4. Get Smart About Energy Usage

Take control of your facility’s lighting by pairing your digital device with TCP’s SmartStuff. This Bluetooth-compatible system allows you to turn the lights on or off, dim lights, manage sensors, group lights together, schedule lighting and more. That means you can streamline the illumination of your 24/7 facility and save money by matching the light to the real-time needs of your team.

Lighting Design Ideas For Small Businesses

Let’s dive into some unique lighting ideas to enhance your business while helping you save money on your electric bill! Whether yours is a traditional office, a retail boutique or a small-scale commercial manufacturing building, lighting like this will elevate your brand image and keep bottom-line costs under control.

LED Lighting for Long-Term Savings

Even without searching for light bulb or utility rebates, you can save money on your electric bill with TCP’s LED lighting options for your business. These high-quality, energy-efficient lights create brilliantly lit spaces that facilitate productivity, boost morale and maximize your long-term savings:

TCP Accents Series

Bring stylish efficiency to light! Accents panels take LED flat-panel lighting from boring to beautiful with dozens of available decorative designs — plus the option to customize your panels with your brand logo, company motto or other innovative look. Accents pendants bring a warm, welcoming glow to retail store fronts, eateries and employee lounge areas.

LED Filament Bulbs

Love the look of a glowing filament inside those out-of-date bulbs? We get it. That’s why we developed several LED lighting options that deliver that nostalgic effect in an energy-efficient lamp. The Good Life Series offers a wide range of filament bulb sizes and shapes with smooth, warm dimming and an all-glass housing. Ditch the metal halides and corncob replacements for TCP high-lumen filament bulbs that fit into existing indoor or outdoor fixtures and require no ballast. Take the trendy Edison bulb look into eco-friendly territory with our LED Shape Filament Bulbs that feature 19 unique filament shapes from butterflies to snowmen to words like “love.”

SOListic Lighting

Bring the clarity of daylight into your small business lighting with TCP SOListic LED light bulbs. These beauties emit vibrant, sunlight-mimicking illumination without blue light spikes for a healthy, energetic ambiance that fosters improved visual comfort and better cognitive performance.

Business Lighting Options That Qualify for Rebates

In addition to exploring the Energy Star website for utility rebates in your state, you can recoup some of your lighting upgrade costs through light bulb rebates. It can be tricky to determine which light bulbs qualify for a rebate. The best way to be sure your choice makes the grade is to look for a product endorsement from either Energy Star or DesignLights Consortium (DLC). This endorsement can be found on individual TCP spec sheets and the hard-copy packaging of bulbs sold at retail.

TCP LED lighting options that qualify for rebates include:

Q Series High Bays

For lightweight, easy-to-install high bay applications, our Q series really delivers. Choose from general-use QHBs with 2- and 4-foot options. Quick Connect high bays that allow uniformity without dark spots in large spaces, and IP65-rated high bays that can handle extreme temps with waterproof ease.

Direct Troffer Luminaires

These beauties bring big savings to small office lighting ideas. With a sleek low-profile design and back-lit technology, TCP direct troffer panels deliver full-panel diffusion for superior uniformity over older edge-it options. They come in standard sizes that fit into existing T-bar grids for easier upgrades. Their lifespan is rated at 50,000 hours for zero worries about replacements. You can even choose direct troffer luminaires with selectable correlated color temperatures. This will allow even more control over your workplace ambience.

General Purpose Strips

Save now and later with TCP’s Select Series general purpose strip luminaires that help immediately reduce utility bills and may qualify for rebates. These energy-efficient lights feature a frosted white diffuser lens that minimizes glare while delivering bright, uniform light. They’re wattage and color selectable with smooth dimming capabilities, optional motion sensors and a choice of three sizes to fit your company’s needs. Install them quickly and easily as surface mount, suspended or pendant lights – then forget about them! They’re rated for up to 50,000 hours of illumination.

Business Lighting Multitaskers

Want small business lighting that does more than just illuminate? These clever options do two jobs with one bulb — allowing you to save money on energy bills and deliver a safer, more flexible workspace for your team:

Select8 Color-Selectable Tubes

Make flex-space more flexible! Each of the TCP Select8 tubes features three color temperature settings that you change with the flip of a switch. Go from the bright vibrance of daylight (5000K) to the cool effect of neutral white light (4000K) to the welcoming glow of warm white light (3500K) without changing bulbs.

PurEssentials: Lighting for Health

The TCP PurEssentials line takes healthy lighting to new heights. Even though they may not be eligible for rebates, these lights offer a workplace refresh like none other. A built-in fan draws air in and across a fully enclosed ultraviolet light that kills common airborne pathogens. It then recirculates the purified air while only clear, non-UVC, standard LED light illuminates the space. Three available fixture types let you level up the atmosphere in overhead, tabletop and freestanding lights throughout your small business design.

Small Business Lighting From TCP

Inspired to save money on your electric bill with our insight into utility rebates and LED lighting design ideas for your small business? Reach out to TCP to get started today! You won’t regret embracing the LED lighting revolution as you see the money savings on energy bills and improved productivity among your workers.