Light has value.

Research demonstrates that light has a profound impact on people – on their physical, physiological, and psychological health, and on their overall performance – particularly in the workplace. And yet, despite having an intuitive understanding of the importance of light, as well as research-based data that proves its significance, we often fail to give it adequate consideration.

Using new technologies to create energy-efficient lighting systems can mean big savings for many organizations. Those savings can be realized through lower building operating costs and increased productivity, which is made possible when lighting quality is improved.

Like many other elements we take for granted – such as air – we just don’t think about lighting. We assume it’s been designed and planned to provide the best results. Unfortunately, while there have been significant developments in lighting technology, much of it hasn’t been applied to support how people currently work – especially in the factory and warehouse environment.

Light has a significant impact on our performance in the workplace. Research shows conclusively that when you get it right, a quality lighting program can boost productivity and performance, reduce fatigue and eyestrain, and increase an organization’s opportunity for success.

The extent to which different lighting designs affect productivity is less measurable than energy savings. A number of experiments have been carried out and anecdotal evidence illustrates a correlation between lighting design and productivity. For instance, the Reno Post Office performed a lighting and ceiling retrofit and reduced machine operator error to 0.1 percent, the lowest error rate in the western region. While the $300,000 retrofit was projected to yield energy savings of about $50,000, the reduction in operator error was worth about $400,000 per year.

According to the Rocky Mountain Institute’s “Greening the Building and the Bottom Line”, lighting is a key factor in allowing an organization’s main component, its people, to get their jobs done. If the environment is inhospitable, it can have a detrimental impact on the outcome of their endeavors – the product that they produce. In a typical business expenditure breakdown, labor accounts for 85 percent of the operating costs while lighting accounts for only 1 percent. A productivity increase of even 1 percent can offer savings in excess of an entire electric bill. Higher productivity and lower energy costs make businesses more competitive.

2“You need to get rid of the notion that the idea is just to reduce lighting consumption. Lighting is installed to help people do their jobs.” – John Bachner, Communications Director – National Lighting Bureau

With the ever increasing focus on EVA (economic value added), increasing productivity levels becomes even more necessary and desirable. Representing real profit versus paper profit, EVA underlies shareholder value, increasingly the main target of leading companies’ strategies. EVA does three things. First, it focuses on maximizing the wealth of shareholders (shareholder value); second, it calculates a company’s true economic profit; and third, it helps managers to create value for shareholders. Lighting has a direct effect on these three issues.

By balancing efficiencies with effective lighting systems, proper lighting can cut down on the need for supplemental task lighting, error rates and quality control issues. It can affect a factory or warehouse’s bottom line in the form of energy costs and the hard dollars actualized therein, higher productivity, lower absenteeism and smaller insurance premiums. At Light Corporation we believe in enlightening workspaces; not just in the front office, but everywhere people work.