INCREASING EFFICIENCY

The price of energy today is one essential reason for the great appeal of energy-saving measures in all areas of life. Particularly the price of electrical energy has increased drastically since the turn of the millennium. For instance, in the period between the years 2000 and 2014, the energy price for a typical industrial company has increased from 6.05 ct/kWh to 15.32 ct/kWh, meaning by a factor > 2.5.

Since 2014, energy prices have remained stagnant for the most part. Any energy price development prognosis, however, is always associated with some uncertainty, which makes the option of minimising this risk through measures which reduce energy consumption seem sensible to many users. 

Beyond that, the improvement of environmental conditions at work places is always an aspect for profitability analysis. This includes improvements in lighting comfort and lighting customisation as well as overall lighting quality to a high degree. Such improvements boost motivation as well as focus and, in individual cases, also improve visual task identification (see above, section "Lighting customisation"). Economic effects of health-promoting, circadian lighting should be included (see chapter "Human Centric Lighting").

Expressing the financial impact of these effects by means of a currency unit, however, requires a precise analysis of the respective case, which is why this approach is usually not taken. Still, the aforementioned impacts of light management should be considered during implementation, since they can be "picked up" as additional benefits with little or no effort at all. 

Financial effects of energy savings on overall lighting installation profitability are examined in chapter "Light and economic efficiency".

Energy savings    Applicable rules and regulations