What if you can’t afford LED lights?

Advanced lighting has brought us not only energy savings, but also a slew of new screw-in-a-light bulb jokes. For LEDs, it usually goes something like this: How many people does it take to screw in a LED light? One. And a roomful of deep wallets to pay for it.

To be fair, the cost of LEDs (light-emitting diodes) has been falling dramatically and is now even competitive with conventional lighting in certain circumstances, according to the US Department of Energy.

Further, LED systems offer big energy bill reductions. Installations quickly pay for themselves, often in under two years for businesses.

“So if you have capital to spend, it becomes a very straight-forward approach to energy efficiency,” said Tom Pincince, president and CEO of Boston-based Digital Lumens, in a recent interview.

But many businesses have no capital to spare these days. What then?

Read More