The Best Lighting Options for Commercial Buildings in Adelaide

Commercial building lighting today does far more than provide functional illumination for everyday business activities. 

It enables companies to increase revenue by motivating staff and attracting more customers, while helping to keep these people safe on the premises. Commercial lighting can also save money by improving energy efficiency.

With so many benefits, commercial lighting installation is a key consideration for businesses such as retailers, the leisure sector, offices, and healthcare facilities.

However, there are so many lighting options for commercial buildings that it can be difficult to know which is best for your Adelaide business. In this post, we’ll help you find out.

What does a business need to consider when purchasing new lights for a commercial building?

Deciding which options are best when buying new lights for your commercial building involves many factors.

For instance, you need to consider:

• Ceiling height. 
• Number of lighting fixtures required.
• Colour temperature of the lighting. 
• How the lights should be distributed and spaced.
• How bright the lights should be.
• How the lighting will be used.

How lighting is used in commercial buildings

Different types of commercial spaces will have different lighting requirements, but in general, businesses use three kinds of lighting: 

• Ambient lighting. Ambient (general) lighting – usually ceiling fixtures – provides basic lighting functionality so staff and customers can move around comfortably and safely. It also sets the tone for the space.
• Task lighting. Task lighting encourages and enables staff to work more efficiently. It reduces glare and eye strain while enabling employees to see what they’re doing. Typical forms of task lighting include overhead lights, desk lamps, floor lamps, recessed lighting and track lighting.
• Accent lighting. Although accent lighting can be functional, its main purpose is to add dimension to a space by highlighting a focal point to create a dramatic effect. This is often done with track lighting, recessed lighting, or wall-mounted features such as sconces.

What are the different kinds of commercial building lights?

Many types of lighting are used in businesses, and each has its pros and cons.

Incandescent lighting

Incandescent lighting comes in the form of the classic light bulb of old, with a wire filament that glows when heated.

These lights are used by some businesses because they’re initially cheap to install. Other than that, they don’t have a lot going for them.

Incandescent lights are the least energy-efficient type of lighting. Most of the energy is emitted as heat rather than light. Bulbs also burn out and need to be replaced frequently. 

Halogen lighting

Halogen lighting is basically an improvement on the incandescent light bulb, with the filament enclosed in a quartz capsule filled with halogen gas. This makes halogen lights more energy efficient. 

On the downside, halogen lighting is more expensive. It also emits a lot of heat, which can make for uncomfortable working conditions.

Fluorescent lighting

Fluorescent lighting produces ultraviolet light when an electrical current passes through a glass tube containing mercury vapour. 

Fluorescent lights are more energy efficient and last longer than incandescent and halogen lighting.

Although they generally produce a lot of light, fluorescent lights take time to warm up and don’t perform well in cooler temperatures.

Induction lighting

Induction lighting is similar to fluorescent lighting but uses electromagnetic coils instead of electrodes to stimulate mercury in an inert gas. 

Induction lights produce a higher quality of light than their fluorescent counterparts and are more reliable. However, they cost nearly twice as much to run. 

Metal halide lighting

Metal halide lamps produce light when an electric arc passes through vaporised mercury and gaseous metal and halogen.

They produce a high quality of light but need a relatively long warm-up period to get to full brightness. They also become less efficient if not run at full operating power.

LED lighting

LED lighting produces light with light-emitting diodes. It’s now the choice of many businesses since its use became widespread in the 1990s. 

This is because it has major advantages over all other types of commercial lighting, as we’ll discover next. 

What is the benefit of using LED lights for commercial buildings?

Installing LED lighting helps businesses operate more efficiently, save money, and improve the customer and employee experience. 

LED light bulbs are expensive but provide highly stable and reliable lighting. They often last 10 years or longer. They’re the best commercial building lighting option in terms of: 

Energy efficiency 

LED lighting converts around 70 percent of its energy consumption into light. This makes them far more efficient than other types of commercial building lighting, which waste a lot of energy by turning it into heat. The lower temperature also makes LED lighting safer to operate. 

Light quality

LED lights create extremely high levels of brightness and intensity. The amount of light visible to the human eye from a light source is measured in lumens. A 40-watt incandescent light produces 450 lumens. A 40-watt LED delivers 4,000 lumens.

Versatility

LEDs come in all shapes and sizes and have a wide range of commercial applications to meet the demands of different types of workspaces. For instance, LED lights for commercial buildings can be used as task lighting, mood lighting, or outdoor lighting, 

Lifespan

Although LED lights for commercial buildings are expensive in terms of initial cost, businesses invest in them because they last far longer than any other kind of lighting. A traditional light bulb lasts, on average, 1,200 hours. LED lights average 25,000 hours.

Emergency lights for commercial buildings

Commercial emergency lighting plays a vital role in getting people out of a building in the event of failure of the mains electricity supply.

Emergency lighting is connected to the electricity supply to continuously charge internal batteries and comes on automatically if there’s a power cut. 

Emergency lights for commercial buildings also include fire emergency escape lighting and signage.

Lighted signage for businesses

Besides emergency signage, commercial building lighting can also include illuminated promotional signs.

Eye-catching indoor or outdoor lighted signs make a business stand out and get its message across with impact. Lighting-enhanced signage is also effective in raising brand awareness.

Types of illuminated signage include LED signs, neon signs and fluorescent lighting.

Who is the best electrician to install lighting in a commercial building?

Lighting for commercial premises is much more involved than home lighting systems and typically involves working across much larger spaces. 

This means you need the services of a licensed commercial electrical contractor rather than a residential electrician.

The best electrical contractor to install lighting for your business is a commercial electrician in Adelaide with expertise and experience in advanced lighting solutions, with a solid reputation in commercial building lighting.

It’s decision time!

Lighting is a crucial component in business. It can improve safety, sales, and how your business is perceived.

But with so many different options for commercial building lighting, choosing the one to fulfil your specific business needs best can be confusing.

One key point to keep in mind is that in recent years commercial lighting has moved away from traditional lights, such as incandescent lighting, in favour of LED lights for commercial buildings.

It’s also important to find a commercial electrician in Adelaide you can work with, especially when it comes to emergency lights for commercial buildings.

We hope our guide to the best commercial building lighting options in Adelaide has made the process of choosing the right commercial lighting easier for you.