When speaking to our customers about LED Lighting we often find that the matter of funding is the difficult elephant in the room. We understand that it is challenging for our school customers when you are needing to make decisions between new, energy saving lighting systems against teaching tools and resources. In this blog we want to address this challenge and highlight some options that are available.
While schools are a good example of the challenges of funding energy efficiency investments, this challenge goes far and wide for many of our customers. External funding has been possible from central government funded SALIX loans which provided a welcome injection of capital to complete energy saving projects. These 0% interest free loans were provided based on demonstrating the energy saving benefits of a project investment. By March 2020, SALIX had funded over 18,000 projects across the UK valued at a hug £971 million pounds.
In April 2021 the route of securing funding changed as the SALIX Energy Efficiency Loan Scheme was replaced by the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS). PSDS is a grant scheme rather than loans but does come with new criteria bigger challenges.
The PSDS’s focus is on carbon reduction, and it puts emphasis on addressing the heat decarbonisation in public sector buildings. You may have read in the news about the shifts to ground source and air source heat pumps which is a welcome move, however it does present a disruptive change and one that requires considerable planning.
Thankfully, no and the PSDS can still help your organisation with funding for all of these, including your lighting. What it does mean is looking beyond and at a bigger picture in terms of the decarbonisation plans for your buildings that not only includes quick wins like LED Lighting but is looking ahead to the future too.
If the PSDS is not for you right now we’re happy to say that the business case for LED Lighting investment is looking bright. Energy prices are rising for us all and now is the time to look at reducing energy consumption and spend. This will not only influence your budgets and savings but also will be contributing to reducing your carbon footprint too. Plus, technology for LED is advancing all the time meaning lighting quality and maintenance improvements to your organisation.
At LASER, we’re also seeing more and more customers make the switch from relying on external funding to capital investment that has previously been set aside for building maintenance. Our LED Lighting framework can help you identify the return on investment quickly through the demonstrable long-term savings in both energy consumption and on-going maintenance of new lighting.
For example, did you know that LED lighting products have shown to have more than a ten-year life span? Far from your average light bulb. Plus, we provide a 5-year warranty (backed by Kent County Council) ensuring any failed fittings are replace free of charge.
If you’re interested in finding out more about how switching your lighting to LED can help your organisation, the process involved and even thoughts about securing funding please get in touch with our team using the button below.