What Are the Carbon Savings Associated with Switching from Traditional Lighting to LED Floodlights?

Traditional Lighting Systems

High-Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps and halogen floodlights are commonly used in high mast lighting setups. A typical 1000W HID lamp consumes around 1kWh of energy per hour.

In large installations, hundreds of these lights may be used, particularly in places like airports, ports, or industrial sites where lighting is required for long periods. If such a site operates its floodlights for 12 hours per day, a single 1000W HID light will use 12 kWh per day.

For a site using 100 floodlights, that’s 1,200 kWh per day or 438,000 kWh per year.

LED Efficiency

LEDs are much more efficient, typically using around 60-70% less energy than traditional HID or halogen lights. This means that a comparable LED floodlight might only consume 300-400W for the same light output, or 0.3-0.4 kWh per hour. Over the same 12-hour period, one LED light would use 4.8 kWh per day, compared to 12 kWh for a HID light.

For a site with 100 LED floodlights, the total energy consumption would be 480 kWh per day, or 175,200 kWh per year, a reduction of over 262,800 kWh annually.

Carbon Emissions

The carbon emissions associated with energy use depend on the local energy grid’s carbon intensity. In the UK, for example, the average carbon intensity is around 0.233 kg CO₂ per kWh (as of 2022, subject to change as the grid decarbonises).

• Traditional Lighting Emissions: 438,000 kWh/year × 0.233 kg CO₂/kWh = 102,054 kg CO₂/year (or 102 tonnes of CO₂).
  
  
• LED Lighting Emissions: 175,200 kWh/year × 0.233 kg CO₂/kWh = 40,701 kg CO₂/year (or 41 tonnes of CO₂).

By switching from HID to LED, this example site could save 61 tonnes of CO₂ annually—around a 60% reduction.

What are the carbon savings when updating to LED Floodlighting?

The potential carbon savings from upgrading high-power floodlighting are significant. By reducing energy consumption by up to 70%, a large site could cut tens of tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually. Over the lifecycle of the lights (typically 10-15 years for LEDs), this could amount to several hundred tonnes of carbon saved, making it a highly impactful decarbonisation measure with immediate benefits.