At Melrose Café and Bar on Calgary’s popular 17th Avenue, creating an inviting atmosphere is one of owner Wayne Leong’s top priorities. Looking to improve the ambience of his bar, Leong began installing LEDs back in 2002. Impressed with their appearance, and the noticeable difference on his energy bills, he soon added accent lighting and has since converted almost the entire bar to high efficiency bulbs. “It makes economic sense,” he says, “and it’s starting to prove itself now.”
Recognizing the long life span of LEDs, Leong realized they would also work well on the exterior of his building, where changing bulbs involved hanging dangerously off a ladder. He replaced ten 150 W incandescent bulbs with 7.9 W LED Flood lights. Not only have the new bulbs reduced electricity bills by $622.40 a year, their long lifespan (100,000 hours) means Leong won’t have to worry about maintenance costs either. At a cost of $200 a light, the bulbs are estimated to pay themselves off in just over two and a half years.
Savings are often what attract business owners to new lighting, but it’s the intangibles that can hold the biggest benefit, says installer Jode Himann of Nemalux lighting. “How does the restaurant look to passerbys if you have five burnt out light bulbs?” he points out. Luckily, Leong won’t have to consider that, the exterior lights that illuminate the entrance to Melrose should be burning bright for another 22 years.
