Thank you to Karen Hill, Owner of Particle Wave Creative, for the following post on Green Lighting! Karen also provided the pictures that illustrate the article.
Green event lighting does not mean that you have to use those spiral CFL light bulbs everywhere. As someone who is passionate about lighting and providing Green Lighting services to my clients, I never use CFL light bulbs, not even in my home! The light they produce is sterile and cold. Lighting should warm up a space and create an atmosphere. Home lighting on a dimmer uses less power and creates a warm glow.
All kinds of LED lighting is available for residential and commercial applications. Event LED lighting is made to be durable and to withstand being carted around on a regular basis. This rental-friendly fixture offers ease of installation and control, and unlike conventional lighting it has the ability to produce millions of colors without gels or filters.
To my knowledge lighting gels can’t be recycled but they can certainly be reused a few times. An exciting benefit to using LEDs is that they can change color as the event progresses! The “opening look” of a wedding can be white and very formal. As the evening progresses, the white can transition to amber during dinner and to a festive fast color changing look for dancing. The entire atmosphere of the room can change with LED lighting.
LED lighting packs compactly. Depending on the amount of LED lighting fixtures I need for an event, they can fit into my car, thus reducing the need for additional trucking. They are lighter and require less cable so the delivery vehicle is not as heavy as a conventional lighting package and uses less fuel. This is important, especially at a venue that does not have parking for commercial trucks. At these venues, the trucks have to return to the point of origin and then come back to the space once the event has ended.
LEDs use less than 1/8th of the power of conventional lighting fixtures. This reduces your event’s carbon footprint and is ideal for event spaces that do not have adequate power. Believe me, the majority of event spaces I’ve been to barely have enough power to do anything but plug in a vacuum cleaner and coffee warmer let alone run a small conventional lighting package.
What is the cost of LED lighting? The average rental cost per LED unit in the Greater DC area is between $40.00 and $75.00 depending on the type of fixture. There is a power supply unit, also known as “the brain” that runs between $25.00 and $50.00 depending on how many units can be plugged in. Prices can be higher in larger markets.
You will also need a small lighting console to be able to change the colors. This can cost between $100.00 and go all the way up to $750.00 per day depending on how complex you want the transitions from color to color to be.
Setup is easier with LED. While typically install labor is sold at a 4-hour minimum, a beautiful look can be achieved using a larger LED package in that time frame using just two or three technicians to set it up and break it down.
LED lighting is a little more expensive on the front end to rent than its conventional equivalent but it packs up small, uses less trucking and truck space, sets up cleaner and installs and strikes fast!
Comments