Into The Light

Company wants to lighten business utility bills with energy-efficient LEDs

By Rebecca Troyer
331-4243  rtroyer@heraldt.com

After 20 years’ experience in computer-based education and multimedia training products, Bloomington entrepreneur Hugh Kremer decided he wanted to start a “green” business.

“Like so many others, for years I’ve been doing what I could to recycle and reuse,” Kremer said. “I wanted to do something environmentally responsible and make money, too.”

In May Kremer opened LED Source, a franchised company at 406 S. Walnut St. in Bloomington that sells LED (light-emitting diode) lighting products for use in commercial and retro-fit remodeling projects. Because LED lighting helps consumers and businesses use less energy and save money, customers average about 70 percent savings, according to Kremer — it was a natural fit.

Business owners who leave their lights on for 10 or more hours a day are prime candidates for LED lighting, including factories, hotels, hospitals, schools, banks, restaurants, retailers, gas stations and grocery stores.

“One study said people thought food actually looked better under LED light,” Kremer said.

Federal legislation requires that after 2012, incandescent light bulbs must be replaced with energy-efficient options such as LED or compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs.

Kremer said LED lights have the advantage of being mercury-free. They also reach their full brightness immediately and are cool to the touch even after being on for several hours. And they’re dimmable.

“They are popular in museums and galleries,” Kremer said. “No filters are needed because there is no UV spectrum. And LEDs are extremely flexible, to give off any color in the spectrum.”

The lights seem expensive compared to incandescent bulbs, but one Philips replacement spotlight selling for about $60 produces about the same light as a 60-watt incandescent bulb. In a household setting, such a bulb should last 20 years or more, Kremer said. “It’s something that you buy and just have,” rather than toss out after a few months.

A typical consumer LED bulb with a screw-in base, such the Philips A19, can run $30-$40 retail but will last 25,000 hours and cost $2.26 annually in electricity. A typical incandescent that puts out the same light will cost $11.30 cents annually and last only about 1,000 hours, Kremer said.
Kremer — whom some locals may remember as the lead singer and guitar player in the 1980s band Blue Hugh & the Colourtones — plans to open additional locations in the Indianapolis and Columbus metropolitan areas.

Energy revolution

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that rapid adoption of LED lighting in the U.S. over the next 20 years can:

• deliver savings of about $265 billion
• avoid 40 new power plants
• reduce lighting electricity demand by 33 percent by 2027

SOURCE: www.energystar.gov

LED Source; 822-1747
WHERE: 406 S. Walnut St.
WHAT: LED lighting source for commercial customers.
MORE: Will open a week from today for retail customers. Owner Hugh Kremer says he hopes to be open for retail sales Friday and Saturday mornings.
CONTACT: www.ledsource.com