LED SOURCE DEBUTS IN LAWRENCE
Local Resident Opens LED Lighting Business Serving Kansas City Market
(Lawrence, KS.)— With a varied professional background as a 3D animator making virtual playbooks for national and collegiate-level sports teams and as a tennis instructor for youth and adults at an area facility, Lawrence resident Adam Ritchie is ready for the next phase of his career: business owner. Ever since he teamed up with a friend to build and sell an environmentally-friendly home just outside Manhattan, Ks., Ritchie’s passion for green building has grown. As a result, he will embark on a new business venture this month as he opens LED Source, a provider of LED lighting that specializes in full-scale evaluations and retrofits in both commercial and residential properties. The company will service Lawrence and the greater Kansas City area as far west as Wichita.
“LED lighting is the most energy efficient lighting solution currently available,” says Ritchie. “With the government banning all traditional incandescent bulbs and completely phasing out Thomas Edison’s 130-year-old invention by 2014, property owners in the greater Kansas City area will need to find a new way to light their homes and facilities. It was the perfect time to open LED Source and make LEDs more accessible to those in the community.”
As the first LED Source franchisee in the Kansas City market, Ritchie says a tennis injury made him reexamine his career path and led him to his new life as a business owner in the green industry. Ritchie and his team will walk property owners through their lighting makeover from cradle to grave, providing energy audits and consultation on design and products. Ritchie’s goal is to spread awareness and educate consumers on the benefits of LEDs.
“Many people aren’t aware of LEDs and how far this technology has come,” says Ritchie. “It’s my job to teach people about the huge range of products, the financials savings involved and how these lighting fixtures are benefitting the environment.”
The implementation of LED lighting is beneficial to both residential and commercial properties alike. A report by Pike Research released in July 2010 said, “If all the commercial buildings in the U.S. that exist as of 2010 were retrofitted to be more energy efficient, the country as a whole would save over $41.1 billion a year in energy bills.” Other motivations include the federal tax incentives and local utility rebates—which can cover anywhere between 30 percent and 100 percent of the cost of LED lighting.
Founded in 2005 by lighting industry veteran Marcel Fairbairn, LED Source is a franchised supplier of LED lighting on a national and international scale. LED Source applications include commercial office space, schools, churches, theaters, art galleries, restaurants and nightclubs, special events, residential and landscape lighting and much more, including the world’s largest cruise ship and the stadium that played host to Super Bowl XLIII. The company launched a franchise program in October 2009 and expects to have a network of 150 franchise offices throughout North America within three years. For more information, please visit www.ledsource.com.
