LED Case Study
The Machine Shop That Cut Its Lighting Bill by 73 percent
A real look at what happens when a shop full of old fluorescent tubes and burnt out ballasts gets a proper LED retrofit. Fewer fixtures, way more light, and a power bill that finally makes sense.
The Starting Point
Old Tubes, Dead Ballasts, Half the Light
Picture a working shop lit by rows of old T12 fluorescent fixtures. Every few weeks a ballast burns out. A bank of lights over the saw goes dark. Somebody drags out the ladder, swaps a tube, and it still flickers because the real problem is the ballast, not the bulb.
The light that does come out is dim and yellow. Guys squint at layout lines. The corners of the shop are basically shadow. And the meter keeps spinning, because every one of those old fixtures pulls far more power than the light it gives back.
That is the shop we walked into. This is what we did about it.
The Simple Math
One LED Fixture Replaces Three Old Ones
Modern LED high bays are so much brighter per watt that you do not need to match the old fixture count. As a rule of thumb on shop retrofits, one good LED does the work of about three tired fluorescent or HPS fixtures. Take down three, put up one, and the room gets brighter.
3 → 1
Fewer fixtures
Roughly three old fixtures come down for every one LED high bay that goes up. Less to power, less to maintain, less to ever climb a ladder for again.
2×+
More lumens
A quality LED high bay puts out well over 130 lumens per watt. An old fluorescent tube limps in around 50 to 60. You get more usable light from a fraction of the power.
0
Ballasts to fail
LED drivers replace the old magnetic ballasts entirely. No more humming, no more flicker, no more monthly tube swaps that never quite fix it.
A lumen is just a measure of how much light you actually get. Watts are what you pay for. LED wins on both, which is the whole point.
Before and After
What Changed in This Shop
A representative retrofit of a mid size Alberta machine shop, based on the fixture counts and run hours we see on jobs like this. Your building will differ, so we always measure yours before quoting.
| Old Fluorescent | New LED | |
|---|---|---|
| Fixtures running | 45 | 15 |
| Watts per fixture | 160 W | 150 W |
| Total lighting load | 7,200 W | 2,250 W |
| Run hours per year | 3,500 | 3,500 |
| Power used per year | 25,200 kWh | 7,875 kWh |
| Yearly lighting cost* | about $4,030 | about $1,260 |
| Saved every year | about $2,770 (a 73% cut) | |
*Illustrative example at roughly $0.16 per kWh all in. Real numbers depend on your fixtures, run hours, and rate. Brighter light and fewer service calls come on top of the energy savings.
More Than the Power Bill
Where the Real Value Shows Up
No more tube swaps
Good LED high bays are rated for 50,000 hours plus. That is years of shop use with nobody climbing a ladder to chase a dead ballast.
Light you can work under
Clean, bright, even light across the whole floor. Layout lines are easy to read, corners are lit, and the shop feels twice the size.
Safer floor
Better light around saws, presses, and forklift lanes is a real safety win, not just a comfort one. No flicker, no dead zones.
Rated for -40C
The fixtures we spec fire up instantly in an unheated Alberta shop. No slow warm up, no dimming in the cold.
How a Retrofit Goes
One Visit, One Master Electrician
We walk your shop, count fixtures, and measure the light you have now. Then we spec the right LED high bays, handle the permit, do the install, and haul away the old fixtures and tubes for proper disposal.
Same crew, same name on the permit, no subcontractor handoff. You get a clear quote up front with the payback spelled out, so the decision is easy.