The shop has been going gangbusters lately. A hair salon, tattoo studio and bar in one – how could it fail? Well, it could have failed miserably, actually, which is why we skipped shelling out for new lighting when we were setting up a few months ago. It’s gotten to the point, though, that we don’t have to put up with this fluorescent situation any longer.
After a bit of research, me and Basil have come to the conclusion that LED panel lights are the way to go. They’re bright yet ambient, and look way more up to date than what we’ve got now. And what’s more, they’ll pay for themselves over time – according to our calculations, they’ll take down our lighting energy use by around 86%. As far as our bottom line’s concerned, that’s nothing to be sniffed at, given that the number at the bottom of our power bill seems to increase each month.
Hooking up commercial LED lighting solutions in Melbourne should be pretty straightforward. I’m sure I know a few people that have made the switch, so I should be able to get a decent recommendation. The next question is, if we’re going down the energy reduction path, why not get into generating some of our own power? We’re lucky to be in our own stand-alone building with a rooftop that gets plenty of sun, and part of me recognises that we’d be fools not to take advantage of that.
I know it’d be a significant outlay, but I think we can manage it – I’ll have to get Basil to report back on that. I wonder what he’ll have to say about the idea? I realise that, when it comes to things commercial, solar energy generation is not at the top of everyone’s list. But when it comes to things that make sense at a holistic level, it really should be up there somewhere.
Okay, so practical and logical isn’t exactly our stock in trade. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make sound decisions about where our energy comes from.