Yet another major LED upgrade! AEG Worldwide (Anschutz Entertainment Group) recently upgraded over 100 metal-halide high bay fixtures to next-generation LED high bays in two of their most popular venues, the Staples Center and Microsoft Theater, both in Los Angeles. These two venues host many high-caliber events including top concerts, L.A. Lakers  & L.A. Clippers professional basketball games and L.A. Kings professional hockey games.

The previous 1000W metal-halide high bay fixtures in both venues drew a substantial amount of power and had high maintenance costs since the bulbs degraded quickly and needed to be replaced on a regular basis. The goal for both entertainment venues was to increase the lifetime of their lighting system and reduce maintenance costs associated with replacing lights thus lowering total energy expenditures.

As you have been reading here over the months, LED lighting provides vastly superior lighting quality compared to older options, such as metal-halide and fluorescent lighting, which may color shift and quickly lose lumen¹ output over the course of their lifetime. Additionally, newer LED lighting solutions provide illumination that is evenly distributed and incredibly bright while still being comfortable on the eyes. The pure, clear illumination will provide attendees with an enhanced viewing experience during entertainment events and allow them to witness more details of a game or concert.

Not only that but their new LED lighting system will emit significantly less heat than metal-halide bulbs and will lessen the need for costly cooling to combat the heat output from the lighting system.

AEG says that this switch will result in a whopping 76% energy savings! The Staples Center and Microsoft Theater expect their total energy savings to be $42,408 per year and the payback period will be a mere 20 months, no time at all when you consider that these new lights are guaranteed to last 10 years!

¹lumen: a lumen is a measurement of just how much light, in total, the bulb gives out. To give you an idea of what this means, a 60-watt incandescent bulb shines at an average of 800 lumens. A 10-watt LED light uses 50 less watts but still shines at an average of 800 lumens, giving off the same amount of light.