Facilities Technology – Lighting and Cleaning

Cost savings can be found in many areas of your facilities stewardship plan. Two such areas are lighting and cleaning. You may be surprised by the cost savings you can enjoy from the energy efficiency of LED lighting and the time savings from using the newest cleaning technology. Every little bit helps, and if you have a large facility, the potential cost savings and reduced environmental impact are amplified.

LED Lighting

A great advancement in lighting technology is LED, in terms of both quality and cost efficiency of lighting your space. “Using LEDs inside is a good practical thing. Using LEDs outside adds an extra layer of security for a church because you can operate them very inexpensively,” said Tim Cool, chief solutions officer with Smart Church Solutions. For example, consider your facility’s exit signs. They are lit 24 hours a day. “If you switch from a typical 40-watt incandescent bulb to a 2.2 watt LED, you’ll pay for that bulb in less than a year just in energy costs,” exclaimed Cool.

Exterior lighting is very important from a security standpoint, as well.  Every year, scores of ministries are burglarized, vandalized, or damaged by arson, leading to interruption of services. A well-lit exterior helps protect your ministry from all kinds of harm, but it also boosts resiliency.

Cleaning Technology

You may not see the connection between cleaning technology and ministry resilience, but consider the impact facilities maintenance has on your time, facilities cleanliness, employee health, and materials longevity.

Here are a few solutions:

Backpack Vacuum – Ministries can save time by using backpack vacuums. “You can clean almost twice as much space with a backpack than you can with a push type of sweeper,” said Cool. Backpack vacuums allow users to maneuver more quickly, sweeping the dirty areas and moving to the next room.

Cleaning Chemical Dilution – Instead of purchasing ready-to-use cleaning chemicals, consider switching to a chemical dilution system. This has cost savings for ministries and is environmentally friendly. When using a concentrate, you reduce waste by re-using bottles. “There's a money savings just from the chemicals themselves, but there's also an environmental benefit that goes with it, too,” said Cool.

Microfiber Cleaning Pads and Towels – Microfiber is very effective at capturing bacteria, potentially reducing the spread of illness.* This type of material requires less water and chemicals to clean effectively, reducing chemical handling and leaving behind a cleaner, safer surface.

* https://deohs.washington.edu/sites/default/files/brochures/microfiber-factsheet.pdf