Energy savings and job creation have been two, very hot topics of conversation lately. In the advent of moving towards a more sustainable and “green” society with energy-saving technology like LED lighting, a new and emerging connection has been formed between the two. Recently we’ve started to see a new pattern of how growth and adoption of LED lighting has become a direct and indirect key player in the development of job opportunities around the country. 

Direct Effect of LED Lighting on Jobs

The LED Lighting industry itself is still a fairly new and rapidly expanding industry. Progressive companies around the world have integrated LED lighting into their products and services, creating new jobs within this multi-billion dollar industry. An industry this large takes a lot of manpower and has opened up thousands of new positions ranging from design and production to shipping and administrative support staff. While LED lighting is just a piece of the bigger picture of energy-savings initiatives, the energy-savings industry as a whole is expected to create about 23,000 new jobs and reduce costs for organizations and consumers by $3.8 billion in 2015 alone. 

Indirect Effect of LED Lighting on Jobs

Apart from the manpower that’s needed to make the LED lighting industry a reality, there are also opportunities that have been created as a direct result of the new technology. The energy efficiency of LED lighting creates immense lifetime cost and energy savings, which allows businesses to redirect that money to create and support more jobs internally.

Organizations such as health care facilities and schools have been some of the quickest to adopt LED lighting and are steadily seeing how it's helping them change how they operate. For example, Spectrum Heath of Grand Rapids, MI saves $170,000 a year by retrofitting their parking garages with LED technology.  The technology will pay for itself in just three years and has freed up the organization to staff their hospital more robustly. Whereas, Wayne County Schools in West Virginia are seeing a savings of up to 75% off of their $14,000 monthly energy bills since switching to LED lighting, allowing them to redirect the funds back into teaching and equipping their students.

As more organizations, large and small, begin to invest money and a little bit of patience into this green strategy, we’ll begin to see more jobs open up both within organizations and as support to the growing industry.