Do you want to save your company money? Turn the lights off. Seriously – between power bills, maintenance, and something as simple as people forgetting to turn lights off, the cost of having the lights on in your office racks up quickly. Despite this, we seem conditioned to turn the lights on every morning without giving it much thought.
This becomes particularly baffling when you remember that we have a giant, free light source right outside our windows. Yet instead of taking advantage of it, we shut it out with blinds and curtains like we’re afraid of the sun, instead opting to spend a large cut of our budget lighting buildings during the daytime.
In the hopes of getting you to at least open your office’s curtains, here are just a few of the benefits that natural light can have on your workplace:
It Saves You Money
It’s referred to as one of the ‘hidden costs‘ of running a business, but unlike other hidden costs like running water and power, having the lights on is optional. It’s also one of those rare times when finding an alternative solution is more efficient and affordable than the original solution. Not to mention, the sun doesn’t have an expensive maintenance guy. Imagine how much you could build your business with those extra funds!
It’s Good For Your Health
So you have decided to leave the lights off this month, to see how much money you would save – and you have started to notice something. You feel better than you did before, and your staff also mentions that they feel good too. The sun is known to improve people’s moods. Still, it’s possible if you and your staff are working long hours that you’re not getting enough Vitamin D. Vitamin D, also known as the ‘sunshine vitamin,’ is produced by your skin when it’s exposed to sunlight and not getting enough of it can result in tiredness, weakness, susceptibility to sickness, easily broken bones and chronic pain flaring up. Whereas getting enjoying the sun and getting some Vitamin D can have excellent positive effects like fighting diseases and depression, so it’s no wonder that all that sun is making a difference.
It Makes Your Staff And Customers Happy
Sunlight has been proven to increase the ‘happy’ hormone, serotonin, which increases the vitality and energy of both your staff and customers. Studies have been conducted looking into the effect of sunlight on consumer behavior, concluding that customers have a tendency to purchase more when exposed to sunlight. It’s a win-win situation: if you took our advice about letting light in, at this point, you would be saving money from leaving your lights off, and your customers are spending more money. Not to mention your business may be hailed as a great example of being environmentally conscious for your energy-saving troubles.
It’s Good For The Environment
Look, global warming and light pollution are real problems, and we all have to do our part to help. Surprisingly, your efforts in leaving your lights off during the day and turning them off at night when they are not needed are going further in helping the environment than you think. Not only are you reducing light pollution, but not using that electricity to power the lights means less burning of fossil fuels to produce that energy, which will have a direct effect on climate change, especially if you are part of a large business. Some companies have even gone so far as to install timed motion sensors to make sure that nobody forgets to turn off the lights when they leave a room.
When it comes down to it, the only benefits to using artificial lights when natural light is an option is either habit or convenience, but that convenience could be costing your business dearly and everyone who works at your company even more. Think twice before turning on your lights.
