Dear Reader:

As people, we live daily with the constant need to assess how to maximize the output of every one of our inputs. We do that by any of a myriad of ways, from determining what car will provide the most miles per gallon, to which steak will give us the most ounces per cent, to how you can maximize your furnace’s therms per dollar of natural gas.

Lighting system purchases are no different. In sizing up a potential system, one in which we’re preparing to make a recommendation to a client, we develop a number of metrics that statistically tell the story as to what the quality of a potential investment would be.

Lumens per Operating Dollar is one such metric. It’s very simple to construct, and is far and away better and more informative than Simple Payback, which seems to be the primary metric the industry uses to determine go/no go cap ex decisions.

LED Journal published an article severa...