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Lighting Operating Cost Calculator

Annual kWh, dollars, and emissions for a lighting load from connected watts and operating hours.

Inputs

Operating profile

Sets typical annual hours and a national average energy price.

Leave 0 to use the operating hours of the selected profile.

Leave 0 to use the national average price in the selected profile.

Lighting load

Luminaires in the lighting load being measured.

Input wattage from the fixture schedule.

Loss inside the driver or ballast, added to the lamp watts. LED drivers are typically 5 to 12 percent.

Controls and grid

Expected savings from occupancy sensing, daylight dimming, scheduling, or high-end trim.

Kilograms of CO2 per kWh from your grid. US average is about 0.39; clean grids are lower.

Result

Annual cost
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Annual energy
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Annual cost per fixture
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Average monthly cost
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Connected load
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Annual emissions
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Annual emissions (tonnes)
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Operating hours used
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Input watts per fixture
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Energy price used
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Reading this number
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What to check

  • Operating hours from a controls schedule or a log, not from an assumption
  • The all-in energy price including demand and fixed charges for commercial accounts
  • Driver or ballast losses, so the input watts match the panel schedule

Related calculators

This calculator is a first-pass screen using national average energy prices. Verify the price against your own tariff and the hours against an actual schedule: on the same lighting load, a two-hour difference in daily runtime moves the annual cost more than a ten percent change in rate.

Saved calculations

Keep the assumptions with the result.

Save this calculation to return to the inputs, result, and report anytime.

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