How to Choose the Best Warehouse Lighting

A warehouse is a complex space and requires different lighting for different areas. Properly designed and installed warehouse lighting improves employee productivity and increases worker safety while reducing energy costs.

While choosing the best warehouse lighting, it’s important to consider the following factors: Brightness, Color Temperature, Beam Angle, and Energy Efficiency.

1. Brightness

A good lighting system is vital to the health and safety of employees. It is also necessary for improving productivity and increasing worker output.

Warehouses usually use fluorescent tubes, halogen lamps, and metal halide low bay and high bay floodlighting. They should be bright enough to illuminate work areas without causing excessive eye strain or fatigue.

The color temperature of the light also affects visibility and productivity. The ideal color temperature for warehouses is between 4000K and 5000K, which emits a cool white light that reduces eyestrain and improves employee performance.

To achieve the best brightness, you should space fixtures evenly across your workspace. For example, if your warehouse is 12 feet tall, you should use 20,000-lumen lights that have a 14-foot spacing.

2. Color Temperature

Whether you’re looking for an energy-efficient alternative to traditional HID lights or you want a solution that lasts longer, choosing the right color temperature is an important factor in your warehouse lighting decision.

The best color temperature for warehouses is between 4000K and 5000K. This produces a cool white light that can reduce eyestrain and help improve productivity.

This is also a great option for retail spaces, such as grocery stores, where shoppers are often looking to see labels and product information without too much blue light. The right color temperature will make the colors on the labels pop and make them easier for shoppers to identify and purchase products.

3. Beam Angle

When it comes to the lighting in your warehouse, it’s important that everything is properly lit so that your workers can do their jobs safely. This also helps with productivity and energy savings.

Beam angle is a vital factor in this because it’s the size of the light beam that distributes light in a specific way. The right beam angle can ensure that every area of your warehouse is adequately illuminated to its full potential.

In residential settings, a standard, medium-sized beam angle of around 40 degrees is generally all that’s needed to properly light a room. However, this number can fluctuate based on ceiling height and the number of fixtures in a given area.

4. Energy Efficiency

Lighting is one of the largest electricity users in most warehouses, but it doesn’t have to be a costly expense. Using LEDs to replace traditional fluorescent and HID fixtures will significantly reduce energy consumption in your facility.

Moreover, these lights are more energy efficient and have an impressive lifespan of 100,000 hours. They are also durable and don’t require replacement lamps.

Aware of the importance of reducing energy consumption, many warehouses are now looking to switch to LED solutions. When retrofitted, these LED systems can deliver four distinct benefits to warehouse operations:

5. Smart Controls

Having the right lighting in your warehouse is vital for increased productivity and employee safety. Incorporating smart controls into your lighting can save you money and energy in the long run.

Optimised lighting can be controlled in many ways including dimming or switching off lights during periods of minimal activity such as break times. It can also be set to automatically turn on lights when someone enters a room and then dim again if they leave, or to turn off after a certain period of time.

Lighting control is a convenient and intuitive way to save energy and reduce costs. From simple room-based controls to advanced networked solutions, there are a wealth of options out there for commercial and industrial buildings.