Digital Lumens recently published an excellent guide to get you headed in the right direction:

Worldwide, leading facility managers and operationsprofessionals are scrutinizing their energy use and re-evaluating traditional lighting choices — even high-intensityfluorescent (HIF) — in search of energy savings. In fact,rapidly escalating energy costs are often the catalyst for considering a lighting upgrade project, and LEDs are now part of the mix for most facilities

While up-front costs are incrementally higher, LEDs’lifetime energy costs are 50 to 90% less than legacy HID,HPS and even fluorescent alternatives — and there is nomaintenance. This means that the frequently held beliefthat the lowest cost fixture offering acceptable light levelsis the best choice for a facility is no longer valid; total cost ofownership (TCO) and long-term energy use is where thefocus should be.

The next question — after decades of experience with high-intensity discharge (HID), high-pressure sodium (HPS), and now T5 and T8 fluorescent fixtures — what is the best way to accurately assess the costs and benefits of the various solutions? This Guide lays out a framework that you can apply, and incorporates lessons learned from more than100 million square feet of installed intelligent LED systems across many of the most challenging production environments worldwide.

Here is the article in it’s entirety.