World Smart LED sees bright future in south KC

World Smart LED Sees Bright Future in South KC

by Brad Lucht

Located in front of the Home Depot on Bannister Road, World Smart LED KC offers a wide range of commercial and residential LED lighting solutions.

“The main thing any energy user should know is that you can save money on your utility bill by simply converting to LED,” Jerome White, the store’s operation manager, says. “Eventually, every single light burner in the world is going to be LED. When they’re ready, we’ll be here.”

Most of their customers are do-it-yourselfers who are changing out old bulbs for LEDs, which use about 25 percent of the energy and last up to 25 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs. For more complicated projects, World Smart LED offers design services and installation.

Commercial

White estimates about 65 percent of their business is commercial, since that’s where the bulk of energy is being used.

World Smart LED has installed new lighting in parking lots, churches, gas stations and convenience stores, retirement homes, hospitals and nail salons, as well as buildings in the Horton and Gardner school districts in Kansas. A recently completed local project was the Sherwood Autism Center auditorium.

“It was dark and dim,” White says.  “Now, wow!”

They’re working with Sherwood maintenance staff on a plan to convert the remainder of the building to LED lighting, making the entire center more energy efficient.

Street Lights

White has identified Kansas City’s 96,000 street lights as another opportunity.  Converting a 500,000-watt fixture to one that consumes 200 to 300 watts would result in a substantial reduction in kilowatt hours. LED lighting also reduces maintenance costs because the bulbs don’t need to be replaced nearly as often. Finally, smart lighting technology would allow the city to brighten or dim the lights on an as-needed basis–brighter during the rush hour drive home, and dimmer at 3 a.m. when there is little road traffic.

Grand Re-Opening

To celebrate their retail business license in south Kansas City, World Smart LED is having a Grand Re-Opening March 8, organized by the South Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.

“We wanted to stay close to south KC. We looked across the entire metro area, including into Kansas. This really was the best spot. It has the right amount of space and it’s easily accessible, just off of I-435 and Highway 71 on Bannister.”

World Smart LED KC is located at 4601 Bannister Rd. at the northwest corner of the Home Depot parking lot. They can be reached at 816-941-2445 and are open Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Additional details on the grand re-opening are at worldsmartledkc.com.