A restaurant with bad lighting is a bummer. Bad lighting can kill the mood and even make food look discolored. Customers can leave unimpressed. Owners could be stuck with expensive electric bills and a restaurant that has a bad lighting reputation.

So I wasn’t surprised to read this article in the New York Times, which declares that “a lot of thought and expense go into restaurant lighting,” particularly at upscale restaurants.

But what I was surprised to read is that some restaurant owners in New York City are harkening back to  Thomas Edison’s heyday and installing antique-looking, energy-wasting reproductions of Edison’s first light bulb.

There is no excuse for this. And believe me, I’m all about beautiful design and I even support being trendy from time-to-time.

Photo by Flickr user back_garage

Sure, these retro-looking filament-filled lights have a charming appearance, but they consume more energy than standard incandescent light bulbs. And since restaurants leave their lights running for many hours a day, those vintage-looking bulbs are sucking a lot of energy and driving up utility bills. Not to mention putting out enough collective heat to have a real impact on air conditioning needs!

Restaurant owners who are serving up these Edison reproductions say the lights are a bit nostalgic and the warm light is flattering.  To that I say: Perhaps you need a more creative lighting designer. Have they seen some of the unique lighting designs that incorporate LEDs?

On a regular basis, the green design blog Inhabitat posts some of the most incredible energy-efficient LED lighting designs your imagination could conjure up. Among them are:

• The Starlight chandelier made of recycled metal coins and LED lights.
• The paper pendant lamps that use a crystal to diffract light from an LED bulb. 
• An LED lamp made of 97 percent soap.

I mean seriously, if designers can create LED lights out of soap, imagine what they could do for an upscale restaurant in New York City?

These beautiful glass pendant lights are lit with energy-efficient Cree LEDs.

Sure, creating a custom LED light fixture for a restaurant might not be as cheap as buying an incandescent bulb. But the energy and maintenance savings from LED lights can quickly add up. And perhaps these restaurants will attract even more diners who are wooed by both beautiful lighting AND energy-efficiency. With LED lights, you can have both.