“Turn off the #!&@% lights when you’re not in the room! You think we own Southern California Edison?”
Who would have thought he could be so right? Turning off lighting saves money. It also reduces energy-generation needs with a corresponding decrease in the greenhouse gas emissions. But dad didn’t care about that. He cared about the energy bill. And we should too. If you’ve been following the green-building movement, you’ve probably heard about the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED standards for rating the environmental performance of buildings. “LEED” is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – and many of the points that a building an earn under the rating system are awarded for energy savings, both thermal and electric. The good news is you don’t have to build a new “green” facility to take advantage of the energy cost savings afforded by some of the latest technology. And in this pre-Father’s day homage to my angry dad, let’s take a quick look at what you can do to reduce the cost of lighting your facility. As you are probably aware, standard incandescent lighting is incredibly inefficient. Electric current flows through a filament, which glows and produces light. It glows because it is a resistor, and as it resists the flow of energy, it heats up and begins to glow. Most of the electrical energy (and the money you pay for that energy) is turned into unwanted heat, not light. Fluorescent lights use electric current to cause a gas to glow inside a powder-coated tube, and they use a lot less electricity to create light. Fluorescent technology has come a long way over the years, and today’s tubes are smaller, more efficient, and produce light in more-appealing color temperatures. There also are compact fluorescent bulbs in sizes that can be used to fit many existing incandescent fixtures. And there is a new wave of lamp coming onto the market – the LED lamp – that promises even greater efficiency and more palatable color temperatures. LED lamps are still quite expensive, but as the technology evolves, they will become more market-friendly. So let’s say that you’ve already heeded the call to shift away from incandescent lighting, and have retrofitted your facility to fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent lamps. Terrific! But there are three technologies you may have not even thought about that can produce double digit energy savings.Daylight Sensors: Installing daylight sensors that automatically dim or turn off overhead lights when sufficient daylight is available can provide up to 20% in lighting energy savings.
Room Occupancy Sensors automatically turn off lights when an office, bathroom, or conference room is vacant. This also can provide up to 20% savings in lighting energy costs. And occupancy sensors are an easy retrofit, with some devices fitting into existing switchboxes.
High-performance, Wall-mounted Fluorescent Dimmers allow you to reduce the level of lighting and save money at the same time. Not every room needs to be as brightly illuminated as it is – at least not all the time. Dimming fluorescent lights by 50% reduces power consumption by 40%, and other illumination settings product similarly proportional results.
You also can turn off signage and cosmetic lighting during non-business hours. That really cool blue glow you have around your entry portal is probably only impressing a few stray animals and the last-call bar crowd at 2:30 in the morning. I am guessing they aren’t your customers. At least not your best ones. So my dad was right. (Did I really admit that?) Turn it off, or dim it down, and you’ll save big money. (And you’ll contribute positively to those environmental thingies too. But don’t even go there with Dad.)
