Lighting FAQ
General Energy Efficient Lighting Upgrade Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Specific Lighting Upgrade/Process Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
General Energy Efficient Lighting Upgrade Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Why should I consider an energy-efficient lighting upgrade?
Energy-efficient lighting upgrades have the best ROI of any energy-efficient technology, and offer paybacks in the 2-3 year range.
Since lighting typically represents 40% of commercial facilities utility budget, reducing that expenditure immediately leads to increased availability of operating funds for other capital improvements. Disregarding a lighting upgrade can be a costly mistake.
Not only is a lighting upgrade fiscally sound, it leads to improved aesthetics, increased productivity, and has even been proven to have positive effects on physical and emotional well being. Further benefits include potential LEED certification, increased property value, and the ability to market your corporate culture as “green.”
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How do I select the “right” energy-efficient lighting partner?
Picking the right partner is crucial to the success of the project. Atlantic Energy Concepts identifies ourselves as a “partner” because we work closely with our clients to gather specific details and input to make your project a success. Evaluating your potential partner is the first step. Look for an experienced company who stands behind their services and workmanship, plus offers reliable products with warranties.
Be sure to check references, evaluate case studies of similar projects completed, investigate the company’s history and reputation, research the staff credentials and qualifications of the company you are considering and verify their financial stability. Lastly, carefully review the proposal submitted… the more thorough the proposal, the less surprises in the end.
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How do bring my team on board?
Having to sell a project to management can be a painstaking process. The right lighting partner can surely assist you, and increase your chances of success. The ideal partner will happily meet with top management, and financial decision makers to simply and clearly explain the process and bottom-line savings involved in an energy-efficient lighting retrofit.
Another goal is to assure that an operations team is alert to the project’s effect on productivity and maintenance.
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What effect does lighting have on the “human element?”
Poorly lit environments can lead to decreased productivity and higher error rates. Also, inadequate lighting has been shown, in several studies, to be linked to emotional conditions (such as Seasonal Affective Disorder) and even physical illnesses… which can mean a higher rate of absenteeism. While highly efficient lighting has been noted to improve students study habits and even help restore the body’s natural sleep/wake cycles.
When considering an energy-efficient lighting upgrade, the human being who work, learn, recuperate and perform in these facilities needs to be carefully considered by expert lighting engineers who are knowledgeable in these aspects of lighting design.
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Does lighting design conform to any “pre-set” standards?
While an expert design/build contractor will engineer a lighting system following light level recommendations set forth by the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA), these are only guidelines for comparable facilities. An experienced lighting company will take into account all factors; people, tasks performed, timetable, financial considerations and any unique needs. A one-size-fits-all approach is never in the best interests of the client.
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What does “turnkey” mean?
Atlantic Energy Concepts offers turnkey lighting solutions. Basically it means your lighting company is a one-stop shop, offering everything from the audit to the design, purchase of materials, installation and disposal/recycling of existing lamps, ballasts and fixtures, as well as monitoring and verification to assure that the system is performing as designed and that the guaranteed savings are being achieved.
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How does the process begin?
It begins with an in-depth lighting audit/survey. The lighting audit is the guidepost for the proposal, design and installation of the new lighting system. Poorly done, it can result in increased costs, increased ongoing maintenance costs, neglected deadlines and numerous change orders.
An effective audit includes a point-by-point inspection (count) of all lighting fixtures, assessments of light levels, reviews of utility bills, and interviews with key personnel concerning hours of operations and tasks being performed. This increases the likelihood that the proposed lighting upgrades will be skillfully designed, taking advantage of every opportunity to meet a client’s expectations.
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How do I evaluate the differences in competing proposals?
Not all proposals are created equal. While the ways to improve lighting efficacy and efficiency in your facility are varied, accounting for some of the difference, some lighting companies will propose basic one-for-one lamp and ballast retrofits, offering good cost savings, but missing opportunities for a complete energy-efficient lighting solution which improves aesthetics, provides design excellence and reduces wattage and future maintenance costs.
Beware of proposals which have significantly reduced fixture replacements, thus creating shadowy areas and poor light levels. Also keep an eye out for lighting components that will work well in your specific facility. Good lighting design takes into account ambient light, facility environment (temperature, humidity, dirt/dust, etc.) and many other factors to find the best match for your building.
Lastly, make sure the proposals are comparing apples to apples…check that kWh hours/hours of operation and utility rates are correctly represented. Some companies will grossly inflate these two factors to win a bid, and leave you holding the bag when what was promised is not what is delivered.
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Is price the bottom line?
Quite simply… no! Buying untested, low quality lamps and ballasts, having designs based solely on cost savings, using contracted unlicensed labor are all ways to bring a project cost down. And you may think that you are still saving money, so why get the project done as inexpensively as possible? But a failed project that interrupts your business is more expensive than any savings you hope to attain by cutting corners.
Make sure your lighting company deals with the highest quality lamp and ballast manufacturers, who stand behind their products with substantial warranties, and have stood behind them for quite some time. Ascertain that you are dealing with professionally credentialed lighting engineers/designers who will seek to not only maximize cost savings, but will design for every unique factor within the scope of your project. Contract only with companies that offer professional, fully-trained installers. The ideal installation is seamless and nearly invisible to your employees or building occupants, never interrupting production or tasks being performed.
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Should I consider lighting controls?
Typically you can expect lighting controls or occupancy sensors to increase your energy savings by approximately 20%. While up-front system costs are increased, it is significantly less than the savings that can be attained. With that said, why walk away from those energy and cost savings?
Occupancy sensors have become an increasingly utilized component of successful lighting solutions. Lighting controls have become a major step to help comply with legislated standards such as ASHRAE 90.1. They also allow you to reduce energy consumption in a way that may earn you tax credits, and utility rebates.
Installing lighting controls at the time of your system upgrade makes the most sense and helps you capture the most savings. Many decision-makers walk away from occupancy sensors during the initial project, only to install them at a later date. Coming back later can result in substantially increased costs. For example: high ceiling applications require renting lifts and re-hiring installers, etc… all of which could have been more easily and cost-effectively accomplished during the initial installation.
A complete lighting solution that includes lighting controls puts you in a position where you can optimize your savings potential.
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How do I find out about tax incentives, grants and rebates available to help offset the cost of my project?
Federal and state governments, as well as utility companies are actively searching for ways to reduce energy consumption; hence they are offering incentives, grants and rebates which you should not miss out on. A professional energy-efficient lighting company will be prepared to help you find all the funds you qualify for, can engineer a system to meet the requirements of those funds and can even assist you in completing the documentation to help you take advantage of programs available.
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What is Performance Contracting or Arranged Financing?
Performance Contracting is typically a term associated with a paid-for-through-savings approach, most often used by local municipalities and state entities. Basically it means that the entire project cost is paid for, through the energy savings achieved. In the private industry, arranged financing is available through leasing companies which will tailor a plan that will not exceed the monthly savings of the lighting upgrade. For example: if the monthly savings are $100, the leasing plan may ask for a payment of $98 per month, so that your organization does not have to outlay any capital funds. At the end of the leasing term, you own your lighting systems, as well as keeping all of your future energy cost savings.
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What’s my next step?
Atlantic Energy is ideally suited to solve all of your lighting system challenges and putting you on the road to cost and energy savings immediately. Call us today, toll-free, at 1.877.234.1134, for a free consultation.
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Specific Lighting Upgrade/Process Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
If T8’s work well for high bay application, won’t T5HO’s work even better for high bay applications?
Not necessarily. T8 lamps are less expensive to replace and have many more ballast options available than T5HO. Energy savings and maintained lumens are better from the T8 system than the T5HO. The one advantage T5HO’s had until recently was programmed start ballasts (better for lamp life), but there are T8 PS (programmed start) ballasts now if that is an issue in the application. Also, T8 ballasts are normally parallel wired, making them easier and less costly to maintain while T5HOs are series wired, making them more costly and difficult to maintain.
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I’m hearing more and more about the efficiency of LED Lighting, wouldn’t that be the best, state-of-the-art choice for any application?
The efficiency of the best LED’s is around 60 lumens per watt, so they’re not replacing the best fluorescents (at 100 LPW) anytime soon. Also, even though they are rated up to 10,000 hours of life, some studies site that these lamps are not achieving those results in some applications. Right now, they are good candidates for specialty lighting that’s hard to maintain: signs, exit signs, exterior lighting, bridges, underpasses, etc.
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Will the use of Occupancy Sensors shorten the T-8 Fluorescent lamp life?
If properly installed occupancy sensors will work with most T-8 ballast and lamp combinations without compromising lamp life. The key to a successful installation is to make certain that the sensors are properly located and adjusted to provide the proper delay so lamps don’t cycle off and on excessively. Always be sure to calibrate the sensor to specific conditions in the space for optimum performance and lamp longevity.
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Our gymnasium has metal halide fixtures and we can presently change burned out lamps with an extension pole. If we change over to T-8/T-5 fluorescent fixtures it will be much more difficult and time consuming to change the lamps. It will also require the use of a scissor lift. Aren’t we better keeping the Metal Halide fixtures for ease of maintenance?
The benefits of a properly designed fluorescent system far outweigh retaining the existing Metal Halide lighting system. With a fluorescent lighting system each fixture will have multiple lamps, most fixtures in highbay applications will have between four and eight fluorescent lamps. The best way to maintain a fluorescent system is to perform a group relamp. For group relamping, it is recommended that lamps be replaced when they have reached 70%-- 80% of their rated life. Another method is to group relamp when 30% of the lamps have failed. Since fixtures will have multiple lamps the illuminated space will still appear to be uniformly lit although at a slightly reduced foot candle. By group relamping you minimize the time that the space is inaccessible by addressing all the fixtures at one time and maximize resources in terms of lift usage, labor costs, set-up time and save money on quantity lamp purchased.
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What do we do with our old spent lamps and ballasts? Are we required by law to recycle them or can we place them in our dumpster?
All fluorescent and HID lamps should be recycled regardless if they test hazardous or not. Old spent lamps should be stored in cardboard lamp recycling containers and stored in a safe location till they can be picked up by an approved lamp recycler. Once at the recycler, lamps are then gravity fed into de-manufacturing equipment which separates lamp components. Aluminum end caps are removed, mercury-containing phosphor is removed via vacuum, and clean glass is transported to a covered container for further distribution to a glass recycling facility. Some ballast may also contain hazardous materials, such as PCBs that require proper management and disposal according to several federal and state regulations. Any ballast that states “Contains No PCB’s” can be put into a municipal waste landfill. Ballasts that state contains PCB’s or do not have any markings as to their PCB content must be treated as a PCB ballast and recycled as such. All PCB ballasts by law are required to be disposed of by an approved EPA process by an approved recycler. After destruction, documentation can be provided back to the building owner as proof that the ballasts and lamps were disposed of in accordance with EPA guidelines.
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