Commercial and industrial sites are often among the most voracious users of energy. In the United States alone, energy consumption for all lighting is estimated to be about 22 percent of the total electricity generated in the country. More than half of the energy is consumed in the commercial sector, where lighting coincides with peak electrical demand and contributes to a building's internal heat generation, increasing air-conditioning load, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

That said, lighting consumes up to 30 percent of energy in commercial buildings, and is a primary source of heat gain and energy waste. In fact, lighting is the largest cost component of a typical commercial building's electricity bill and a significant portion of its total energy bill, according to ENERGY STAR.

Addressing sustainability via energy savings can provide a real cost advantage, as any reduction in energy consumption controls costs. Xerox Corporation, for instance, claims to have saved $18 million from energy conservation measures in 2006.

ENERGY STAR estimates that if efficient lighting were used in all locations where it has been shown to be profitable throughout the country, the nation's demand for electricity would be cut by more than 10 percent. This could save nearly $17 billion in ratepayer bills.

There are essentially only three ways to convince people to conserve, says The New Atlantis, a journal of technology and society: 1) moral persuasion, 2) governmental action or 3) economic incentives. The most powerful persuader of the three is economics, writes Robert Zubrin, an aerospace engineer, president of Pioneer Astronautics and author of Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil.

Energy efficiency — like sustainability — is a concept of aspiration. We realize it through small steps that lead to total transformation.

Take Action in Three Steps:

1) Develop an implementation plan and budget for lighting upgrade projects.
2) Communicate project objectives and process to occupants.
3) Perform trial installations to assess light levels, occupant acceptance and energy use.

Making improvements to a facility's lighting design and acting on recent lighting technology improvements are among the fastest ways to reduce lighting energy bills, improve light quality and enhance overall operating results.

Here are some ideas to consider:

• Design light quantity and quality for the task and occupants' needs;

• Maximize lamp and ballast efficiency;

• Maximize system efficiency, not just the components;

• Use automatic controls to turn lights off or dim lights in daylit spaces;

• Establish maintenance schedule for group re-lamping and fixture cleaning; and

• Establish responsible disposal practices.

Further, take into account advances in fluorescent lamp and ballast technology.

For instance, the new T5 lamps have a 40 percent smaller diameter than a standard T8, a difference that allows "the use of more compact housings with optimized optical designs," says Plant Services.

Among the advantages of T5 high-output (HO) high-bay luminaires: improved lumen maintenance, longer lamp life, better color temperature and lighter luminaire weight.

In addition, high-performance T8 lamps and ballasts offer significant savings over early T8 systems installed only a decade ago, according to Building Operating Management.

"Now energy-saving 25 W to 30 W lamps can replace standard T8 lamps and provide energy savings from 5 percent to 20 percent without a T8 ballast change," according to Plant Services. "This provides an inexpensive retrofit alternative while keeping the good color rendition, high efficacy and long life advantages of T8 lighting."

Moreover, for some series of linear fluorescent lamps, lamp life now extends to 36,000 hours, with lumen maintenance of as much as 95 percent of the original output.

All the rage these days, light-emitting diodes (LED) are less susceptible to vibration, shock and low temperature. Their compact size permits them to be fit into tighter spaces. And because LED sources don't emit UV radiation, Plant Services says they are "well suited for UV-sensitive environments."

Contemporary LEDs aren't yet as efficient as fluorescent or high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting, Plant Services notes, but "they're improving at a staggering rate" and are predicted to exceed the lumens/watt of even HID lamps within the next five years.

Meanwhile, daylighting is also making something of a comeback in the plant environment, and is doing so at an increasing rate. Says Plant Services: "Properly implemented and designed daylighting can provide significant illumination during peak demand periods when it's most valuable."

The relationship of lighting to worker performance has been well-documented. Improved, well-designed lighting can enhance visual comfort, reduce eye fatigue and improve productivity on visual tasks. Because costs associated with your employees greatly outweigh the other building costs, any lighting-conservation changes that improve your occupants' workspaces are worth investigating.

Yet if the most powerful persuader for energy efficiency is economics, consider that facilities have until the end of this year to plan and install energy-efficient lighting systems to reap the benefits of the commercial building tax deduction provision of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Resources

U.S. Department of Energy

Improve Building Performance: Lighting
ENERGY STAR

Light Innovation
by Nick Bleeker
Plant Services, May 20, 2008

Engineer Lighting Quality
by John McGonegle, P.E., and Chris Tilton, L.C.
Plant Services, 2007

Adopt New Directions in Industrial Lighting
by John L. Fetters, CEM, CLEP
Plant Services, 2007

Achieving Energy Victory
by Robert Zubrin
The New Atlantis, Fall 2007

Xerox Exceeds Greenhouse Gas Reduction Goal Six Years Early; New Target Aims for 25 Percent Cutback by 2012
Xerox Corp., Dec. 3, 2007

Improved Bulbs and Ballasts Increase Efficiency
by Sheila Kennedy
Plant Services, 2006

Lighting: Successful Lighting Design Must Address Quality, Cost, Code Compliance, and Design Compatibility
by Glen Heinmiller
Building Operating Management, March 2005

Lighting Your Way to Energy Savings
by Bob Ponzini
Plant Services, 2003