Lighting Retrofit - Ohio Facilities Reduce Energy Costs

Why You Should Retrofit your Lighting

• Lower energy consumption reducing your energy costs
• Enhanced lighting quality, improving employee productivity and building appearance
• Fast payback period especially in multi-shift operations
• Lower maintenance costs
• Cooler industrial facilities as T5 and T8 high bay and low bay fixtures operate hundreds of degrees cooler than HID’s
• Reduces your carbon footprint

Basic Retrofit Criteria

• Will be in the facility for 3 or more years
• Lights are on 2,600 or more hours a year, multi-shift operations have the quickest payback
• High average kilowatt hour rate
• The lighting system was designed and installed over 10 years ago

Types of Projects:

• Upgrade HID High bay fixtures to T5 or T8 energy efficient high bay fixtures saves 50%. (For warehouse lighting, occupancy sensors provide additional savings)
• Upgrade Old T12 industrial fluorescent fixtures to a T8 fluorescent system (saves 35-50%)
• Upgrade offices from T12 troffers to T8 troffers (saves 40-66%)

Upgrade HID High-Bay Fixtures to T8 or T5 HIF Fixtures

High-intensity-discharge (HID) light systems are used in the majority of high-bay applications (indoor spaces with high ceilings.) High-bay areas are found in warehouses, manufacturing facilities, industrial facilities and factories. Metal halide and high pressure sodium are the two most common HID lamps and operate by striking an arc through vaporized metal. The development of high intensity fluorescent lamps and effectively shaped, high efficiency reflectors allow fluorescent fixtures to be used instead of HID lighting in high-bay areas, providing a dramatic reduction in energy costs. Depending on how depreciated the metal halide HID lamps are, most customers realize a brighter lit facility as well as 50% energy savings.

HID to Fluorescent Retrofit Advantages

• Lower energy consumption
• Better color rendition
• Longer functional life
• Instant on/off allows for the use of motion (occupancy) sensors

Lower Energy Consumption

High Intensity Fluorescent (HIF) light fixtures feature higher lamp and ballast system efficacy and greater fixture efficiency, which means more light is produced using less electricity. Replacing HID with HIF high-bays can total up to a 50-70% reduction in energy usage and cost.

Better Color Rendition

The color rendering index (CRI) for a particular light source is a measure of the degree of color shift that objects undergo when illuminated compared to sunlight (CRI of 100). The CRI of a metal halide lamp is typically about 65 and high-pressure sodium lamps are even worse at around 27. The CRI of fluorescent lamps are typically 85 or higher.

Longer Functional Life

Both HID and fluorescent lights lose some of their light output as they age. This is known as lumen depreciation and with HID lighting it can approach 55 % over the lifetime of the lamp. Fluorescent lamps will lose 6 percent of their light output. While HID lamps are rated to last 20,000 hours, lumen depreciation will require that the lamp is replaced to maintain acceptable light levels. A fluorescent lamp will maintain the required light level for almost all of its lifetime, which are rated between 24,000-35,000 hours.

Occupancy Sensors

While HID light sources must warm up for about five minutes, fluorescent lighting systems turn on instantly. This allows for a fluorescent lighting system to be turned on and off in response to occupancy sensors.

Upgrade a T12 Fluorescent System to a T8 Fluorescent System

T12 vs. T8 Lamps

Older fluorescent lighting systems use T12 lamps, which are easy to identify because of their large diameter tubes (1.5 inches). An effective way to upgrade lighting in areas with T12 lamps is to keep the existing fixtures, but replace the T12 lamps and magnetic ballasts with T8 lamps and electronic ballasts. By changing lamps on a one for one basis, savings of up to 50 percent can be achieved. T8 lamps are thinner (1 in. tube diameter), produce higher quality light and use less energy than T12 lamps. The light output of a T8 lamp will also decline slower than T12 lamps; Longer lamp life and less lumen depreciation mean lower maintenance costs. Employee productivity increases because the light quality is higher.

Magnetic vs. Electronic Ballasts

T12 Lamps use magnetic ballasts to maintain the correct current in the lamp, while T8 lamps require electronic ballasts to operate. Switching ballasts is necessary when upgrading to T8 technology. High frequency electronic ballasts perform better and are more reliable than magnetic ballasts. The higher frequency allows the lamp to operate more efficiently as less input wattage is required for the same lumen output. A major consideration when selecting ballasts is the ballast factor, which is the percentage of lumens from a lamp that is operated by the actual ballast being used, compared to the lumens from the same type lamp powered by standard benchmark ballast. Magnetic ballasts operate at about 90% ballast factor, while electronic ballasts can be designed to have a low (around 77%), normal (around 88%), or high (above 115%) ballast factor. The lumen output of a lamp is calculated by multiplying the ballast factor by the lumen rating of the lamp.

Reflectors

Retrofitting also provides an opportunity to replace the fixture’s reflector. The old reflectors have a coating that may have degraded significantly over time or may be dirty. Most existing reflectors are made of steel and coated with white paint that initially reflects 89% of the light striking it. Over time the reflectivity degrades. If the coating has degrading too much, a new aluminum white painted reflector (91%) or aluminum Miro 4 reflector (95%) may be installed. Aluminum white painted reflectors diffuse light, while Miro 4 reflectors efficiently redirect the light to different locations in the space. A more efficient reflector means more light reaches the intended area.

Lenses

The lens is the plastic material covering the fixture opening. They can allow the light to pass through unaffected, or can control the distribution pattern of the light. Replacing lenses improves both light levels as well as appearance.