I’m sure you’ve realized by now that in order to calculate the return on investment for a new lighting system, you’re going to have to know how much energy your new fixtures will save you. In order to know that, you’re going to have to have an idea of total wattage the existing fixtures you have are consuming. You could dismantle a sample of the fixture and read the specs for the ballast and lamps you have, but that can be tedious and very time consuming. Another option is to use a standardized system wattage table that provides a very good rough estimate on the total system watts for your old lamps and ballasts. The following list includes some of the most common fixtures you’ll encounter while doing energy audits and it provides the total watts that these fixtures draw.
Posted March 10, 2011 at 11:58 pm by Ray De Varona
President Obama is proposing new efforts to improve energy efficiency in commercial buildings across the country. Last year, commercial buildings consumed roughly 20 percent of all energy in the U.S. economy. Improving energy efficiency in our buildings can create jobs, save money, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and make our air cleaner. The President’s Better Buildings Initiative will make commercial buildings 20 percent more energy efficient over the next decade by catalyzing private sector investment through a series of incentives to upgrade offices, stores, schools and other municipal buildings, universities, hospitals, and other commercial buildings. This initiative builds on our investments through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and our continued commitment to passing the President’s proposed “HOMESTAR” legislation to encourage American families to make energy saving upgrades in their homes.
Achieve a 20 percent improvement in energy efficiency by 2020: Under the President’s plan, by 2020, we will make commercial building space in the United States 20 percent more energy efficient through cost-effective upgrades.
Reduce companies’ and business owners’ energy bills by about $40 billion per year: By making buildings more energy efficient we will save business owners money by reducing their energy bills by about $40 billion at today’s prices. That money that can be put to better use hiring more workers, inventing new products, and creating shareholder value.
Save energy by reforming outdated incentives and challenging the private sector to act: The President is calling for an aggressive reform of existing tax and other incentives for commercial building retrofits and proposing a new competitive grant program. In turn, he is asking corporate leaders to commit to making progress toward his energy goals.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced support for energy-saving commercial building projects as part of an ongoing effort by DOE to improve the energy efficiency of buildings in the United States. With money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, DOE’s national laboratories will select and fund technical experts to provide technical guidance to commercial building owners and operators. The goal of this Commercial Building Partnerships (CBP) initiative is to increase the energy efficiency of selected new and existing buildings.
Efficiency Vermont, Vermont’s statewide provider of energy efficiency services, has announced a new program promoting the replacement of T12 and HID High-Bay lighting with more efficient technology. The newLIGHT program is being made available from April 1st to December 31st, 2010, and is offering businesses significantly enhanced rebates for upgrading their old T12 fluorescent and HID high-bay lighting systems to more efficient equipment. This comes as the Department of Energy has passed new regulations that will ban the manufacture of T12 fluorescent lamps for sale in the US after July 14, 2012.
While doing some research last week, I bumped into this great video that was put together by the folks at ElectricTV.net. I was surprised to see the logo of our sister site RelightWithT5.com towards the end, so I decided to reach out and ask if they would let us embed the video here. It’s great to see all of the points we’ve been stressing about T5HO high bay lighting being repeated by a professional organization like NECA and IBEW.
ElectricTV.net is the on-line “Television network” of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and their contractors, The National Electrical Contractors Association. “E-TV” uploads 2 electrical based stories per month presenting new technologies, installations and project profiles. To watch stories just like this one, visit www.electricTV.net today.
For far too long, the standard for lighting warehouses, industrial facilities, manufacturing facilities and other high ceiling height applications has been the 400 Watt Metal Halide fixture. Advances in ballast technology and the improvements of the T5 High Output (T5 HO) Linear Fluorescent lamp have led to many new light fixtures that are targeted specifically to replace old HID high bays.
The following article details the many benefits that the T5 HO high bay fixture offers over traditional 400 Watt Metal Halide high bays. These include energy efficiency, improved lumen maintenance, instant start, more usable and better quality light and improved color characteristics. To find out if T5 HO high bay fixtures are the best choice for your application, don’t hesitate to contact us. Read the rest of this entry »
The vast majority of existing warehouse space in the US is lit with inefficient high intensity discharge or magnetically ballasted T12 fluorescent light fixtures. Unfortunately, lighting is one of the few areas that is often overlooked when investigating cost reduction opportunities. Owners and managers blindly budget tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for utility bills without realizing that switching to more energy efficient warehouse lighting can provide a tremendous opportunity to reduce energy demand and therefore cut utility costs. Many believe that the only option to lowering the electric bill is to shut off all the lights in the facility which results in an unsafe work environment. We have had major advances in lighting technology that allow for warehouses lighting systems to be optimized for bulk storage and rack aisle applications.
This application guide outlines warehouse lighting requirements and best practices and gives practical examples you can use as a basis for your warehouse lighting retrofit project. As with our gymnasium lighting application guide, we will use examples to illustrate these guidelines that are based on typical warehouse layouts. If you have any questions or need any clarifications, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Posted February 26, 2010 at 10:52 pm by Ray De Varona
If you are in or around Washington DC on March 10th, 2010, you may want to register to attend the Great Energy Efficiency Day event being held at the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The event is organized by the Alliance to Save Energy and promises an in-depth discussion on funding, technology and policy measures required to realize energy efficiency’s full potential.
Thie Great Energy Efficiency Day, which has been going on since 2004, has a very impressive roster of confirmed speakers that will focus on the following topics:
Federal, State and Local Stimulus Dollars Promoting Energy Efficiency: Today and Tomorrow
Stimulus and Smart Communities
Building for the Future: EE Technologies Today and Tomorrow
Admission is free, but you must register in order to attend. Read more about the Great Energy Efficiency Day’s agenda and catch up on past events at the official site.
Posted February 19, 2010 at 11:42 am by Ray De Varona
On February 12th, the Obama Administration announced a multi-agency initiative to spur regional economic growth while making buildings more energy efficient. Seven federal agencies, including the Dept. of Energy, Dept. of Labor and the Small Business Administration, issued a combined Funding Opportunity Announcement of nearly $130 million over five years to create a regional research center that will develop new building efficiency technologies and work with local partners to implement the technologies in area buildings.
Since buildings account for nearly 40 percent of U.S. energy consumption, energy efficiency improvements in buildings can provide significant benefits not only to the building owners through lower utility bills, but the entire country through decreased carbon emissions.
“Energy efficient buildings represent one of our best and most immediate opportunities to create jobs, save money and cut carbon pollution.” – U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.
The research center will be based at a university, DOE national laboratory, nonprofit organization, or private firm in what the release calls an Energy Regional Innovation Cluster (E-RIC) that is centered around an Energy Innovation Hub. The center is expected to partner closely with local or state government officials and leverage the expertise of local architects, builders, and manufacturers.
For more details, view the full release on the DOE web site.
I’m sure you’ve realized by now that in order to calculate the return on investment for a new lighting system, you’re going to have to know how much energy your new fixtures will save you. In order to know that, you’re going to have to have an idea of total wattage the existing fixtures you have are consuming. You could dismantle a sample of the fixture and read the specs for the ballast and lamps you have, but that can be tedious and very time consuming. Another option is to use a standardized system wattage table that provides a very good rough estimate on the total system watts for your old lamps and ballasts. The following list includes some of the most common fixtures you’ll encounter while doing energy audits and it provides the total watts that these fixtures draw.
President Obama is proposing new efforts to improve energy efficiency in commercial buildings across the country. Last year, commercial buildings consumed roughly 20 percent of all energy in the U.S. economy. Improving energy efficiency in our buildings can create jobs, save money, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and make our air cleaner. The President’s Better Buildings Initiative will make commercial buildings 20 percent more energy efficient over the next decade by catalyzing private sector investment through a series of incentives to upgrade offices, stores, schools and other municipal buildings, universities, hospitals, and other commercial buildings. This initiative builds on our investments through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and our continued commitment to passing the President’s proposed “HOMESTAR” legislation to encourage American families to make energy saving upgrades in their homes.
The vast majority of existing warehouse space in the US is lit with inefficient high intensity discharge or magnetically ballasted T12 fluorescent light fixtures. Unfortunately, lighting is one of the few areas that is often overlooked when investigating cost reduction opportunities. Owners and managers blindly budget tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for utility bills without realizing that switching to more 
Follow us @RelightDepot
RelightDepot.com is UpFront