Larger buildings such as office, schools etc often rely upon large number of Fluorescent lights / fluorescent tube lighting. The older T8 and T12 fluorescent fittings and tubes often produce a flickering effect, and aren’t particularly energy efficient.
Energy Saving T5 Retrofit Conversion Kits
There are now conversion kits available that allow you to retain the existing fittings, but use energy saving T5 tubes instead on the T8s and T12s. By doing so you could make energy savings of up to 50%, have better lighting – the T5 tubes are 85% close to natural sun light, benefit the environment through reduced CO2 production and less mercury, and save on maintenance and replacements. For example, T5 tubes can last 20,000 hours and the built in ballast can last 50,000 hours.
There are 2 main types of conversion kit:
The tube end kits – these have their own starter, and two pieces that fit over the end of the T5 tube so that it slots into your existing fittings.
The baton type – this is a one piece kit that slots into the light fitting, and then the tube is inserted into the one piece adapter.
How Energy is Saved
The magnetic ballast in old T8 and T12 fluorescent lights add a large additional power loss to the already relatively high wattage required by those tubes. The conversion kit incorporates an electric ballast with a pre-heat function on it that works in combination with the existing magnetic ballast. This different use of ballast has a much lower power loss – only 13% compared to 20% / 25%. In addition to this, the smaller T5 tubes require lower wattages anyway.
There may be situations where using the conversion kits isn’t the best option. For example, if all of the fluorescent light fittings in a building are more than 10 years old, it’s probably a better option just to renew the light fittings. Also, if some fittings are particularly difficult to reach / inaccessible / obstructed in some way, it may not be worthwhile trying to fit a conversion kit in that particular place.
One small trade off for using the energy saving T5 tubes and conversion kits is slightly lower lux levels. This may mean that in certain areas of a building you may require a mix of standard and high energy tubes – although the overall saving throughout the building will still be very significant.
Compliance and Conformity
The fluorescent light retrofit conversion kits and T5 tubes have been certification tested in the UK, have an EC Declaration of Conformity, and comply with a large number of BS standards and other measures / regulations.
If you’re looking to save money, a good place to start is right in your home. There are many affordable ways to save money on electricity in Pennsylvania. Let’s take a look at some of the easier and cheaper ways to reduce your electricity bill.
Use CFL Bulbs
Though it’s a minor change to your Pennsylvania home, using Compact Fluorescent light bulbs will cut your utility bill by roughly 30 dollars annually. These eco-friendly bulbs use around 70% less energy than traditional bulbs. CFLs also last ten times longer than other bulbs.
By saving energy, the Pennsylvania homeowner will pay less for electricity and do their part to help the environment. It’s true that CFL bulbs cost more than regular light bulbs, but since they last longer and use less electricity, it’s worth the additional cost.
Unplug Unused Equipment
Maybe you’re familiar with the notion that unplugging idle appliances or machines will save money on electricity. Believe it or not, it’s true! Anything plugged into an electrical outlet drains power, even if it’s off. You won’t notice a huge drop in your monthly electric bill, but unplugging unused appliances might add up to a couple of free cups of coffee each month.
Rethink Your Hot Water Usage
Do you have an electric hot water heater? Hot water use can account for up to 25 percent of your monthly electric bill. Luckily, there are four simple changes you can make that will lower your electricity bill. Not to worry – these changes don’t include taking a cold shower!
• Washing your clothes in hot water wastes a lot of electricity and, ultimately, money. When washing clothes, use cold water whenever possible and you’ll notice that next month’s utility bill is a little bit less.
• Wash dishes and laundry efficiently. Don’t run half loads in your washer or dishwasher.
• Feel your hot water heater tank. If it is warm to the touch, your tank needs to be insulated. For less than twenty bucks, you can purchase a jacket to wrap around your water heater tank. The jacket insulates the tank and can result in a savings of up to seven percent on your monthly bill.
• Install energy-efficient shower heads and faucets to save money on electricity and decrease your overall hot water usage.
Take a Chill Pill, and Turn Off the AC
Heating and cooling make up about half of the total electricity used in the average Pennsylvania household. To save money on electricity, only use your air conditioner when you need it. If you’re going out of town or even just going to work, turn off the AC. You may also want to program your thermostat to run the AC during certain times of the day.
Another inexpensive way to cool off is to turn on a ceiling fan. Fans help a room feel several degrees cooler. Just don’t forget to turn off the fan when you leave the room!
It is imperative that when installing anything within the home which could potentially cause some form of danger or damage, that the upmost care and attention is taken. However, we often forget to do this when installing things which we take for granted as they are used everyday. Those who are the owners of a Compact Fluorescent Lamps, or CFL must be aware of the potential fire hazards which can occur within the home, which are more often than not caused by faulty pieces within the lamp, or lamps which have been installed incorrectly.
As with any electrical good you purchase, it is imperative that you only purchase those which have been tested to meet the US government’s Energy Star standards. These guidelines are put into place to ensure that qualified CFL’s are able to meet the safety standards which requires the materials used within these types of products to be self-extinguishing. This means that even if your lamp was to accidentally darken if it were to get over heated, due to the Energy Star standards, it should never catch on fire.
In order to protect yourself and your family from danger and fire hazards, it’s very important to ensure the upmost care is taken when installing any appliance or accessory which could cause potential danger. One of the main dangers of a lamp of this type is that they are made of glass and are easily breakable. For this reason, it is crucial that you are careful during all stages of installing your CFL including removing the bulbs and replacing any old bulbs during its use. As with any lamp or lighting fixture, you should never force a bulb into a light socket. When installing your CFL, make sure that when installing them, you remove the CFL carefully by holding the plastic portions of the base only. If the lamp is already screwed into a light socket, this can unfortunately cause the vacuum seal or the glass tubing which is within the CFL to break which will then cause it to be exposed to oxygen. If oxygen reaches specific parts of the lamp, this will then make them more prone to failing or overheating, which thus creates a fire hazard within your home. It is for this reason that you must always be careful when installing Compact Fluorescent Lamps. In cases where parts of your lamp, such as the fluorescent tubing cease to work due to the park being overused, the arc which is situated within this tubing could potentially rise the temperature of the housing plastic which is near the end of the tube. Although this temperature may only live within the tube for a short period of time, this may produce some smoke and odor within the atmosphere. This is something you shouldn’t worry about too much as CFL’s are designed to self-extinguish, but in the case of a fire occurring, it is vital to evacuate your home and call for assistance.
If you ever find an instance where the fluorescent within your lamp has begun to smoke or smolder, your first course of action should be to turn off the power to your lamp. Once it has cooled down, remove it from the light socket and contact your manufacturer immediately, providing them with not only your personal details, but also the manufacturing details of the bulb. Manufacturers who provide goods under the Energy Star promise are required to offer customers a warranty of at least two years. When you remove your faulty piece, make sure you keep this to one side, as more often than not, the manufacturer, may ask for the failed product to be sent back to them so that they can determine exactly what caused your fault. Before you end this conversation with them though, make sure you enquire about a replacement, or in some case even a refund.
It is important to take the necessary precautions to protect ourselves and our families from any dangers which could potentially harm them. When bringing in a new piece of electrical equipment, ensure that it has been correctly tested, and has a guarantee on it. Only by taking the necessary safety precautions will you ever be completely safe, this will take a matter of moments-a short space of time in order to maintain safety in your home.
One of the most common misconceptions that many people make about going green is that they need to make huge changes in their home and the products that they buy. In fact, the opposite is true. While it can be fantastic to make a switch completely over to eco friendly products, choosing to buy eco friendly items a few a time can end up paying off in the long run.
Take light bulbs for example. Choosing to buy eco friendly replacements as your old bulbs burn out can be a great way to help the environment. Replacing old incandescent bulbs with new eco friendly products such as compact fluorescent lighting (CFL) you can enjoy lighting which lasts a lot longer and uses much less energy for the same amount of light. An old, incandescent bulb actually only ends up using ten percent of the energy it takes to power it as a visible light source. The other ninety percent ends up being emitted as heat. Incandescent bulbs are not eco friendly products in the least.
When you replace your old bulbs and buy eco friendly CFL replacements you may notice that the bulb looks much different. But when you look at the packaging, you will see something interesting. You will find that the amount of energy required to generate the light of a high wattage incandescent bulb is much lower with a CFL bulb. When you buy eco friendly CFL bulbs for your lamps and overhead lighting what you actually end up with is smaller energy bills and the same high quality light source that you have always had.
One interesting way that you can choose to buy eco friendly is by picking products that have superior workmanship. In our throwaway society, many people choose to purchase cheap, mass produced products that wear out and need to be thrown away simply because they cannot be repaired. If you choose to purchase eco friendly products you may want to look at items that have been handmade or which are easy to repair rather than discard.
These items may cost more in the beginning but if you are not replacing them every few years, you will find that making the decision to buy eco friendly items is actually going to save you money overall. Not only are you saving money by not needing to buy a replacement, you can also save the money it would cost to dispose of the old items.
Eco friendly items are often labelled with information detailing how much you can save if you choose to buy eco friendly products. If you know that you will need to purchase larger ticket items in the near future it can be worth your while to see what the best eco friendly products are. Reading reviews of eco friendly products can help you choose the ones that will best suit your lifestyle and which you will get the best and most efficient use out of. Planning your purchases can be a great way to go green gradually.
Due the wide and varied nature of commercial premises e.g. factories, offices, public spaces, commercial lighting is in fact a broad term. What this kind of lighting has in common with domestic lighting is the need to save money, energy, and the environment without reducing the quality of the lighting. Commercial and domestic settings are also both subject to the new EU ruling which came into force in September to phase out incandescent bulbs in favour of more energy efficient energy saving bulbs and lamps / halogen and CFL bulbs.
Many of us may be familiar with the use of fluorescent lamps in e.g. office spaces. These gas discharge lamps combine the electricity with mercury in lamps / tubes to turn the ultra violet light produced into visible light that comes from the fluorescent effect generated by this reaction. Despite their bulkiness, these are much more energy efficient than incandescent lamps / bulbs.
Other familiar commercial settings for most of us are shops. These could use a combination of light sources, but to pick an example, retail high street clothing or gift shops will need long lasting, reliable, energy efficient bright lights for displays and accent lighting, preferably that don’t produce too much heat. Low voltage dichroic lamps work well for track and display lighting, are compact, have high efficacy and require low voltage. These multifaceted reflector lamps (MR) are compact and therefore flexible in how they can be deployed.
LED lamps can also be very compact, and they can provide a bright focused light source that doesn’t give off heat because they don’t use heated filament and gas combinations to produce the light. For this reason they could be used to provide light near to products on sale to enhance their appearance, without fear of damaging the products.
Other large public spaces, entertainment venues e.g. theatres, concert halls, stadiums etc, are likely to use intensely bright lamps that can light large areas if necessary such as (pressurized) metal halide lamps and parabolic aluminized reflector lamps (PAR lamps).
Although there are lamps most likely to appear only in some larger commercial settings, it is likely that most commercial lighting will involve a combination of lighting types which also have domestic applications.
Posted by
FluorescentBulbs.info Date:
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Categories:
Fluorescent Bulbs
Tags:
Commercial, Lighting
