Full
Spectrum Lighting
Full Spectrum Lighting
|
|
Where better than Edison, NJ to have energy efficient, well-lighted schools? Duro-Test Vita-Lite Full Spectrum Lighting For Schools and Universities! Edison's School Retrofit Expected Annual Savings Are $393,000.....The Educated Choice, In Light Of The Facts: Vita-Lite Plus Has A CRI (Color Rendering Index) Of 91, Sunlight Has A CRI Of 100! The district's lighting upgrade will prevent the annual emission of 1,210 tons of carbon dioxide, three tons of nitrogen oxide and eight tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. Brighter Schools Are Bright Idea in Mr. Edison's TownWhere better than Edison, NJ to have energy efficient, well-lighted schools? The town, named for Thomas A. Edison, has completed a major lighting upgrade project in its public schools. Edison invented the electric light bulb in the Menlo Park section of Edison Township, and the project coincided with his 150th birthday. The upgrade was initiated to bring classrooms and other spaces in all 18 schools up to New Jersey's light level requirement, and to reduce the school district's energy costs. The project not only had to pay for itself from energy savings, but also had to generate a positive cash flow for the district. The project was a combination of renovation and retrofit. In addition to upgrading the lighting, roof-top air conditioners were replaced and hot water heaters were installed so that main boilers could be taken off-line in the spring and fall to save energy and facilitate boiler maintenance. Total expected annual savings are $393,000, of which $25,000 are operation and maintenance savings. The project, partially supported by $150,000 in annual rebates for 10 years from the local utility, will save 2,200,000 kilowatt hours a year in energy, and produce a return on investment of 13%. An energy audit conducted in the schools by Sherber Associates, an energy service company of Avon, CT and Lakewood, NJ, found that improvements to the lighting systems were clearly necessary. "Too many spaces were too under lighted," said Michael Sherber, the company president. The lighting industry's measurement of brightness is the foot-candle (FC), and the minimum requirement for classrooms in New Jersey is 50 FC. From the audit, it was determined that many classrooms had light levels significantly below the requirement, some as low as 15 FC. "And," said Sherber, "some classrooms were lighted by bare fluorescent lamps because of the unavailability of replacement lenses due to the age of the fixtures." The lighting design contains innovations that address particular problems in the school's auditoriums, hallways, gymnasiums and multi- auditoriums in the high schools are frequently used as study halls and meeting rooms, uses that require 50 ft-candles of brightness. The rooms were illuminated by incandescent and quartz lighting fixtures delivering one-tenth the desired light level. There were frequent lamp failures, requiring replacement using a cumbersome lift. For theatrical and entertainment events, low light levels and dimming down to 2.5% of maximum brightness were desired. To resolve these multiple issues, energy efficient fluorescent fixtures, reflectors, lamps and dimmable electronic ballasts were installed. The new lamps have a rated life of 20,000 hours, reducing both maintenance labor and lamp replacement costs. New Jersey's brightness standard has been met and the lights can be dimmed to satisfy the event requirements. With the more than ten-fold increase in light levels in the high school auditoriums, total power consumption still dropped by 49% in one auditorium and 52% in the other. One high school's hallways were lit by 153 inefficient fixtures, each containing six fluorescent lamps. Retrofitting with two, energy efficient lamps per fixture, electronic ballasts, specular reflectors and a new prismatic lens saved 80% of the energy and light levels doubled. Like the auditoriums, two gyms and eight multi-purpose rooms were under lighted at 15 - 22 FC versus the state's minimum of 30 FC. Light quality also was low. A total of 182 mercury vapor fixtures in one high school gym and one middle school gym were replaced with fluorescent fixtures drawing 75% (61,000) fewer watts. Light levels are now 45 FC. Light quality is excellent and the lamps start instantly. The improvement in the multi-purpose rooms is similar to that in the gyms. Additional energy savings were realized by replacing inefficient exit signs with signs lighted with an array of light emitting diodes. The LEDs total only two watts per sign so they slash electricity consumption of the old signs that were lighted with two, 40 watt incandescent lamps. The upgrade also teaches a lesson to students, teachers and staff that the school district can also help protect the environment in general. That's because reducing energy means that power plants don't have to burn as much coal or other fuel to meet the district's fuel needs, which reduces the amount of pollution that would be produced by generating that electricity. A formula developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calculates that the energy saved by the district's lighting upgrade will prevent the annual emission of 1,210 tons of carbon dioxide, three tons of nitrogen oxide and eight tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. The total project in the 18 schools included the installation of 6,300 fixtures and 38,700 fluorescent lamps powered by 2,700 electronic ballasts. Almost 1,000,000 sq. ft. are better illuminated, and 28,500 pounds of ballasts containing toxic PCBs have been disposed of by an EPA-licensed contractor. The upgrade has created a higher quality learning environment for the township's children. Mr. Edison would be pleased. More Than 3,500 Schools and Universities Use Vita-Lite! |
|
Send mail to HulaMoore@hawaii.rr.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|