Evolution of Lighting Technology

Lighting technology has evolved.  Current fluorescent and metal halide lamps and ballasts are significantly different from their counterparts produced as recently as five to seven years ago. The result is a broad range of lighting solutions that deliver greater energy efficiency, better quality, and more flexibility and versatility than ever before.

Advances in lamp and ballast technologies have allowed commercial lighting users to benefit from the most energy-efficient, cost-effective, long-lasting and high-quality lighting systems to date. These developments can reduce lighting costs by as much as 30 to 50 percent and total building energy consumption and costs by up to 20 to 25 percent.

The Evolution of T8.

In recent years, enhancements such as improved phosphors and coatings, lower wattages, higher lumen packages, longer-life ratings and lower mercury content have boosted both the efficiency and performance of fluorescent lighting.

Look at today’s T8 fluorescent lighting systems. These energy-efficient lamps provide solutions for a wide range of traditional fluorescent applications. Introduced in the 1990s, T8 lighting systems using 32-watt fluorescent lamps driven by electronic ballasts have largely replaced older and less-efficient T12 lamp and magnetic ballasts. This simple upgrade can reduce energy consumption and costs by 30 to 40 percent, giving two- to three-year paybacks and significantly improving the quality of light.

New T8 fluorescent lamps typically are categorized in one of two ways:

• Energy-saving models, ranging from 25 to 30 watts
• High-lumen, extended-life lamps, with at least 2,900 mean lumens and at least a 24,000 hour rated life.

When used with new high-efficiency electronic ballasts, total system wattage can be reduced more than 45 percent relative to the use of older T12 fluorescent systems driven by magnetic ballasts and by as much as 20 to 30 percent relative to the use of conventional T8 lamps and electronic ballasts.

“High-efficiency T8 technology just keeps getting better according to sources at OSRAM SYLVANIA. They are now on their seventh generation of high-efficiency T8 lamps in recent years and  have optimized lumen output, lumen maintenance and lamp life to provide high lumen lamps “super T8 lamps”  that can be paired with lower wattage/low ballast factor electronic ballasts to reduce energy usage while delivering appropriate light levels.

It’s worth noting that the definition of “high efficiency” has meant different things to different manufacturers over the years. Some use it to describe the most efficient products and others to describe all electronic ballasts.

Typical savings from high-efficiency T8 systems range from 2 to 5 watts per ballast. High-efficiency ballasts are available with programmed start low (.71), instant start low (.77), normal (.87), normal high (1.00), or high (greater than 1.15) ballast factor options.

The initial cost of high-efficiency ballasts can be 10 percent more than standard electronic ballasts, however, in terms of payback for a typical project, high-efficiency ballasts can immediately deliver 5 to 7 percent in energy cost savings. The newer fluorescent lamps also have higher lumens per watt and longer actual lamp life.

Four-foot lamps, such as 30-watt T8s and even 25-watt T8s, have become the norm in many 2-by-4 fixtures, reducing energy consumption and often improving color quality.

Understanding T5

High-efficiency T5 systems offer an alternative to T8 and traditional HID. Delivering high-lumen output.  T5 HO (high output) and T5 VHO (very high output) fluorescent lamps provide an energy-efficient option for a variety of industrial commercial and high-bay applications previously dominated by HID technology. The smaller diameter of T5 lamps contributes to overall luminaire efficiency.

Compared to 400-watt universally mounted metal halide lamps, T5 HO lamps, for example, can save up to 40 system watts per fixture and deliver as much as 75 percent longer lamp life, as well as associated reductions in maintenance and relamping costs.

Amalgam technology helps these systems deliver greater light output over a wider temperature range. The systems are optimal for such applications as unconditioned warehouses, shop floors, factories and big box retailers.

T5 systems also offer a great alternative to HID technology in industrial spaces that run either extremely hot or extremely cold and T5  provides white light without color shift, as well as the benefit of controllability through dimmers or occupancy sensors.

The applications for T5 HE, HO and  VHO lamps are rapidly expanding. These systems give  users the best of both worlds — the long life and energy-efficient benefits that fluorescent technology has to offer with no sacrifice in light output.

Metal Halide Advances

On the metal halide scene, the industry has moved from older, probe-start technology to pulse-start technology. As lumen maintenance improves, lower wattage systems can also  be used to achieve the same maintained light levels thus reducing energy consumption.

For example, traditional 400-watt metal halide systems consume 458 watts of energy per fixture. The lamps have 65 percent lumen maintenance, meaning the light level decreases significantly over time. More efficient pulse-start and ceramic metal halide systems, especially with electronic ballasts, can reduce that consumption to 345 watts, using 320-watt lamps or 250, using 250-watt lamps.

Additionally, ceramic metal halides  are pushing into traditional halogen applications. Today’s ceramic metal halide lamps have color-rendering quality that makes them viable  in many applications, including retail, museums and lobby lighting. Their lower system wattages and longer lamp lives make them energy- and cost-efficient alternatives to line-voltage halogen systems.

Looking into the Future

Lighting will continue to become more and more efficient, with rapid changes happening across the market.

Building codes, energy legislation and new technologies, such as solid-state lighting, will drive provincial and federal legislation and specifications to these energy-efficient, high-quality lighting solutions. Solid-state lighting is the future, however. Over the next decade, we’ll see a steady increase in the growth of LED lighting.

Highly efficient LEDs give off very little heat and can last up to 25 years or more, compared to the 1-year or shorter life expectancy of many commercial incandescent bulbs, with the added benefits of efficiency, brightness, color consistency and low maintenance requirements.

LEDs have become the focus of a great deal of investment and research and development by both lighting manufacturers and the government. This is based on the promise they hold for significantly reducing global energy consumption. LEDs have been hailed by many experts as ‘the future of lighting’ and are expected to continue to penetrate a broad range of general lighting applications over the next 5- to 10-years

While the future offers even more energy-efficient lighting options, true savings, as well as other benefits, can be achieved by making even small changes in lamp and ballast options within a building today.

More than 70 percent of existing buildings have not been retrofitted with more efficient lighting or HVAC systems. The  country’s greatest opportunity for reducing energy use is in retrofitting existing buildings with more energy-efficient systems. Lighting systems are the easiest to cost justify.”

Post by Jon Lewis