Building Management Hawaii October/November 2013 - (Page 14)
Are You Still Using
Fluorescent Lamps?
Here’s a bright idea—switch to LED and save a bundle on energy.
By Colin White
lighting
A
lmost everyone reading this
article is wasting more than
50 percent or more in energy bills.
If you’re still using fluorescent lamps
in your operation—and most of us
are—it’s time to rethink your lighting.
Fluorescent tubes are in our offices,
hallways, stairwells, parking areas
and other locations. Fluorescents are a
decades-old technology. Today the better
choice is solid state or LED linear lamps.
Benefits of New
Solid State Tubes
LED T8/T10 tubes are gaining a
much wider market acceptance. The
reason is due to these significant factors:
• Years of testing prove that they last
while maintaining high lumen output.
• Their energy efficiency is a major
breakthrough in lighting, saving
50 percent or more. Informed
distributors can save you 75 percent
or more in stairwells, recessed coves
and other areas with LED tubes.
• They are much safer; they don’t
break easily and they don’t pollute,
being mercury free.
• They don’t flicker and bother
people’s eyes as fluorescents do, and
they’re available in any color.
• They can be dimmed more readily,
and without dramatically shortening
their lifespan.
Who wouldn’t want a safer lamp
that is at least twice as energy-efficient,
and that provides longer life without
flickering and dimming problems?
That’s why owners and managers are
converting to LED linear tubes. They’ll
be the next major lighting revolution,
with more than 2 billion sockets of
market potential.
What Are the Facts on Saving
50 Percent or More in Energy?
LED linear tubes already exceed
100 lumens per watt and maintain
lumens better than fluorescent tubes.
14
October - November 2013
BMH
The Down to Earth Maui store was one of the first major retail stores to go
completely to LED lamps.
Because they’re directional, many are
finding that 15-watt LED tubes can
replace 32- and 40-watt fluorescent
tubes, with energy savings of at least
50 percent. You can save even more by
using occupancy sensors and lighting
controls.
Should I Buy LED Tubes
Now or Later?
In Hawaii, if you’re burning your
fluorescent lamps 24 hours per day,
you should buy LED linear lamps
immediately! But even if you burn
your tubes just 12 hours per day, it
still makes sense to buy now. How
does the math work? If your kilowatt
rate is about 32 cents, you’ll save
more than $42 per tube per year on
a 24-hour burn cycle by changing
from a 32-watt tube to a 15-watt tube.
If your system is on a 12-hour burn
cycle, it would be more than $21 per
tube per year.
Since good tubes usually offer
at least a five-year warranty, you
can be assured that you’ll get your
money back many times over, as long
as you purchase from a distributor
that has a proven track record and
will be around for years to come.
For example, a tube that saves more
than $42 per year and has a five-year
warranty is guaranteed to save you
more than $210 during its guaranteed
lifetime alone, while costing just a
small fraction of what it saves.
What Kind of LED Tube
Should I Purchase?
• Plug and play tubes that work on
existing ballasts (these plug into
existing ballasts)
• Single-end tubes (operated by an
internal driver)
• Double-end tubes (operated by an
internal driver)
• Externally driven tubes (operated by
an external driver)
The self or internally driven LED
tube can be a single-end or doubleend tube. (Single-end tubes are
powered on one side; double-end
tubes are powered from both sides.)
To retrofit a single-end LED tube into
your fixture, both hot and neutral
wires are re-routed to one lampholder
(or tombstone) of the fixture. This
lampholder must be non-shunted, or
not bridged. Retrofitting a doubleend LED tube is much simpler, in
comparison, as the rewiring involves
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Building Management Hawaii October/November 2013
Remodeling & Renovation
Lighting
Disaster Preparedness
HVAC & Indoor Air Quality
Building Management Hawaii October/November 2013
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