Efficient Plant Sept./Oct. 2019 - 17

feature | reliable strategies
Despite the high cost of keeping the lights on in
today's industrial operations, few facilities have
undergone some type of energy-efficient-lighting
upgrade.

development in the lighting industry, and the
majority of new buildings strongly favor it as
a light source.
Increasing efficacy (quantity of light
output per watt of electrical input) has driven
the development of more compact fixtures
and a steady decline in cost, in addition to
lower operating temperatures and, in turn,
longer service life. Today's LED fixtures are
highly efficient, reliable, compact, and have
a long life. With a wide variety of lumen
packages and wattages, they now provide a

SEPT/OCT 2019

reliable energy-efficient alternative to
virtually any fixture that might be found in
an industrial environment.
In an existing industrial plant, upgrade
options include doing nothing, doing a little,
or maximizing benefits. Doing nothing
presents the highest long-term cost, as operating-cost savings are left unclaimed. Doing
a little involves replacing incandescent,
halogen, compact-fluorescent, and linear-fluorescent lamps with LED retrofit lamps.
While a simple upgrade, it doesn't realize full

energy savings, and, in the case of replacing linear-fluorescent lamps, it risks poor
lighting if LED technology is misapplied to
conventional fixtures.
The biggest benefits are available when
fixtures are replaced in the general lighting
system. Here, the owner/operators have one
of two options:
 Replace HID and fluorescent fixtures
with LED fixtures on a one-for-one basis.
New LED light fixtures can produce satisfactory light levels while typically consuming 50% to 60% less energy than HID
and 30% to 40% less than fluorescent. The
wattage savings add up to significant energy
(kilowatt-hour) savings due to the long
daily operating hours in typical industrial
applications.
 Redesign the existing lighting system
with the idea of leveraging the superior
optical (how much light exits the fixture and
where it is emitted) qualities of premium
LED fixtures to reduce the total number of
fixtures required. LED fixtures are available
with a range of optics and optical efficiencies. Because the light is emitted in a single
direction, the emission is easier to control
using optics. As LEDs are very small and
produce little radiated heat, the optics can
be placed on or close to the light source. TIR
(total internal reflection) optics, for example,
allow greater optical control that minimizes
glare while making fewer fixtures possible.
The simplest case for investing in new
lighting, therefore, is energy-cost savings
that can produce a satisfactory return and
positive cash flow.
Return on investment can be improved
based on the availability of lighting-technology rebates from utilities and energy-efficiency organizations. Utilities offer these rebates
because it is generally cheaper to incentivize
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Efficient Plant Sept./Oct. 2019

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