July 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 79

cility owners and operators learn
how to design their lighting requirements to accommodate these
new technologies. For example, if
you used specs for installing a new
phone system that was developed
before the advent of wireless telephones, the clause specifying the
optimum length of the phone cord
would immediately disqualify your
wireless solution. Some of the requirements we see in RFPs are just
as ridiculous. "
Here are four misconceptions for
sports facility design LED lighting
requirements:
Remote Not Required
For more than 50 years, sports
lighting had been powered by a remote power supply, referred to as
a ballast or driver. The belief was
that a remote ballast at ground level
was more convenient for necessary
maintenance, and the added weight
of ballasts mounted high on the
pole would negatively impact the
infrastructure. Those concerns are
no longer valid. LED sports lighting is virtually maintenance-free
and LED fixtures with a built-in
driver are commonplace. Since
many operators make the move to
LED to help save on energy costs, a
remote ballast is counterproductive
as extra power is needed to compensate for the distance between
the ballast and light source.

LEDucation Lesson #1:
A remote power source/ballast
adds operational costs to a solid-state LED lighting system and
prevents functionality, such as
full dimming ranges and enabling entertainment scenes.

Direct Versus Reflective
Legacy sports lighting products
are easily recognizable by the big
hoods that help redirect light, via
reflection, to the playing surface
and control glare. Due to the technological limitations, the hood was
an important tool to reflect the
light to the playing surface. With
digital LED lighting, engineers
can now direct the light through
internal refractive optics. Whereas
reflective lighting redirects the light
to the playing surface after it emanates from the fixture, refractive
light is precisely modulated internally, to consistently control glare,
cutoff and light spill while being
delivered directly and efficiently to
the playing surface.

LEDucation Lesson #2:
Reflectors limit the efficiency
of the fixtures by generating
unnecessary light that gets
redirected. Well-designed LED
lighting solutions can control
the light internally and deliver
it precisely, with no need for
external reflectors.

Maytag Repairman Syndrome
The precision and reliability of
LED sports lighting has made
25-year extended warranties as
obsolete as the technology they
replace. Extended warranties add
unnecessary costs since LED technology practically eliminates the
need for " routine maintenance. "
And, as many consumers have
experienced with extended warranties for an automobile or appliance, there are many exclusions
that protect the manufacturer
more than the customer.

LEDucation Lesson #3:
Be wary of LED sports lighting
manufacturers that exaggerate the importance of purchasing an extended warranty.
The Bottom Line
Despite the obvious performancequality advantages of LED lighting, for most municipalities, the
decision is driven by the bottom
line, return on investment (ROI)
and a cost-benefit analysis. Unfortunately, many facility operators get sticker-shock when they
see the initial investment and
subsequently don't do the additional research to understand the
numbers. When you combine
state grants, power company rebates, reduced maintenance and
slashed electrical bills, the initial
investment seems less daunting
and a fast ROI, especially for
indoor facilities that have much
greater usage, becomes a reality. Two great resources to help
guide you through the process
are your lighting salesperson or a
third-party energy services company (ESCO).

LEDucation Lesson #4:
Do your research to understand the numerous costsavings associated with LED
sports lighting beyond your
electric bill. When you run the
numbers, you end up with a
much better performing product that eventually pays for
itself.

Doug Drotman is a New York-based Contributor to
Parks and Recreation (drotmanpr@gmail.com).

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