Carroll County Times Articles
Lighting Technology Leaps Forward
by Ron Harrington – June 28, 2009
An exciting new development has occurred in lighting technology, a development that promises to lower the cost of lighting and at the same time improve the environment. Solid state lighting, more commonly known as LED, which stands for light-emitting diode, is rapidly displacing traditional lighting sources such as incandescent bulbs, fluorescent tubes and vapor lamps in office ceiling grid fixtures, outdoor site and security lighting applications and specialty household lighting tasks.
Due to technology advances, LEDs are capable of performing everyday visual lighting tasks both indoors and outside. From general office illumination to lighting building facades, parking lots and along the roadway, LEDs carry significant advantages over their traditional lighting counterparts.
Some of benefits that result from converting office lighting to LED include:
# Consumption: LEDs use only a fraction of the power consumed by traditional lighting sources. For instance, a four-lamp ceiling grid light fixture with LED tubes uses 52 watts compared to 112 watts for the same fixture having traditional fluorescent tubes with electronic ballast. Plus, the ballast is no longer needed with the LED tubes. The tubes directly replace fluorescent tubes: Simply remove and dispose of the ballast, then connect the incoming power directly to the lamp sockets via unused ballast leads. This can even be done by the in-house maintenance staff.
# Useful life: LEDs last 50,000-plus hours compared to 15,000 hours average for fluorescent tubes. This means each LED tube lasts up to four times as long as a fluorescent tube, drastically reducing re-lamp costs. Fewer replacement lamp purchases are necessary, the saved labor required to climb the ladder, open the fixture, and replace a burned-out tube and/or ballast can be diverted to other projects. And fewer lamp replacements mean less waste clogging our landfills.
# Green: LED tubes are free of toxins. They contain no mercury or phosphorus, therefore posing no ecological hazard and requiring no special handling for disposal.
While LEDs cost more than their traditional counterparts, the benefits far outweigh the added costs. Positive cash flow begins immediately upon LED installation and result in rates of return on investment exceeding 15 percent. What's more, the savings from LED retrofits usually pay back the cost of installation within five years.
About the Author
Ron Harrington is the immediate past president of the Carroll Technology Council and owner of PLC Power Solutions, a division of Protectron Inc. The company helps building owners and managers identify opportunities in the use and control of building power. He can be reached at rgh@protectronsolutions.com.
