The folks at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are applying a fabrication method for building highly efficient multi-junction solar cells to aid in the quest to increase LED efficiency for white light.
Green light: This gallium-indium phosphide LED was fabricated by researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Solar-cell manufacturing techniques could yield LEDs that require 20 percent less energy.
A new approach to fabricating light-emitting diodes (LEDs) could be used to increase their efficiency by 20 percent while yielding higher-quality light than conventional LEDs. Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO, have demonstrated the approach by making a yellow-green LED that could soon be combined with other colored LEDs to yield white light. The new LED could help replace current, inefficient methods of generating white light…
-Green LEDs Continued
A&K Energy Conservation, Inc. | HQ:15552 US HWY 301, Dade City, FL, 33523 | 800-228-5241 | akenergy.com
Figuring out how to calculate energy savings could be a bit difficult depending on the nature of your lighting retrofit. Lucky for us, many websites have an energy calculator tool. In this example, GE has a few nice calculators. Usable (at the very least) to those who have the most basic understanding of lighting and its terminology.
At GE Consumer & Industrial, we want to help lighting professionals and their customers save energy costs. See for yourself the difference these seven simple estimating tools can make.
Calculators:
Simple Energy Estimator – Watts Per Square Foot Estimator – Lighting Layout Estimator – Fixture Replacement Estimator – Dimming System Watts Estimator – Cost of Waiting Estimator – Simple Life-Cycle Cost Estimator – Lighting Calculators Continued
A&K Energy Conservation, Inc. | HQ:15552 US HWY 301, Dade City, FL, 33523 | 800-228-5241 | akenergy.com
Another good example of the ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) at work. If you haven’t looked in to the ARRA and what it could do for your business, you may be missing out.
Columbus, Ohio – 28 Ohio projects will receive $15 million in grant awards funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant: Local Governments program. These awards are part of the total $25 million allocated to the State of Ohio through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program. Energy Efficiency Grant – Continued
A&K Energy Conservation, Inc. | HQ:15552 US HWY 301, Dade City, FL, 33523 | 800-228-5241 | akenergy.com
It’s nice to see businesses getting recognition for doing significant alterations to their energy usage. In Fayetteville, TN, Fushi Copperweld Inc. did a retrofit from an HID (High Intensity Discharge) High Pressure Sodium fixture to a Fluorescent fixture.
In just one year, the facility will reduce its annual electricity usage for lighting by nearly 66%- 2.1 million kWh- a reduction which, combined with tax and maintenance savings, will yield a total savings of approximately $300,000. Fushi Copperweld projects the new lighting scheme will have paid for itself in just eleven months.
We noticed that the tax and maintenance savings were calculated in with the energy savings. This was VERY SMART.
FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn., March 25 /PRNewswire-Asia/ — The Center for Energy Efficiency (CEE) at Middle Tennessee State University has granted its 2010 award for “Energy Project of the Year” to Fushi Copperweld ( FSIN)’s wire manufacturing plant in Lincoln County, Tennessee.
Sponsored by the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers, the prestigious award recognizes businesses, individuals, or organizations that demonstrate innovation in their implementation of energy efficiency projects. Fushi Copperweld’s American operation was chosen to receive the award for having completed a total retrofit of the lighting grid at its 298,000 square-foot facility last August.
A&K Energy Conservation, Inc. | HQ:15552 US HWY 301, Dade City, FL, 33523 | 800-228-5241 | akenergy.com
There are programs at the local, State and Federal levels that encourage energy efficiency with incentives. If your facility(s) plans to do an energy efficient project, do yourself a favor and see what’s available.
For example, you decided to do a lighting retrofit of an office space(s) located in Long Island, NY. Your local utility would be LIPA (Long Island Power Authority). Let’s say from T12 fluorescent to new T8 fluorescent fixtures. Your incentive would be $20 per fixture as long as they meet 80% overall efficiency. Multiply that by 2,000 fixtures.
$40,000 is definitely not something that could be ignored easily.
LIPA commercial lighting prescriptive program pdf
That’s just one utility in one state. Sometimes it may be hard to figure out where to look to get answers for incentives in your area. A great place to look would be DSIRE. The Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency. It is very thorough and easy to sort out.
“DSIRE is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility and federal incentives and policies that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. Established in 1995 and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, DSIRE is an ongoing project of the N.C. Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council.”
Again, there is nothing to lose by looking and everything to gain.
energystar.gov
Save More, Use Less, and Earn the ENERGY STAR
Did you know that a building or manufacturing plant can earn the ENERGY STAR label just like your refrigerator? An ENERGY STAR qualified facility meets strict energy performance standards set by EPA and uses less energy, is less expensive to operate, and causes fewer greenhouse gas emissions than its peers. Energy use in commercial buildings and manufacturing plants accounts for nearly half of all energy consumption in the U.S. at a cost of over $200 billion per year, more than any other sector of the economy. Commercial and industrial facilities are also responsible for nearly half of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to global warming.
Add another nail in the coffin for incandescent lighting.
Incandescent to LED – Continued
Credit - CNET | Greentech
Toshiba announced Wednesday it has produced its last major run of incandescent lightbulbs.
The Japanese electronics manufacturer said the phaseout is part of a strategy to ultimately concentrate on LED (light-emitting diode) lighting products, though it will continue to produce certain specialty incandescent bulbs.
Incandescent lighting has been dwindling in use over the last five years in large part to citizen and government phase-out campaigns that include laws for an eventual ban on the sale of the electricity-guzzling light source. Many countries have already passed laws with deadlines looming.
Incandescent to LED – Continued
A Lighting Retrofit from HID to Induction Lighting is one of a few great ways to really rake in the energy savings and potentially increase lighting quality. Let’s not forget that most Induction lighting is rated for 100,000 hours where HIDs are typically rated around 10-20,000 hours.
When the U.S. Marine Corps needed to upgrade outdoor lighting at Twentynine Palms, their largest base in the world, they chose Deco Lighting’s 100,000 hour life Induction fixtures. The vast 932 square mile desert base is home to the U.S. Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, located 60 miles west of Palm Springs, in San Bernardino County, California. Built in 1952, the premier base serves to maintain Joint/Coalition operational forces readiness with combined arms training for the eleven units garrisoned there, including the 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Tank Battalion, and 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion.
Deco Lighting replaced inefficient HID floodlights, cobraheads and wall pack fixtures with latest green technology, 100,000 hour Induction luminaires to provide the U.S. military with substantial energy savings and long term maintenance cost savings. The new Deco luminaires also deliver superior illumination for operational reliability, visibility and safety. Lighting Retrofit – Continued
A Lighting Retrofit from HID to Induction Lighting is one of a few great ways to really rake in the energy savings and potentially increase lighting quality. Let’s not forget that most Induction lighting is rated for 100,000 hours where HIDs are typically rated around 10-20,000 hours.
When the U.S. Marine Corps needed to upgrade outdoor lighting at Twentynine Palms, their largest base in the world, they chose Deco Lighting’s 100,000 hour life Induction fixtures. The vast 932 square mile desert base is home to the U.S. Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, located 60 miles west of Palm Springs, in San Bernardino County, California. Built in 1952, the premier base serves to maintain Joint/Coalition operational forces readiness with combined arms training for the eleven units garrisoned there, including the 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Tank Battalion, and 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion.
Deco Lighting replaced inefficient HID floodlights, cobraheads and wall pack fixtures with latest green technology, 100,000 hour Induction luminaires to provide the U.S. military with substantial energy savings and long term maintenance cost savings. The new Deco luminaires also deliver superior illumination for operational reliability, visibility and safety. Lighting Retrofit – Continued
Credit: wikipedia.org
When choosing a lighting system or technology, It really comes down to what fits the best for your needs or budget contraints. Induction lighting is less expensive than a comparable LED system, but more expensive than a linear T8 flourecent system.
Here is a wiki that goes in to a little more detail about induction lighting:
“In contrast with typical electrical lamps that use electrical connections through the lamp envelope to transfer power to the lamp, in electrodeless lamps the power needed to generate light is transferred from the outside of the lamp envelope by means of (electro)magnetic fields. There are three advantages of eliminating electrodes:
Extended lamp life, because the electrodes are usually the limiting factor in lamp life.
The ability to use high efficiency light-generating substances that would react with metal electrodes in normal lamps.
Improved collection efficiency because the source can be made very small without shortening life – a problem in electroded lamps
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) can be funded for energy saving and efficient lighting retrofit projects. It would be worth it to visit recovery.gov to see if your lighting retrofit project qualifies.
How does the Recovery Act work?
Twenty-eight different agencies – such as the Departments of Education; Health and Human Services; and Energy – have been allocated a portion of the $787 billion in Recovery funds. Each agency develops specific plans for how it will spend its Recovery Act funds. The agencies then award grants and contracts to state governments or, in some cases, directly to schools, hospitals, contractors, or other organizations. The agencies are required to file weekly financial reports on how they are spending the money and their specific activities related to Recovery funds. Starting in October 2009, recipients filed their first of regular quarterly reports on how they are spending the Recovery Act funds that they received.
When A&K Energy Conservation, Inc. meets with our vendors, and the LED topic comes up. There is a concern that the scores of rushed, untested, and unproven LED systems that make it to market will ruin an otherwise excellent technologies perception to the buying public. It is very important to make sure that you are buying a quality LED system. It can be tough to figure out who is good and who is not. The good news is that the Department of Energy has been paying attention to all of this and has developed a program to test the claims of these mfg’s. They call it the CALiPER Program for LEDs (SSL-solid state lighting).
What is CALiPER?
DOE’s SSL Commercially Available LED Product Evaluation and Reporting (CALiPER) program independently tests and provides unbiased information on the performance of commercially available SSL products. The test results guide DOE planning for ENERGY STAR® and technology procurement activities, provide objective product performance information to the public, and inform the development and refinement of standards and test procedures for SSL products.
A&K Energy Conservation, Inc. has had the pleasure of working with Lighting Science in the past. As a Lighting Maintenance Contractor, we have installed quite a few of their LED systems. Great stuff, and we plan to write something about LSG from our own experiences in the future. However, it was no surprise to see the US NAVY (or anyone for that matter) taking advantage of the new LED pole light and wallpack luminaires in the news.
“SATELLITE BEACH, Fla., Feb 23, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — In what may be the largest lighting retrofit and upgrade in Navy history, Lighting Science Group Corporation (LSCG.PK) and the United States Navy are relighting the streetscapes, parking lots and the residence quarters at two separate sites at the Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) California — Port Hueneme and Point Mugu — with energy efficient LED (light emitting diode) lighting solutions.” -Lighting Retrofit -Continue
The point here is that LED is staying for a while. Manufacturers are finding useful ways to bring this technology to market. It makes perfect sense when you look at the energy savings, inherent long life and lumens per watt advances.
credit: environmentalleader.com
Lighting controls have really started to kick in in recent years. It’s another great way to take your energy savings to a new level. Coupled with a smart lighting retrofit, the savings can be astounding. If you have been on the fence for awhile, maybe it’s time to take the leap.
Below is an article we found, describing an efficient lighting retrofit project introducing daylight dimming controls.
“Ford Motor Company’s latest energy-efficiency project is the retrofit of its lighting systems at its Detroit Campus facilities. New England Energy Management (NEEM) will retrofit or replace more than 50,000 light fixtures, which will include the addition of lighting control systems and daylight dimming controls for maximum efficiency.”
Continued at: www.environmentalleader.com
High power LEDs from Philips Lumileds Lighting Company mounted on a 21 mm star shaped base metal core PCB (image credit: wikipedia)
LED’s meteoric rise from a status or test light to spacial lighting has been nothing less than astonishing. LED’s (specifically HPLEDs) are emerging as a great new tool in the array of lighting available to the commercial, government and private sectors. As a lighting maintenance contractor, we have had the pleasure installing some of these new fixtures with great effect. The maintenance and energy savings are very attractive attributes when coupled with the right applications.
We have been told by those pioneering LED technology, that this is the future of lighting. Huge efforts and money have been spent advancing LEDs to the point where they are barely recognizable to it’s predecessors.
Wikipedia has what we think, a pretty well written resource for those wanting to brush up on the history and direction of LEDs.
“ light-emitting diode (LED) (pronounced /ˌɛl.iːˈdiː/[1]) is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices, and are increasingly used for lighting. Introduced as a practical electronic component in 1962,[2] early LEDs emitted low-intensity red light, but modern versions are available across the visible, ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths, with very high brightness. – Continue
A&K Energy Conservation Inc, was founded in 1967 as a Lighting Maintenance and Retrofit Company. We have enjoyed many years of servicing our customers through lighting service, planned group relamping, and through upgrades to new and more energy efficient lighting. We hold ourselves to the highest possible standards in the industry and are proud to produce a little introduction video to give you an idea of who we are and what we are about.
LEED Certified?
What is LEED certification?
In the United States and in a number of other countries around the world, LEED certification is the recognized standard for measuring building sustainability. Achieving LEED certification is the best way for you to demonstrate that your building project is truly “green.”
The LEED green building rating system — developed and administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, a Washington D.C.-based, nonprofit coalition of building industry leaders — is designed to promote design and construction practices that increase profitability while reducing the negative environmental impacts of buildings and improving occupant health and well-being.
What are the benefits of LEED certification?
LEED certification, which includes a rigorous third-party commissioning process, offers compelling proof to you, your clients, your peers and the public at large that you’ve achieved your environmental goals and your building is performing as designed. Getting certified allows you take advantage of a growing number of state and local government incentives, and can help boost press interest in your project.
The LEED rating system offers four certification levels for new construction — Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum — that correspond to the number of credits accrued in five green design categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality. LEED standards cover new commercial construction and major renovation projects, interiors projects and existing building operations. Standards are under development to cover commercial “core & shell” construction, new home construction and neighborhood developments.