Category: Features
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.