Advanced

  Lighting

Services, Inc.

Some establishments pay no attention to lights until one goes out - then they will call the maintenance department. No sooner is the ladder put away from one call, that they are called to replace another failed lamp! It is possible to go on indefinitely like this, replacing lamps only as they fail, spot re-lamping.

When lamps are new there are few failures and spot re-lamping works fine. However, as lamps age the failure rate increases (accelerating burn-out), taking its toll on the maintenance department.

There is an intelligent way to manage the costs of maintaining your lighting. Planned re-lamping, or group re-lamping, calls for periodically replacing all the lamps in a facility with brand new lamps before the failure rate dramatically goes up. By avoiding

"accelerating burn-out" you minimize disruption and save on labor and money. Your maintenance crew can turn their attention to other vital needs.

When you analyze lighting costs you will find that the labor to replace lamps is generally higher than the cost of the lamps themselves. The per-lamp cost of replacing goes down dramatically if re-lamping is done as a group. It is possible for a crew to come in and replace all the lamps in one session. 

Replacing lamps on a planned schedule ensures   fewer inconveniences from burned out lamps, less disruption to employees and customers, higher light levels and better overall efficiency, better color uniformity, and more time for your personnel to do productive things. 

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Lighting is a major user of energy, and is frequently provided whether it is needed or not. Efficient control and management of lighting helps companies and organizations to significantly cut costs and save energy by eliminating the wasteful use of lights. Quality lighting will deliver the most lumens for the least cost. 

With the operating cost of business increasing every year, it's painful to think your lighting system could be wasting thousands of dollars. Many businesses and industries are faced with lighting systems that are not only inefficient from the energy standpoint, but do not offer optimum lighting for workers and actually cause air conditioning costs to be increased through lights that generate excessive heat.

How do you know what lighting retrofit or upgrade is best for you? A few simple principles produce big results time and time again. 

1)  Look at the tasks being performed to determine the quantity of light, quality of light and lamp color that best meets your needs.

2)  Embrace the newest technology and options that are best for your facility. Keep in mind that there is a difference in product performance. 

3)  Work on the energy related saving. About 88% of the cost of light is paid to your utility company.

Advanced Lighting Services keeps up to date with  strategies that increase lighting system efficiency and  operational savings.

We have the knowledge and expertise to not only optimize your system, but match the best products and maintenance to your lighting needs. We work to ensure consistent lighting levels and reduced lamp replacement labor costs, and get you the required light levels for less energy.

Our services give your employees the light they need to work most productively. Your customers will view merchandise that is well lit by an attractive, bright lighting system. In turn, this will give you time, energy and financial savings that will cut your current lighting costs by 30% to 50%. 

When considering lighting retrofits, the ballast is an integral element of the process. There are several options available in all forms of ballasted lighting to decrease energy consumption. Utilizing energy saving ballasts can significantly reduce energy bills.  

Ballast Function

The ballast performs two basic tasks in fluorescent lighting systems. It provides the proper voltage to establish an arc between the two electrodes and regulates the electric current flowing through the lamp to stabilize light output  

Magnetic Ballasts

Magnetic ballasts are the least expensive but are  also the least efficient. While magnetic ballasts that are manufactured today are 10% more efficient than earlier units, they have greater power losses than electronic ballasts. 

The Federal Fluorescent Ballast Ruling has limited and will eventually eliminate the supply of magnetic ballasts. Magnetic ballasts will be available until 2010 for building owners to repair current systems.  

After that, all fluorescent lamp ballasts produced for the commercial market, new construction or renovation, must be energy efficient electronic ballasts that meet the new standards.

Electronic Ballasts 

Electronic ballasts operate the fluorescent lamp at a frequency of 20 kHz or greater rather than the 60 Hz operation of electromagnetic types. These higher frequencies take advantage of increased lamp efficiencies and generally results in a more efficient, smaller, lighter and quieter ballast design than the standard electromagnetic ballast.  

T12 to T8 Technology

The most straight forward energy saver is to replace standard T12 fluorescent lamps and magnetic ballasts with more efficient T8 lamps and electronic ballasts.

You'll see a dramatic reduction in energy costs and additional savings in maintenance costs when you combine T-8 lamps and electronic ballasts, saving as much as 40 to 60 percent of your total cost for light. 

The use of occupancy sensors continues to grow. Lighting management systems that utilize presence detection are a simple, reliable and effective method of reducing energy consumption. Discreet controls ensure that lighting is switched on only when needed, responding to the presence of people rather than to the time of day. Lighting is switched off automatically when the area is vacated.

Lighting costs in offices, conference rooms, copier rooms, and computer areas may be reduced by 35 to 60 percent with sensors that automatically turn lights off when not in use. Sensors can even be installed in stairwells, corridors, training or classrooms, kitchens,

break rooms, rest rooms or any area where there is intermittent usage.

The goal is to save energy by turning lights off in unoccupied spaces. Depending on the type of building and the use to which it is put, savings of up to 75% have been achieved by the specification and installation of appropriate lighting systems.

Many products are on the market, but not all sensors are created equal. The best design takes planning to have a  worry and trouble free system. Advanced Lighting Services offers you planned installation of sensors. 

Your savings will pay for the cost of your new lighting system. The payback period is the period of time it will take for the system to pay for itself, thanks to the resulting energy cost savings achieved. 

Payback  time can vary dramatically depending on the type of building and the use to which it is put. A typical payback period for an office building can be 

just two years. For a highly automated warehouse, where uncontrolled lights can burn endlessly when no occupants are present, the payback period can be as short as nine months. 

Do not forget that once the payback period has been reached, your lighting system continues to save you money year after year.