Upgrading Fire Department Lighting

[EOppie]

Greetings!

I normally have been lurking around the LED forums, however wanted to post this question to all of you experts :bow:

I am on the facilities/building comittee at my local vol fire department and we are looking to reduce our energy consumption/green parts of our building.

One simple upgrade to me is to upgrade the fluorescent tube lighting in the appratus bays, as well as possibly upstairs in our meeting hall which are drop in units in a drop ceiling.

Upgrading the fluorescent tube lighting in the bays would most likely be the first item to tackle. These lights are original to the building, and are well over 10 years old at least. We also have a new addition with fluorescent tube lighting we could also possible upgrade, however it is only 3 years old.

If anyone had an idea on any type of subsidy offered for this, we would love to hear it, as funds are always short for these sort of projects.

Also, I am more specifically looking to see what people would reccomend. I have heard about upgrading to T-5 or T8 lighting, and someone also sent me in the direction of these LED replacments, however I am concerned with their cost, and brightness. http://www.everled.com/everled-tr/

Thanks!

 

[tebore]

Well the cheapest I could think of with out going overboard with LED(which isn't cheap yet), is to go T8.

I assume your old firehall is using the old T12 stand tubes. Going to T8 will give you about 50% more light at less power. All you need to do is get T8 tubes or if you want you could go to super T8s and get even more light. You'll need to swap out the ballast as well(digital ballasts are best). A digitial ballast will eliminate flicker and use much less amperage and release less heat.

Those LED tubes aren't as bright as T8s and efficiency isn't that high due to double converter losses. A ballast and a converter in the tube. A $150 a tube it ain't cheap. For around $50 you can change your T12s to T8s much easier(well in my area they have sales and incentives).

 

[LED-FX]

With Tebore on conversion to electronic ballast T8, 1" diameter tubes, the number after the T is tube diameter in 1/8s of an inch. Major efficiency gains over old iron ballast T12.

T5 is expensive and more appropriate in applications where space is at a premium.

LED is still very expensive for area lighting.

Networking with your local electrical wholesalers on some sort of sponsorship deal might be worth investigating, even if they can give you a discount and use your logo in their literature as a supporter.

Directory of energy efficiency subsidy schemes on here:

http://www.energystar.gov

Cheers
Adam