Induction Lighting in Stores...

Walia Discount Mart Superstores which operates over 200,000 square feet of retail floor area, in five locations throughout the Toronto area, plans call for the stores to be retrofitted with 100,000 hour life rated, energy-efficient Induction lighting systems. Energy savings have been estimated to be as much as 60% of current energy lighting costs. In addition, savings for maintenance and labor will provide the customer with significant overall savings. An audit prepared for the first store installation, provided by the supplier, indicates a yearly cost savings of approximately $43,000.00 per year with savings projected over the life of the installation to be near $540,000.00.

- Market Wire News Releases

Raleigh, NC Test of LED Lights...

Although the LED fixtures are more expensive to install, they require less maintenance. City leaders said the lights could help make the decks safer by providing brighter lighting. They could also help the city reduce its environmental impact.  “The use of LED lighting will assist in addressing our nation's energy challenges and helping Raleigh and other cities develop energy-efficient infrastructure in the future,” said Cree spokesman Greg Merritt.  Meeker said he believes the city could save about $80,000 a year in parking deck utility bills. Currently, the city spends more than $4 million to power street lights, but Meeker said he hopes to find significant savings by using LED lights there as well.

- Melissa Buscher, Capitol Broadcast Co.

Induction systems use wireless technology to produce light...

Induction lights are similar to fluorescent lights in that they use gasses, which once ‘excited’, react with the phosphor that coats the tubes to produce white light.  Unlike fluorescent lamps, induction systems are rated at 100,000 hours.  This is because fluorescent lamps must use electrodes, which degrade with time, to ‘excite’ the gasses inside of the tube.  Induction Lamps do not use electrodes but instead uses the principle of Induction (the transmission of energy by way of magnetic field).  Think of it as wireless lighting.

Induction systems use wireless technology to produce light, which results in an unprecedented rated life of 10 years. This is five times longer than common, high intensity discharge (HID) lighting that uses electrodes that degrade significantly over time. A longer rated life means less replacement maintenance and fewer lamps discarded into landfills. Induction lights also use approximately 40 percent less energy than HID lights that lose energy to heat, resulting in higher energy costs and emissions.

- Environmental News Network

Direct Replacement LED Light Bulbs...

“LED light bulbs are the future of the home and commercial lighting industry, case closed,” said Peter Ellinwood, co-owner of GreenPoma.com. “Until now, however, home and small business owners with screw-in fixtures have had limited LED options for replacing traditional, non-directional bulbs. These lamps are great alternatives to CFLs in fixtures which are commonly lit for six or more hours per day.”  They are offered with a traditional medium screw-in base in two colors: warm and cool white.  Green light bulbs are here to stay,” Ellinwood continued. “Fortunately, green doesn’t necessarily equal ugly light that turns people off. We’re proud to use these bulbs ourselves, and the fact that they don’t contain mercury like CFLs is a real plus.”

- Energy Business Review

Induction Lighting Benefits...

“Sacramento Municipal District does a lot of case studies, and they were trying to show the payback in the long life,” commented Steve Beede, market development manager. “They were showing the energy efficiency and the long life. It does have a high price to it right now, and they are trying to show the benefits in the payback in the life of the bulb.” It’s maintenance free; you’re not going to have to mess with it once it is up. There aren’t the maintenance charges of someone going out and having to change your bulbs,” she explained.

Induction lighting technology has other benefits. Induction lighting can be turned on and off without waiting, like a typical halide fixture. Induction lighting system “is instant on/instant restrike, which is helpful during power outages,” stated Hur. Most induction lighting systems also have very good optics. “It replicates natural daylight, so it isn’t glowy orange,” said Kolhagen. The phosphors are similar to a traditional fluorescent system’s, providing great white light of CRI 80 with a choice of color temperatures. Beede also mentioned that an induction light puts out more lumens than an individual fluorescent light, although “a typical fluorescent fixture will have six lights compared to the one incandescent light in its fixture.”

- Christine Beitenhaus, College Planning and Management