It has been said that you never talk religion or politics in business; both are sure to end up with poor results. Well, today, you can add one more category to the "don't talk about it list".... global warming!
Whether you share my opinions on global warming or not, you can't argue this: we live on this earth, and we want to pass it on to our children in as good a shape, or better than how it was when we received it. Growing up in Pittsburgh, you can imagine my witnessing first hand the environmental revitalization of that city once the mills were sequestered and the Vince Lombardi trophies began arriving in town. Man has and can make a difference on our complex environment.
What difference can those of us that own, operate and sup¬ply products and services in the parking garage industry make in the Green movement and on the overall environ¬mental impact of our industry? Surprisingly, a big difference!
If your principal focus is the reduction of energy con-sumption through responsible lighting selection and appli¬cation, there is good news on the Green front. Lighting is one of those environmental products that can actually make you money. While bamboo flooring is nice and responsible in an office or home, does it make you money? Low VOC paint is nice and responsible, but does it make you money? The answer is more than likely, no.
Have you ever considered your parking structure as a piggy bank? The application of proper lighting technologies can and will make you money. Visualize yourself cracking open your parking structure and grabbing fists full of money for use as extra profits or for taking care of much needed improvements, all on the backs of a lighting retrofit.
With parking revenues decreasing because of job layoffs, and general economic bad news, today's low energy and long life lamping technologies provide two significant capital resources - energy cost savings and maintenance cost savings. Today, you can enjoy guaranteed savings in both of those categories that yield an immediate reduc¬tion in your average annual spend that are in excess of the costs of a turnkey lighting improvement. That is Green that makes cents!
While this article focuses on the energy and maintenance aspects of responsible lighting, there are also valuable intangible benefits of moving forward with a re-lighting of your parking structure. A significant percentage of current parking garages around the country have severely depreci¬ated lights that fall far short of the minimum standards that guide this industry. These minimum standards are designedto protect individuals from outside sources of harm and to protect owners from outside frivolous lawsuits.
Another benefit that doesn't show up on your electric meter are the benefits of today's new lighting technologies and their high Color Rendering Index (CRI) lamps that can improve the abilities of your eyes to see more clearly and for security cameras to reveal proper imaging. Finally, when lights are called for, they are supposed to be on; that is the point. Today's long life lamps and lamping technolo¬gies significantly improve the likelihood that your lights are on (even when nobody's home). Municipalities and cities across America are taking great strides in improving the safety of their facilities and paying for the improve¬ments completely out of energy and maintenance savings from their new lights.
Traditional lighting technologies
Traditional lighting technologies selected for parking structures have been the application of Metal Halide (MH) lamps (typically 175w), High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lamps (typically 150w) and the use of T12 fluorescent lighting. Despite the advent of new low energy, long life products, MH and HPS lamps continue to be used across the country in new projects and in one-for-one replace¬ments. There is good news however; the parking garage industry is served by extremely talented architectural and engineering firms that are now embracing the new low energy and long life lamping technologies that are readily available in today's marketplace.
What lighting technologies are considered Green and which ones can make you money? To get a comprehensive education on green lighting technologies and a sustainable parking operation, I invite you to attend the presentation onSustainable Parking Operations at the NPA's annual conven¬tion and exposition this fall in the Washington, DC, area. The session is on the opening day, following T. Boone Pickens,our keynote speaker. This year's conference is one you do not want to miss! Here is a bit of an introduction to what will be discussed during the lighting portion of that session.
Today's green lighting technologies
Today's new green technologies include fluorescent, induc¬tion and Light Emitting Diode (LED). It is important to note that all of these technologies have lamp choices that have excellent Color Rendering Indexes (CRI) and come in a variety of color temperatures, with parking struc¬tures typically selecting 4,100k or 5,000k color. When you compare the performance of a High Pressure Sodium lamp, with it's yellow color, or a color-shifted Metal Halide with it's rainbow of colors, a high CRI lamp, like those mentioned above as the "Green Technologies," may appear to visually outperform these traditional light sources. Scotopic to Photopic ratios (S/P) of new low energy lamps are an expression of the relationship between scotopic and photopic lumen output of the lighting source. The need to supply less foot-candles on the floor when using a high S/P lamping technology over a low S/P lamp, is under debate, and the debate is likely to continue for years to come. Regardless of your position on S/P performance require¬ments, all of the new "Green Technologies" enjoy these same benefits, and therefore neutralize the argument.
Fluorescent
Fluorescents are not newcomers on this block. T12 fluores¬cents have been widely used for years. Today, T8s and T5s are making fluorescent a wise decision when applied prop¬erly. If you ever wondered about the nomenclature, A T12 is 12/8" in diameter or 1.5". A T8 is 8/8" or 1" in diameter, and a T5 is 5/8" in diameter.
Fluorescents are very Green in their energy consumption; they consume significantly lower energy than traditional lighting sources. Fluorescents also now boast between a 24,000 and 36,000-hour lamp life. This can be at least double the life of traditional lamp choices because of the sharp depreciation over a short period of time for some traditional lamping technologies. The fluorescent lamp enjoys a very low depreciation rate.
The lowest first cost product of all the Green lighting technologies is fluorescent. However, be careful here; make sure you know the full cost of owning this technol¬ogy. Installation of fluorescent lighting fixtures can cost significantly more than their Induction cousin and LED competitor. Typically, fluorescent fixtures require some field assembly and a two-person team to install. On a one-to-one replacement of traditional lighting, expect to add additional cost for wiring, conduit and pendant changes that Induction and LED may not require.
Additional considerations for fluorescent are fixture quality. Pay little for a fixture and expect to get little in return. Normally, a quality fixture is directly related to the price. A tight, high quality fluorescent fixture is neces¬sary to keep heat in the fixture for cold climates and to keep bugs and moisture out of the fixture. In a climate like Indianapolis, where we are headquartered, a low quality fluorescent fixture can see significant depreciation in cold weather, even beyond the 50 percent mark. Finally, keep in mind that the IESNA standards require that a parking structure keep its maximum to minimum foot-candle levels within a ratio of 10:1. With poor end light discharge, fluorescents are very hard to apply to existing installations without adding extra fixtures or without significant modi-fications to existing fixture patterns.
Despite the concerns that are mentioned above, with an enviable low dollar starting point, even with adding extra money to address the issues above, a re-lighting project that features T8 or T5 fluorescents is a project that will likely yield very favorable Green results.
Induction
Otherwise known as "electrode-less fluorescent," this cousin of fluorescent is gaining wide popularity in the parking garage market. Many believe that a parking structure is perfectly suited for its unique lamp style. With traditional mounting heights in parking garages of at least seven feet and not normally higher than 10 feet, the induc¬tion is an excellent one-to-one replacement lamp technol¬ogy with good, even distribution. The two players in this market are either Osram Sylvania Icetron® with its "race¬way" style lamp, or Philips QL® with its "stem" style lamp. Because there are no filaments or electrodes in the Icetron® lamp, the raceway style is well suited to installations that see frequent vibration, like a parking garage.
Like fluorescents, the induction lamps are Green in energy consumption. Again, very low energy consumed compared to the higher wattage MH and HPS that they replace one for one. When considering induction lighting fixtures for your project, be sure to confirm that the lamp manufacturer you are considering is free of patent infringement claims. Another green benefit of induction lamps is their 100,000-hour lamp life (that is 11.4 years of continual burn).
Induction fixtures are an easy one-for-one replacement fixture. Originally billed as a good, but expensive fixture, costs have dropped dramatically and an induction fix¬ture has become a very cost effective fixture that installs quickly, holds great warranties and will easily yield very favorable Green results.
Because of the design of the induction lamp, they are not effective for use in top deck poles if your pole height is beyond 25 feet in height.
Induction fixtures are quickly and widely gaining their deserved momentum and they are carving out an envi¬able position in the parking garage market. Look to see a majority of parking garage lighting retrofits and new construction to choose induction as their lighting choice.
LED
Today, just the mention of LED sets hearts afire. We have all seen LED in many applications, vehicle taillights, flashlights, traffic lights, etc. Yes, LED is an exciting product and will certainly continue to evolve into our marketplace in a variety of applications. However, let's keep a focus and discuss LEDs and their place specifically in parking garages.
As the technologies mentioned above, LEDs are low energy, similar to the above, great CRI and long life. LEDs boast life claims of 50,000 hours and beyond. The key to LED lamp life is effective heat dissipation. There are scores of LED canopy fixtures on the market today rang¬ing from an affordable $250 to beyond $1,000 per fixture. As I said about fluorescent, "E Caveat Emptor"... Let the Buyer Beware." A low cost LED fixture means low quality, low output, low reliability and short life. There are LED fixtures on the market that include no heat sinks and then there are excellent LED fixtures that perform very well.
A major concern of LED fixtures is the glare factor. Because LEDs are a series of directed light sources, they are very difficult to shield from the glare zone. If you are fortunate enough to see a field installation of a good performing LED fixture, you will see excellent distribu¬tion on the floor and good color (sometimes too blue), but when this is the case, you may have glare. When you look directly into the LED light source, then look away, you may have a temporary visual impairment issue that becomes a huge liability or risk. As technology develops, glare issues are being addressed and the benefits of LED lighting will be enjoyed in the parking garage industry. ECO Parking Lights believes strongly in the viability of LED fixtures and is currently in the prototype phase of a unique glare-free fixture.
Like fluorescent and induction lighting, LED is making its place in the parking garage industry. With a good performing fixture having the highest entry cost in this market, the economic buyer will be drawn to the low first cost of fluorescent or the attractive lowest overall cost of ownership that the induction lamp offers, before selecting LED. But, like the "movie star" that LED is, consumers are buying the product for its sex appeal and for the overall excitement that unique new technologies bring.
In conclusion
In today's tough economic times, it is imperative that you look to the parking garage itself for available free money. If you manage a property for an owner, offering a re-light¬ing project on their facility that yields them profits, will validate their excellent decision in choosing your firm for their management services.
For-profit organizations can still enjoy an accumulated tax credit through the EPACT2005 for energy saving re-lighting projects. ECO Parking Lights can take you through the process of applying this tax incentive to make your project even more attractive. Outside funding is also very attractive and affordable and the cost of money does not jeopardize the quick payback periods of re-lighting projects. Low interest municipal leases are also available to those that qualify.
When you see your existing metal halide lights casting a rainbow of colors across the levels of your parking structure, let it be a reminder of the "Pot O' Gold" that awaits you at the end of the rainbow when you do a re-lighting project with today's new Green lighting technologies!
Jeff Pinyot is vice president of Business Development for ECO Parking Lights (www.ecoparkinglights.com). He can be reached at jspinyot@ecoparkinglights.com.
