"Lighting Retrofits Can Save You Up To 75% In Energy Costs!!
Over the past few years I have completed many lighting retrofit audits and am astonished by both the amount of potential energy savings that can be gained yet also the reluctance to do the conversion. With the phasing out of old magnetic ballasts and with incentive programs such as ERIP the timing couldn’t be better.
A typical lighting retrofit using the old T12 lamps and magnetic ballast to the more advanced T8 lamp with an electronic ballast will show energy consumption reductions in the 40% range. By going to what is considered to be a ‘high performance ballast’ can gain the consumer another 10%. That’s literally cutting your hydro bill in half!
Compact fluorescent lamps have advanced through the years as well. Typical savings are in the 75% range and have a life of 10,000 hours. A 100 watt incandescent is replaced by a 23 watt CF; a 60 watt with a 15 watt and so on. There are products available today where a 13 watt will give the same amount of light as a 15 watt; there’s even more savings. The consumer must be careful however; not all CF’s are created equal, nor are all applications suitable. Installing them in an enclosed fixture or pot light may reduce the lamp life and the heat the ballast encounters could pose other risks.
Here are two quick examples of audits that I have conducted since the ERIP program was introduced in Sarnia.
Example ‘A’
This retail outlet has in excess of two hundred and fifty track heads each housing a 90 watt flood lamp. The lamps are on for 10 hours a day, seven days a week. Based on hydro being $0.10 kW, the annual energy bill is $8212.50. By converting to a 23 watt Compact Fluorescent (that looks the same) the annual energy consumption would be $2098.75; a saving of $6113.75 or 74.4%! ERIP incentive is $2.00 per lamp, that’s a rebate of $500.00.
Example ‘B’
A grocery store has one hundred and seventy-five, 2 lamp–4 foot T12 fixtures throughout the facility. The lamps are on for 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Based on hydro being $0.10 kW, the annual energy bill is $7095.90. By converting to a T8 system the annual energy consumption would be $4501.70; a savings of $2594.20 or 37%. The ERIP incentive is $6.00 / fixture or $1050.00 total. By converting to a T8 ‘high performance’ ballast the annual energy consumption would be $3433.50; a savings of $3662.40 or 52%. The ERIP incentive is $11.00 / fixture or $1925.00 total.
- Peter Craigman, Branch Manager – Torbram Electric Supply
