Dear Reader: There are two ways to lessen the kWh consumption of your lighting system: 1. install higher efficacy LED fixtures, and 2. include a control system. One (new fixtures) involves a smaller kW draw than your existing system, and the other (controls) results in less time the new fixture will be ‘on’ as compared […]
Every Thoughtful Controls Strategy Results in Less kWh Consumption Read More »
Dear Reader: There are two ways to cross the crevasse between the language of the manufacturer – lumen output of a fixture – and the language we typically use in planning, designing and executing a new lighting plan and mix of LED fixtures: Install thousands, such that your experience base enables you to be able
Use Point by Point Computer Simulations Read More »
Dear Reader: The specification sheet for any lighting fixture typically includes a great deal of information on the fixture – perhaps more than you want or need to know. That said, there is one set of data the Facility Manager may want to tune into, given its importance to the design and layout of any
Photometrics, a Quick Primer Read More »
Dear Reader: Facilities Managers won’t be surprised when learning there is sometimes a surprise around what he/she thought they were reading from a specification sheet, and what they see in terms of performance in their plant. The science of lumens is susceptible to that, as manufacturers and Facilities Managers have no choice but to talk
Lumens Don’t Matter. Delivered Lumens Do. Read More »
Dear Reader: If you were to read the literature, it seems the industry throws around two terms almost as if they were interchangeable – efficacy and efficiency – when, in fact, they mean two very different things. Efficacy is the measure of the overall lighting fixture, simply the amount of work it provides (lumens) divided
Efficiency versus Efficacy .. What’s the Difference? Read More »
Dear Reader: Time has value. And as such, a part of the analysis as to what the quality of an LED lighting system investment would is to determine what the return on that investment would be over time. Because dollars invested today are not available for other investments once they’ve been deployed (spent) on a
Factor In the Value of Time with Internal Rate of Return Read More »
Dear Reader: We’re pretty negative on the value of the Simple Payback metric in assessing the investment quality of a potential LED lighting retrofit, as it alone doesn’t do a very good job in modeling the complete benefits of LED. We ‘get’ the need to produce it, as the vast majority of management personnel need
Simple Payback Isn’t a Key Performance Metric Read More »
Dear Reader: As people, we live daily with the constant need to assess how to maximize the output of every one of our inputs. We do that by any of a myriad of ways, from determining what car will provide the most miles per gallon, to which steak will give us the most ounces per
The King of Lighting System Metrics: Lumens per Operating Dollar Read More »
Dear Reader: It’s not uncommon for the primary metric, when determining a go/no go decision, to be Simple Payback, which, simply put, is the total cost of the investment (in this case a lighting system) divided by the annual dollar savings. The better approach to determining the quality of an LED investment is to engage
The Investment Long View with the Life-cycle Cost Benefit Tool Read More »
Dear Reader: There are three sides to the equation that determines how much money your firm spends per kWh of electricity, and they are your kW of consumption (units), the number of hours you’re consuming that electricity (time), and when (peak versus off-peak). While you can persuade yourself that all three components are fixed –
How to Improve Your Facility’s Cost per kWh Read More »