Hit Efficiency Out of the Park with Advanced Lighting Control

Energy efficiency is potential opportunity residing in commercial building systems. If tapped, it is profit that grows annually as energy prices rise. Yet for as long as this opportunity is left untapped, it becomes more costly to implement.

In October 2009, the average cost per kilowatt-hour was approximately $0.10 for commercial buildings, 42 percent higher than the average for the year 1999. Typically the largest and least controllable load in a commercial building, lighting accounts for 20 to 40 percent of the average business’ electric bill and 25 percent of an average building’s total energy use (including electricity and all other fuels).

A large portion of this rising cost is avoidable. According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, about $130 to135 billion, or 57 to 59 percent, of the some $230 billion annual cost of global lighting could be saved by using commercially available energy-efficient lighting technologies – with 25 to 40 percent of those savings achievable in the commercial sector.

Within this context, advanced lighting control provides a platform able to accomplish a broad spectrum of integrated strategies for the purpose of energy management, such as smart time scheduling, occupancy control, load shedding, daylighting control, task tuning and personal lighting control. Good systems are simple to design, install and use. They adapt to future needs and lend themselves to both retrofit and new building applications.

Considering that November is the month the sports world completes its seasonal transition from baseball to football, this is an opportune time to focus on a case study involving the implementation of advance lighting control in a high-profile stadium – namely, Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

Employing a customized approach, the advance lighting control system at Rogers Centre was designed to accommodate needs and usage in a number of distinct areas. For example, in the parking garage - where the lights previously had not been switched off in 18 years – it provided for occupancy sensor based switching control on a zone basis. Additionally, the eight-foot, T12, 96-watt lamps were changed out with two, four-foot T8, 32 watt lamps and electronic ballasts.

In the concourses and stairway areas, a combination of occupancy sensing and time-scheduled switching (based on building events) was employed. The existing, 175-watt metal halide fixtures were retrofitted with two, 32-watt T8 lamps and standard electronic ballasts.

All office areas and lounges were equipped with personal lighting control, time scheduling, daylight harvesting and occupancy sensing technologies. Additionally, all existing fluorescent fixtures were retrofitted with new dimming electronic ballasts. The approach in the luxury boxes involved control of lighting and television circuits by time schedule, based on Rogers Centre’s scheduled events.