9/6/23, 10:53 AM What is Energy Efficient Lighting and Techniques to Implement It

What is Energy Efficient Lighting and Techniques to

Implement It
Electrical Technology 7 7 minutes read

Energy Efficient Lighting & How to Implement It

Table of Contents

What is Energy Efficient Lighting?

What is the Need for Energy Efficient Lighting?
Tips, Tricks & Techniques to Implement Energy Efficient Lighting
Re-lamping with Energy-Efficient Lights
Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs)
Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
Improving Lighting Controls
Replacing of Existing Fixtures and Ballasts

It has been estimated that lighting accounts for about 20% of the total power generation of the
world. The quality and quantity of light not only affects our health, comfort, safety and productivity
but also affects the economy. Many nations have been spending a huge amount of their electricity
budget on lighting.

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For achieving efficient use of electricity, nations have been taking a sustained switch to the energy
efficient lighting which is the most cost effective and reliable method of energy-saving. A well
known technologies have been in use in the area of lighting to optimize the existing controls and
lighting equipment for reducing the energy consumption with higher lighting quality. Let us discuss
in detail about this concept.

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What is Energy Efficient Lighting?

When the energy usage of a product is reduced without affecting its output or final response or
user comfort levels is referred as energy efficiency. An energy efficient product consumes less
energy to perform the same function when compared to the same product with more energy
consumption.

The energy efficiency in the lighting sector gives the required illumination level of the lighting
scheme for the application it has been designed for, while consuming the least amount of energy.
Simply, energy efficient lighting can save the electricity while maintaining good quality and quantity
of the light.

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Energy efficient lighting involves in replacement (or re-lamping) of traditional lamps (such as
incandescent lamps) with that of energy efficient such as fluorescent lamps, CFL lamps and LED
lamps. It also incorporates proper lighting controls such as timer controls, PIR and ultrasonic
sensors based controls, etc.

It includes the turning off lights automatically when they are not in use, especially during daylight. It
uses electronic chokes instead of ballasts in case of conventional lighting and also with the use of
electronic circuitry; it can achieve dimming of lights when necessary.

These energy efficient schemes can be applied for external lighting, internal lighting for residential
buildings and internal lighting for commercial buildings. These schemes not only reduce the energy
consumption, but also enhance the lighting quality, increase the safety and staff well-being, and
reduce the environmental impacts.

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What is the Need for Energy Efficient Lighting?

Lighting is the basic requirement of any facility and it impacts the day-to-day activities of the
people. This accounts a considerable amount of total energy consumption in domestic, commercial
and industrial installations.

In industries, energy consumption for lighting constitutes only a small component of the total
energy consumed, which is nearly 2-5 percent of total energy consumption. It accounts for 50 to 90
per cent in the domestic sector and it may go up to 20-40 percent in case of commercial /building
sectors, information technology complexes, and hotels.

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So it becomes an important area wherein energy to be conserved, especially in the domestic

sector. Lighting efficiency solutions therefore play a key role in energy saving opportunities.

Due to the high energy consumption, traditional incandescent lamps and high discharge lamps
have to be substituted with energy efficient lamps. Traditional lamps not only consume large
amounts of electric power, but they use much of its consumed energy to produce heat rather than
light (for instance 90% of consuming energy in case of incandescent lamps).

With the installation of energy efficient lighting, the amount of energy consumption eventually will
get reduced and it results in lower electricity bills.

Hence the energy efficient lighting is necessary

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To reduce electricity consumption, thereby reduces the electricity bills

To save electricity rather than wasting in terms of losses
To lower greenhouse emissions because conventional lamps cause CO2 emissions
To achieve peak load reduction

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Tips, Tricks & Techniques to Implement Energy Efficient Lighting

The best and effective solution for energy conservation is the adoption of energy efficient lighting
technologies in the lighting sector, which facilitates comprehensive redesigning of lighting and
control systems.

There have been major improvements and innovations in lighting technologies which can offer a
great potential for energy savings in many lighting applications such as household lighting, street
lighting, hospitality and retail spotlights, office and industrial lighting, etc.

The following are the techniques or types of energy efficient lighting which are commonly
practiced as energy-saving opportunities.

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1. Re-lamping with Energy-Efficient Lights

Energy efficient lamps can deliver the same amount of lighting with greater energy saving at low
cost, when compared with conventional lamps. Traditional incandescent lamps consume a lot of
energy to produce light in which 90 percent of consumed energy is given off as heat and also they
consume more energy, typically 3-5 times more than the actual amount to produce light.

Energy efficient lamps overcome these problems by offering many more advantages than
incandescent lamps. The two most popular choices of energy efficient light bulbs include CFLs
(compact fluorescent lamp) and LED (light emitting diode) lamps.

Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs)

CFL lamps are miniature or curly versions of long-sized fluorescent tubes. These lamps combine
the efficiency of fluorescent lighting with the popularity and convenience of incandescent fixtures.

They screw in to the fixtures that allow all standard incandescent lamps, but not into standard
fluorescent fixtures of long tubes. Depending on the brand and application use, they come in
different range of styles, colors and sizes.

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CFLs use 75 percent less energy and produce 75 percent less heat for producing the same
amount of illumination as compared with incandescent lamps. They last 10 to 15 times longer and
cost 10 to 20 more as compared to incandescent lamps.

These lamps are made with a phosphorous glass tube consisting of inert gas (argon) and mercury
vapor. They use an electronic ballast to create high voltage during the starting and it can be a
separate unit or permanently built in lamp. Some special and older models of CFLs come with
separate ballast while some CFLs come with inbuilt ballast.

When an electric current is passed through the electrodes, the electrons that are bound to mercury
atoms are excited which in turn emits ultraviolet light. As UV light strikes the fluorescent coating, it
will be converted into visible light.

Comparison chart for incandescent, CFL and LED bulbs.

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There are different types of CFL lamps available in today’s market. Some of these are spiral lamps,
triple tube lamps, standard lamps, globe lamps, flood lamps and candelabra lamps. In case of
replacing incandescent lamps, CFLs are chosen to match lumens that indicate the amount of light
being generated as shown in figure below.

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These are available in a variety of light colors such as warm white and soft white, cool white and
bright white, etc. depending on the type of application. The table below illustrates a range of light
colors of CFLs for specific application.

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)

LEDs are solid state semiconductor devices and are more energy efficient than even CFLs. They
produce little heat and higher quality lighting than any other lamp. At the time of inception the
usage of LEDs was limited as single bulb indicators in electronic circuits.

Later a number of LEDs are clustered to develop small lamps in battery powered devices such as
charging lights, flashlights, etc. Today, LED lamps are available in many new bulb styles which are
bright enough to replace traditional incandescent lamps.

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LED lamps use 75 percent less energy than traditional incandescent and 50 percent less energy
than that of a CFL. They can last 8-25 times longer compared to incandescent and up to four times
longer than a CFL. Unlike incandescent and CFLs, LED lamps produce no heat and hence they
are cool enough to touch. But, these are more expensive; however, they are affordable over the
long run.

LEDs are made up of semiconductor materials to form PN junctions. Whenever current flows
across these junctions, it releases the energy in the form of a light. The wavelength and hence the
color of the light depends on the composition of materials. LEDs can generate yellow, red, blue,
green and white light. For lighting purpose several white color LEDs are stacked as clusters to
produce required lighting for an application.

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LED bulbs are available in different shapes, sizes and styles according to the type of application it
is intended for. Some of these types include diffused bulbs, dimmable globe LED bulbs, track
lighting pin-base type bulbs, flood reflector screw-in base bulbs, flame tip candelabra base LEDs
and LED tube lights.

Comparison of incandescent, CFL , LED and halogen bulbs and lamps.

2. Improving Lighting Controls

Lighting can be controlled with the use of various sensors to allow the operation of lamps
whenever they are needed. These sensors detect the presence of humans, motion, timing or
occupancy and based on the sensor output, it switches the lamps ON and OFF. Types of these
controls include infrared sensors, automatic timers, motion sensors (PIR and ultrasonic sensors),
and dimmers.

Photo sensors monitor the daylight conditions and accordingly send the signals to main controller
to turn the lamps automatically off at dawn and on at dusk. This type of lighting control is
commonly used with street lighting and outdoor lighting.

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Street lighting is another major area of energy conservation as it contributes considerable power
consumption especially in the highways. Centralized control systems are most commonly used
in street light control.

The popular centralized control is the SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system
which ensures remote control of operation of street lights from a central location. GSM/GPRS
based systems also used to perform the remote control operation of street lights.

3. Replacing of Existing Fixtures and Ballasts

Replacing energy inefficient accessories with new energy efficient fixtures and ballast gives
superior energy savings, longevity, and reliability. The main function of a luminaire or lighting fixture
is to distribute, direct and diffuse light.

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Some fixtures can absorb more than half of the illumination emitted the bulb that reduces the
efficiency of the lighting. The higher efficiency fixtures can emit more light and hence one can save
energy and money. Such fixtures consist of reflectors to direct the light in a desired direction.

All discharge lamps require a ballast for achieving required operation. Conventional magnetic type
ballasts cause power losses which is typically 15 percent of the lamp wattage. It also can raise
fixture temperature during operation. So the proper ballast must be chosen to reduce ballast
losses, fixture temperature and system wattage. In today’s market, many electronic or solid state
types of ballast are available which can save 20 to 30 percent energy consumption over standard
ballasts.

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