Lighting Essential Business - COVID, SENSOR T8, and Dark Spots

COVID:

We've had an interesting past couple of months, to say the least. With many brick and motor businesses forced to closed, the wait for a decline in Covid 19 cases continues. As a business owner, I understand the struggles that we are all facing. Let's stay positive and know that this will pass and we'll all be able to meet with friends and family once again.

Fortunately, our upcoming projects will be done at condominiums. Most of the work we do is performed in public are spaces, where not many people linger. Moreover, people are mostly staying inside these days, which enables us to work without worry.

SENSOR T8 LED:

We're very excited to test out motion sensor LED T8 lamps at three properties in Edmonton. I've been talking about energy shaving via dimming and sensors for years, and now we are installing T8 tubes that have these functionalities integrated into each tube. For this post, I will not go into great technical details, but to elaborate on how much energy can be saved, the sensor T8s can save up to 80-90% more energy than T8s that do not dim. They are purchased directly from the manufacturer and programmed to the exact specifications we choose. Working with the property manager and condo boards, the sensor T8s are programmed like this:

100% ON - After 10MIN without motion Dims to 20% - Hold Time is Forever - Motion Detected Back to 100%.

18W @ 100% ON

3.6W @ 20% ON

Most of the time, parking lots, hallways, and stairwells are not actually in use. So there is really no good reason that the lights should be on full blast all day long. We estimate the sensor tubes will be on at 100% for only 9 hours per day, the other 18 hours it will be dimmed and using only 3.6W of power. Unfortunately, these projects will not be sub-metered, because it would be interesting to see exactly how much energy is saved. Even by comparing the before and after energy bills, I believe there will be a significant drop in energy use. Sensor tubes have the potential to last beyond the industry standard of 50,000 hours (5 Years) of life. This is obviously due to the dimming function, that operates the lamp at lower capacity thus prolonging lifetime usage.

DARK SPOTS:

You wouldn't believe the poor lighting conditions we see on a regular basis. These areas are completely dark and tenants are still parking there. This is a safety and security risk that should not be overlooked. We suggested retrofitting the canopy fixtures in this area as a temporary solution until the supplies arrived. The tenants agreed and are very glad they can actually see now!

We will be following up with more content when the projects begin. In the meantime, take care!

Bill

iNNOVA LED