Interior Lighting

Interior Lighing upgrades not only lower energy usage, but also provides better light for heightened productivity.

Energy MD purchases direct from manufacturers and/or distributors allowing us to receive the best possible pricing on high quality and reliable LED's. .

Benefits of Interior LED upgrades:

  • Long Life

    • Typical life span of an LED is 50,000-100,000 hours

  • LED's can offer up to a 70% reduction in energy usage

    • This is for a couple reasons:

      1. LED's are directional which allows less light to be lost and more to be used

      2. LED's are more efficient offering a much higher lumens per watt than competing technologies

  • Low Radiant Heat

    • LED's produce much less heat than competing technologies which has a significant impact on your HVAC load.

  • Reliable - LED's are very durable and can operate in many different environments because they have no filaments or other fragile parts.

  • Instantaneous illumination

    • Unlike Halogens, CFL's and some fluorescents, LED's instantly generate the light needing no time to warm up or cool down.

Reviewing a few types of LED upgrades - Pros and Cons

Type A LED Tube Replacement - Type A means you are replacing only the tube inside the fixture. These are often called plug and play tubes.

Pros:

  • Very easy installation

  • Extremely Low upfront Cost

  • Large energy savings

  • Simple Rebate Process through statewide MPOP (in CA)

  • Very quick simple ROI

Cons:

  • Ballast - Installing Type A means we are still utilizing the ballast

    • Ballast has a negative energy impact on the bulb

      • Ex. A 10 W LED bulb could be pulling 14W due to the ballast draw

    • Ballast Compatibility

      • Not all LED tubes are compatible with the existing ballast.

      • It is extremely important to check your ballast and ensure it is compatible prior to making a large investment in these tubes

    • A number of these projects end up biting off more than they can chew and end up with a large maintenance project of replacing all/most of your ballasts.

    • Continued ballast maintenance as they will still need to be replaced upon failure

Type B LED Tube Replacement - Type B is a ballast bypass or direct wire option. Basically eliminating the ballast and installing a Type B tube that has a built in driver (ballast equivalent of an LED)

Pros:

  • No more ballast maintenance

  • Eliminate ballast draw, which means savings more energy

Cons:

  • Safety Risk - Risk of electric shock

    • The sockets carry line voltage which needs to be well documented

  • Fixtures must be rewired

  • Higher initial labor costs

  • Socket Compatibility

    • Sockets may need replacement, small additional materials cost

  • Putting a fluorescent back in will not work and could be hazardous

Type C LED Tube Replacement - Type C - External Driver - This is both a lamp and ballast replacement while utilizing the same fixture

Pros:

  • Highest efficiency

  • Eliminates legacy ballast failure

  • Easy dimming and other lighting control functions

  • Programmable for various light levels

Cons:

  • Highest cost

  • More components to fail

  • Most time to install