NEW YORK — The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a number of electric utilities around the country, and fixture manufacturer Lightolier recently teamed to develop an integrated lighting system. The result of the partnership is the Advanced Lighting System (ALS) from Lightolier. Lightolier’s ALS is the first integrated approach to developing and offering an effective and energy efficient lighting system designed specifically for office environments saturated with visual display terminals. The system was put to the test in the retrofit of a 12-story Federal Building in New York.

The intent of the project was to identify both lighting and office equipment performance information that would be of use to the electric industry and its customers. Consolidated Edison Co. of New York selected the building because a 23,000-square-foot portion of the building’s 11th floor, a telecommunications center, was to be remodeled for its occupants, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Lighting and office equipment (much of it Energy Star-compliant) for the project is monitored by battery-powered, stand-alone data loggers, specifically the MicroDataLogger (manufactured by Architectural Energy Corporation.) Portable data acquisition equipment and watt transducers by Ohio Semitronics, Inc. and EPRI’s Lighting Analyzer software were also used to analyze the lighting data.

Lightolier’s ALS is a flexible system, able to mix and match a range of Vision Smart luminaries and Energy Smart controls in a fully compatible system consisting of energy-efficient, optically optimized and fully integrated lighting equipment. For the project building, 2-foot by 2-foot deep-cell parabolic troffers and 2-foot linear fluorescent wallwashers comprised the fixtures. All use 40-watt T5 lamps with high color lamps. Task lighting for individual workstations is provided by single lamp, bilevel T8 task lights using linear prismatic lenses, which were installed under each overhead cabinet in office cubicles and can be controlled by the occupant. The system was monitored at three levels: panel, circuit and fixture, resulting in a refined lighting load profile for the entire remodeled space.

Monitoring was conducted during the winter months of 1996-97, and the results were favorable. Lighting power density was reduced by 62% and peak demand was reduced by 56%. Annual operating cost was reduced by 64% and lighting energy savings is estimated to be $0.54/square foot, with an additional savings of $0.05/square foot achieved from the reduction in HVAC loads. Power management features installed on the computer monitors reduced energy consumption by as much as 27%. Lastly, overall energy consumption of the office equipment was reduced by 23%, and the new system has a savings-to-investment ratio of 1.17:1.