Sustainable Facilities Tool

There are many different types of light bulbs / lamps used at commercial buildings including fluorescent, compact fluorescent, and Light Emitting Diode (LED). Incandescent lighting is becoming obsolete. Lamp selection should be driven by efficiency, lamp life, color quality of the light and its intended use. - Fluorescent lights do not give off as much heat, can be highly efficient and have a long useful life. However, they contain mercury and typically are not dimmable unless using a dimmable ballast. - CFLs can produce a warm light, are highly efficient and have a long useful life. However, CFLs contain small amounts of mercury and are also sensitive to frequent on/off cycling and as such their rated lifetimes may be reduced if switched on/off regularly. Not all CFLs are dimmable. - LED lamps do not contain mercury, are highly efficient, turn on quickly, are dimmable, and have a long useful life. LEDs are currently more costly and have a light quality that is typically whiter than incandescent.

O+M Tips

• Develop a lamp purchasing plan for future lamp purchases that will maximize lamp efficiency while maintaining low mercury content.

End of Life Tips

• All lamps, including green tip, must be recycled. Contact the vendor for recycling and proper disposal or refer to http://www.lamprecycle.org/lamprecyclers.shtml for further details. Proper handling and disposal of lamps containing mercury are required.

For alignment with LEED Standards

• LEED CI
• Lighting Power: Reduce connected lighting power density below that allowed by ANSI/SHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007 by at least 10% using either the space-by-space method or by applying the whole building lighting power allowance to the entire tenant space.
• Mercury: Develop a lighting plan for the building and site that specifies a target for the overall average of mercury content in lamps of 90 picograms per lumen hour of mercury.