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Permalink Reply by Jacob Coakley on October 23, 2011 at 8:19pm

Danielle -

I'd like to give this greater attention, but I'm afraid I don't quite follow the issue here. What's the "federal lighting mandate" as it relates to house lights? Can you give me a little more detail?

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Permalink Reply by Danielle M. B. Curtis on October 24, 2011 at 4:59am

We are supposed to be getting rid of incandescent lights, so my college is trying to but dimmable fluorescents in my lights - the do not work. I am also being told that halogen bulbs will not work, and the LEDs are the way to go - but that they are so expensive that this must come from my shop budget......does that help?

What are you using?

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Permalink Reply by Danielle M. B. Curtis on October 24, 2011 at 5:02am

I also do not know if the federal mandate is meant for theatres.....but I cannot find anything that states it is not except for the fact that it is not applicable to stage lighting.......my college may be going a bit overboard?

I did not realize that my space was going to be included in the major overhaul and I know other places have to have had some discussion about this.....or there has to be someone that can answer my questions!

Any ideas?

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Permalink Reply by David McCall on November 5, 2011 at 1:01pm

I work in a 4 year old venue with dimmable fluorescent worklights on the grid (44' above the stage). Out of 2 dozen fixtures, we are down to 3 still working, and they are failing. They provided a nice 35' genie lift with the venue but that just isn't enough. So we have no way to repair or replace them. Just one more reason to despise that technology.

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Permalink Reply by Erich Friend on November 29, 2011 at 3:47pm

Placing any lamp in a location where it cannot be serviced is a poor design decision. Hate the designer, not the lamp. It wouldn't matter what lamp was there, it would still be a problem. There are solutions to your access problem.

How do you access the loft beams to inspect the rigging?

Call / write me and we can discuss your options. Also see: http://theatreface.ning.com/profiles/blogs/who-leftout-the-steel-a-new

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Permalink Reply by Erich Friend on November 29, 2011 at 3:40pm

It is possible that they are referring to the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) which was signed into law 2007-12-19. This regulation forces a phase-out of incandescent lamps for general usage. Indirectly, it forces the users to seek-out alternate light sources that are more energy efficient.

Sorry to hear you are trapped in the middle. It isn't right that your basic building illumination (i.e. everything except the actual production stage lights, which are exempt from EISA) must be funded by your theatre operation budget. All of the basic building illumination is required to meet NFPA Life Safety Code Standards, so they are pushing compliance onto your plate, too. This includes the NFPA required emergency lighting and EXIT sign illumination, too.

My advice, make the leap to LED's. Fluorescent lamps are already a legacy technology that should be avoided. Costly? Yes. Long Life? Yes. This translates to labor, energy, and material savings over time. Each LED lamp outlasts it's incandescent brother by about 25:1, or better, so multiply the number of bulbs you have times the length of time it takes to order, deliver, install, and dispose-of each lamp times the going labor rate on campus (including ALL benefits) and then multiply that times about 25. That is the labor cost of ownership you will be saving.

The energy cost of ownership is larger than you think, too. For each Watt you save in the conversion from incandescent to LED, you save another 2 Watts in cooling expense. Take that times your annual power consumption (Watt-hours times energy rate) for about 20-25 years (typical expected life of the LED lamps). A 500 Watt T4 houselight fixture can typically be replaced with an LED fixture that consumes less than 200 Watts and provides better light. Some power savings may have to be returned if you have spaces that are under-illuminated at present.

The materials cost over the life of the LED lamps must also be calculated. As before, add-up the cost of all the incandescent lamps over the 20-25 year life cycle and subtract the cost of the LED replacement lamps (or fixtures). Another replacement cycle cost that should be included is the dimmer rack / dimmer bank for the houselights. Modern LED fixtures have integrated dimming, and the old incandescent light dimmers typically have a life-span of 12-25 years, so you may be saving up to two dimmer rack replacement cycles for the houselights. The new LED houselights can run off of a simple circuit breaker panelboard.

Add the power saving to the labor savings and the material savings (which may be a negative number) and show them that you just saved xx$ if they will buy the lamps (fixtures). The cost payback can be calculated and may be as little as a few years depending on the layout of the facility.

Being a lighting designer does not make you an illumination engineer (however, you should be getting there if you know your craft well). The selection of replacement light sources is not a simple 1-for-1 replacement of 'light bulbs'. In some cases it will be necessary to replace the entire fixture to achieve the desired results.

Goals for your new system:

• All Color Temperatures match. Theatre uses predominately 3000K-3200K CCT light sources. Don't mix other color temperatures. It is very important to find a set of light fixtures / lamps that all use the same LED chipset so that there are not color variations between products. This is easier said than done.
• Color Rendering Index is VERY important. All house, stage, and production support space lights should be CRI of 90 or greater. Lobbies and other public spaces should be CRI 80 or better. For simplicity, using CRI 90+ everywhere is suggested.
• Light should be cast where it is needed and shielded from glaring into other spaces and bleeding into other places. Light levels should be appropriate for the tasks. New fixtures should be selected to optimize the use of light, not continue the legacy waste. Shops, Dressing Areas, Make-up Rooms, Stage Worklights: 100fc. House: 35-50fc, minimum. (Now is the time to get the light you need - don't waste the opportunity!) An adjunct to this is that for matched color temperature and color rendering index sources to be effective, you should paint color perception critical spaces with neutral density finishes. Green walls will cast a green light regardless of the source. Use color neutral paint from black to gray to white. Ceilings, countertops, and floors matter, too.
• Egress Routes must be illuminated to at least NFPA minimums at all times the building is occupied, not just when someone chooses to turn-on a light switch.
• Fixtures that can be smoothly dimmed are necessary for the aesthetic purpose of the space, so lights should be controllable with a DMX control signal, either directly or via a DMX to 0-10V interfaces. Do not attempt to dim LEDs (or CFLs) with line voltage phase-control or amplitude control dimming (it never actually works, despite the manufacturer's claims).

Hire a consultant to help you if this seem like too much to do (Shameless plug: I do this for a living). Hiring an outside consultant can bring a level of confidence to the administration so they provide better support for the project. Showing the physical plant / maintenance department the labor savings information can win favor, too.

The net result will be an energy and labor efficient facility that has improved productivity due to proper illumination.

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Permalink Reply by D. Bonitsky on March 11, 2013 at 2:57pm

In addition to Erich's suggestions, contact your facility's energy supplier (electric company). There's a good chance that they have energy efficiency rebate programs that could considerably reduce the capital expense - in some areas up to 50% of the differential cost. Feel free to contact me directly if you would like more information on how to negotiate with the suppliers. It gets a little tricky as they usually don't understand the operational environment of performing arts facilities.

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