Vincent Rieselman faced a challenge. The senior designer needed to provide adequate lighting for a combination lecture hall/computer lab at Estrella Mountain Community College in Avondale, AZ. The problem? The space he needed to light was cavernous, measuring 60-feet-by-60-feet.
Rieselman decided that a creative solution was his best option. He went with a two-pronged approach, first calling for canopy lights to hang above 70 computer workstations in the lecture hall. He also called for the installation of seven rows of strip pendant lighting fixtures that would dangle from the space’s ceiling. Rieselman, satisfied with this solution, submitted his plans to the college in late August.
For Rieselman, senior designer at Phoenix, AZ-based Orcutt/Winslow, an architecture, planning and interior design firm, this approach was the only way to cost effectively provide the best lighting possible for the college’s students, and to make sure that the lecture hall was transformed into a more pleasant learning environment.
“We had plenty of natural north light coming into the space, but that space is just too big for it; it isn’t human scale,” says Rieselman. “I wanted to create another layer of light to help give the space that human feel. That’s what the level of canopy lights gives the area. It gave me a way to add indirect lighting; it added an extra dimension to the space that could not have been accomplished in any other way.”
Students working in the lecture hall can now type their reports and craft their projects without squinting from a lack of light. They won’t have to shield their eyes, either, from glare bouncing off their computer screens. The officials at Estrella Mountain College were wise enough to hire someone to focus on their lighting needs.
This is becoming more common, say the manufacturers of lighting products. Facility managers and building owners are starting to pay more attention to their lighting needs. They want their buildings lit as often as possible by natural daylight, lighting systems that consume as little energy as possible, light bulbs that last longer, and they want fixtures that are easy to maintain and repair.
The reason behind this attention is simple: Lighting buildings can be a costly endeavor. For companies in a weak economy looking to save dollars in any way possible, it makes good economic sense to install lighting systems that are efficient and relatively maintenance-free.
Of course, building owners and managers can’t do this if they don’t first take a close look at their own facilities. Hotels, for instance, have different lighting needs than do university classrooms or retail stores. Lighting systems that work well in offices may not perform as effectively in industrial settings.
This is where building managers often fall down, say lighting industry experts: They know they want to save money on their lighting bills. They’re just not sure how to best accomplish this at their own sites.
“It all comes down to sustainability,” says Tim Smith, vice president of sales at Houston, TX-based Arcalux Corp., a company that designs and sells energy efficient lighting systems. “Building owners have to consider whether the lighting they’re putting in is a short-term fix to their higher energy costs, or whether it’s a sustainable system that will not only meet today’s needs, but give building owners the opportunity to adapt and continue to save energy as their companies grow and change over time.”
The problem with many building and facility owners, lighting experts say, is that they don’t take this approach. Instead, they often remain focused on saving money immediately. Instead of paying a bit more for a more efficient lighting system that may save them considerable money over the years, many building owners and facility managers are still choosing to purchase the least expensive lighting fixtures and bulbs that they can buy.
Part of the problem, Smith says, is that different people within a business have different desires for how lighting systems perform. The facility manager may be focused on acquiring light fixtures that are easy to maintain because his custodial staff is now spread thin thanks to economic cutbacks. The property manager may be interested in energy savings because she is interested in slashing building costs as much as possible. A regional manager may be most focused on maintaining and boosting the value of the building.
The trick is to work with these diverse managers to discover which lighting system can meet as many people’s needs while reducing energy costs over the long-term, Smith says.
“It is our hope, and generally this holds true, that the maintenance manager, the facility manager, the building manager and the regional manager are all interested in some level on reducing energy costs and reducing maintenance time,” says Smith. “That may be a bit of an oversimplification, but we think this usually holds true.”