 The light from FILAMENT LAMPS is relatively rich in red

and yellow rays. It is unsuitable when correct

assessment of color is essential. They emit heat that can
be disturbing for office employees. Their warm glow
does create a pleasant atmosphere.
 FLUORESCENT LIGHTING is produced by passing
electricity through a gas. This method converts
electricity into light very efficiently. Fluorescent tubes
usually have a low luminance and thus are less of a
source of glare. They may also be matched to daylight
or at least to a pleasant light. One drawback of
fluorescent lighting is flicker especially when the tubes
become old or defective.
 ILLUMINATION is the measure of the light falling on a surface.
 The unit of measurement is the lux (lx). A previously used unit was
the footcandle (fc). 1 lux is approximately 0.1 footcandle (0.0929
fc).
 LUMINANCE is a measure of light coming from a surface. Since it is
a function of the light emitted or reflected from the surfaces of
objects, it is greatly affected by the reflective power of the
surface.
 Luminance is measured in units of candles per meter
square(cd/m2). The terms millilambert (mL) and footlambert (ftL)
are still used to measure luminance.
 1 cd/m2 = 0.292 ftL 1 mL = 3.183 cd/ m2
 REFLECTANCE is expressed as the percentage of reflected to
recieved light. The luminance in cd/m2 and the illumination in
footcandle are related as follows:
reflectance (%) = 0.32 cd/m2 divided by 0.1 fc OR
Reflectance = luminance/(illuminance * ∏-2)
 The illumination required for a particular task is determined by the
visual requirements of the task and the visual ability of the
employees concerned.
 The illumination should not be too high. Levels above 1,000 lx
increase the risk of troublesome reflections, deep shadows and
excessive contrasts.
 An illuminance in the range of 300 to 700 lx measured on the
horizontal working surface is normally acceptable.
 A job in which hardcopy is used often should have a general work
area illumination level of 700 lx while a task that only required
reading the computer should have a general work area
illumination of 300 lx.
 Conflicts may raise when both hardcopy and computers are used
by the same employee or different employees having differing
requirements and working in the same office. As a compromise,
room lighting can be set at the lower level (300 lx) or intermediate
level (500 lx) and additional task lighting provided for the
hardcopy as needed.
Fittings may be considered in three
categories:
1. General Utility- designed to be
effective, functional and
economic.
2. Special- usually provided with
optical arrangements such as
lenses or Reflecors to give
directional lighting
3. Decorative-designed to be
aesthetically pleasing or to
provide a feature rather than to
be functional

From an optical perspective the

fitting should obscure the lamp
from the discomfort of direct vision
to reduce impact of glare
 Incandescent lamps are the most familiar source of light
and are widely used in residential and other low-annual-
hours-use applications. The popularity of the
incandescent lamp is due to the simplicity with which it
can be used and the low price of both the lamp and
the fixture. Also, the lamp requires no special equipment,
like a ballast, to modify the characteristics of its power
supply. Incandescents are often used in commercial
and industrial applications where the intended hours of
use are low (less than 500 hours per year), where
needed for aesthetic purposes, or where initial cost is an
overriding criterion.
 The most common types are: the "A" or arbitrary bulb-
shaped lamp; the "PS" or pear-shaped lamp; the "R" or
reflector lamp; the "PAR" or sealed-beam lamp, and the
tungsten-halogen lamp.
 Strengths:
 Low initial cost
 Excellent color rendition
 Instant starting
 Inexpensive dimming capability
 Skin-flattering warm color
 Small size, which allows it to be used in point fixtures, such as spot lamps
 Wide variety of shapes, sizes, colors and wattages are available
 Output unaffected by high or low ambient temperatures
 Simple to operate and install
 Requires no ballast
 High brightness light source
 Available in many colors
 Variety of filament design possibilities offer optical control, accurate distribution patterns
and critical service operation
 Weaknesses:
 Relatively short useful life with poor over-voltage tolerance. At 10% over voltage, life is
reduced about 75%!
 Very inefficient source of light. On average, less than 10% of the wattage goes to
produce light; the remainder becomes heat.
 High heat component can create hidden energy costs due to increased cooling
needs.
 They are the most common source used in
commercial buildings, producing about
two-thirds of our nation's illumination.
 Fluorescents are easily distinguished by
their tubular design. They come in circular,
straight or bent in a "U" shapes.
 Lamp sizes range from four watts to 215
watts. The efficiency (lumens per watt) of a
lamp increases with lamp length (from four
feet to eight feet). The reduced-wattage
fluorescent lamps introduced in the last
few years use from 10 percent to 20
percent less wattage than conventional
fluorescent lamps, depending on size.
 Strengths:
 4 to 5 times more efficient than incandescent, and an exceptionally long life (10 to 20
times greater than incandescent).
 Easy to maintain.
 Lamp life is greatly affected by the average number of hours the lamp is cycled on
and off.
 The lamps are also low cost and available in a wide range of sizes and colors.
 Relatively low surface brightness and heat generation, and are relatively insensitive to
small changes in building voltage. This can be very important where brownouts are
common.
 Weaknesses:
 Most lamps are relatively large and require a relatively expensive fixture.
 The ballasts in fluorescent fixtures can have an objectionable hum (some louder than
others).
 Ballasts are now given a noise rating. Quiet ballasts are recommended for office
areas, louder and less expensive ballasts can be used in industrial facilities.
 Fluorescent lamps are temperature sensitive and may have difficulty starting at low
temperatures. Also, lumen output drops at low and high temperatures. Special
ballasts are available for low and high temperature applications.
 While dimming of fluorescents is possible, it requires special, relatively expensive
ballasts.
 High pressure sodium (HPS) lamps are the most
efficient member of the HID family where some
degree of color rendition is important. Standard HPS
lamps produce a golden white light when they reach
full brightness. Many recognize them as the familiar
golden light from street lights, one of their principal
applications. There are versions of the HPS lamp
designed for indoor use with improved color over
standard HPS lamps, but the improvements come at
the cost of shorter lamp life and lower efficacy. These
lamps are now a readily accepted light source in
industrial plants and also are being used in many
commercial and institutional applications.
 HPS lamp sizes range from 35 to 1,000 watts. Ballasts
designed specifically for high pressure sodium lamps
must be used. The figure shown here shows the lamp
shape for both a metal halide lamp and a high
pressure sodium lamp.
Strengths:
 Most efficient member of the HID light family, 7 times as efficient as
incandescent and over 2 times as efficient as mercury vapor.
 Warm-up period is 3-4 minutes, which is somewhat less than that of a
mercury vapor or metal halide lamp.
 Long lamp life -- 24,000 hours.
 Excellent lumen maintenance.
 Wide range of lamp types with wattages ranging from 35 to 1000
watts.
 Most HPS lamps can operate in any position.
Weaknesses:
 The light produced is a golden white color, which may not be
appropriate for certain applications.
 Requires a ballast.
 Once started can take from five to ten minutes to reach full light
output. They also require at least a one minute cool-down to re-strike.
 End of life is characterized by on-off-on cycling, and continued
operation can damage the lamp ballast if not replaced quickly.
 Light Emitting Diode (LED) Lamps represent new technology with
expanding applications, particularly in color and specialty applications. If
you still think LEDs are only for little red indicator lights on electronic
gizmos, check out LEDs. LED replacements for incandescent bulbs are
available for numerous applications in many sizes, shapes, colors and
packages.
Efficiency:
 The lighting efficiency of LED lamps typically varies with the color
produced. As this is a developing technology, manufacturers are
constantly researching for improved efficiencies. These are some typical
values as of February 2004.
Red LEDs - 22-42 lumens/watt
Orange LEDs - 18-22 lumens/watt
Yellow and "amber" LEDs - 14-35 lumens/watt
Green LEDs - 20-32+ lumens/watt
Blue-Green LEDs - 25-28 lumens/watt
Blue LEDs - 8 to10 lumens/watt
White LEDs -The better usual modern white LEDs (as of January 2004) produce
about 17-25 lumens of light per watt of electricity delivered to the LEDs.
Compare to 14-17.5 lumens per watt for standard 120 volt 60 to 100 watt
incandescent lamps, and typically 16 to 21 for most halogen lamps rated
to last 2,000 hours or more.
Important Advantages include:
Power Savings - A 1000 bulb installation with 25-60 watt lamps would require 25-60 kW of
power over large cables. With Festoon LED lamps, the power requirements lower to only
2.5 kW.and much smaller wiring.
Better visual effects - Festoon lamps are for decoration and are point source devices
meant to be viewed. With painted incandescent lamps, light escapes from the back of
the globe as well as the front. This lowers the contrast, making it harder to see. Also,
incandescent painted lamps have a tendency to light up the inside of people's offices, a
source of complaints from the building occupants. As LED lamps are point sources and do
not "paint" the rear surface with light and greatly increases the contrast and overcomes
the problem of lighting up the occupant's space.
Visibility during the day - Painted lamps must be on during the day to see the colors
because the lamps look black when turned off. Festoon LED colored globes glow in its
original color, activated by the sun's Ultra Violet rays. Operators may choose to power
down the lamps during the day and yet still see the colors, adding more energy cost
savings.
Low heat generation - LED lamps produce very little heat, thus reducing the air
conditioning load and associated electric bills. This also reduces the fire hazards involved
with flammable material touching the surfaces of the lamps.
 Metal halide lamps produce a bright white light and are highly
efficient members of the HID family. They were an outgrowth of
the mercury lamp with an improvement made in their color
rendering characteristic and energy efficiency. The efficiency
of metal halide lamps is from 1.5 to 2 times that of mercury
vapor lamps. Almost all varieties of available "white light" metal
halide lamps produce color rendering which is equal or superior
to presently available mercury vapor lamps.
 Metal halide lamps are commonly used in stadiums,
warehouses and any industrial setting where distinguishing
colors is important. Low wattage lamps are available and have
become popular in department stores, grocery stores, and
many other applications where light quality is important
 Strengths:
 Designed for general lighting applications.
 Relatively long lamp life.
 Interchangeable with mercury lamps in many applications.
 Concentrated source is easily controlled by special fixtures.
 Good color rendering characteristic.
 Light output is a bright crisp white light.
 Twice as efficient as mercury lamps and 6 times as efficient as incandescent.
 Weaknesses:
 Short life compared to other HID lamps (6,000 to 20,000 hours depending on size
and manufacturer).
 Different lamps have to be used for base-up versus base down burning
configurations.
 Horizontal operation may severely reduce lamp life.
 Require a ballast.
 Some lamp types require 2 to 5 minutes to warm-up before giving full light output
and 10 minutes to cool-down. Others have instant restart capability.
 Color may vary from lamp to lamp (color shift)
 Many wattages require operation in enclosed fixtures due to the risk of lamp
breakage upon failure.
Type of Lamp Lamp Watts Initial Lumens Rated Life Hours
Incandescent 200 4,000 750

Fluorescent 40.7 3,250 12-20,000

Mercury Vapor 400 23,000 16-24,000

Self-Ballasted Mercury Vapor 450 14,500 16,000

Metal Halide 400 34,000 7.5-15,000

High Pressure Sodium 400 50,000 20-24,000

Low Pressure Sodium 180 33,000 18,000

Varied Varied
LED Varied
Incandescent Cold Cathode Flourescent Metal Halide electrodeless

Auditorium Atriums Art studios Basketball Lounges

Ball rooms Facades Atriums gyms Residential
Galleries Lobbies Hair styling Parking lots Pedestrians
Historical Merchandising studios Roadways paths
settings signage Health care Concourses Streets
Security spaces Church naves Industrial
lighting Libraries Machine plants
Dance clubs Labs rooms
Casino Residential workbenches
gaming area
Work benches
Machine
rooms