Energy efforts extend to outdoor lighting

  • Published
  • By Stephen Delgado
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORC BASE, Ariz. --  We often hear people telling us to turn off the lights when we leave the room in order to save energy, but there are like efforts to save energy with outdoor area lighting, too.

There is a copious amount of lighting at night in parking lots, shopping areas and dorms. This lighting uses energy, so it is important to find ways to efficiently meet the base's lighting needs while at the same time saving energy.

"Outdoor area lighting includes the lights in facility parking lots and lights that are affixed to buildings that assist in the illumination of areas around the building," said Tech. Sgt. Brian Scott, 56th Civil Engineer Squadron energy conservation team program specialist. "The focus isn't on street lights or lights that aid in base perimeter security."

But, how does the Luke energy conservation team save energy while providing necessary lighting?

"The light fixtures and bulbs we use are a 55 watt and 135 watt low pressure sodium type," he said. "They operate with minimal amperage, which equates to less energy consumption. The low pressure sodium lights provide sufficient lighting while remaining cost-efficient to replace.

While it is important to save energy now, a long term plan has been put in place that promises to accomplish this task.

"The Defense Department has mandated a 20-percent reduction in energy consumption by 2020," Sergeant Scott said. "Luke's goal is to reduce electrical consumption by 1.3 megawatts annually. One of the smaller projects to achieve this goal and that costs little to achieve is reducing area lighting. There are larger future projects being explored that involve airfield ramp lighting and facility indoor lighting.

There are lighting standards that have been established.

"The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America establishes lighting standards at four-foot candles," Sergeant Scott said.

A foot candle is the unit of measurement defined as the amount of illumination the inside surface of a one-foot radius sphere gives.

"This standard can be modified by the Air Force to security standards," he said.

Outdoor area lighting will be one of the many facets of the Energy Fair that is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 21 at Club Five Six.

For more information about outdoor area lighting, call energy optimization at (623) 856-7079.