Automotive Car Lot Lighting Case Study

Lancaster Motors
Car Lot Lighting Project
Lancaster, Wisconsin
January 2009

PROJECT DETAILS
RLLD Commercial Lighting was contacted by a car dealership in Lancaster Wisconsin. They had been seeking online bids for their car dealership lot lighting system with very little success.

CHALLENGES
The challenge for this car dealership lay in the fact that they already had existing concrete light pole bases on the lot that had been spaced too far apart. This made it hard to find fixtures which would adequately light the car lot, and none of the vendors they had contacted before us had any been able to locate an appropriate lighting fixture, reflector, and lens assembly that would the necessary light levels for nighttime business and security.

Another challenge lay in limited lighting pole installation requirements due to wind zone requirements. Additionally, the anchor bolts that were already set in concrete would allow for now more than 25’ poles in a 90MPH wind zone. To balance pole height limitation with a limited range of fixture options, we needed to run through several scenarios in our photometric software to generate a sound proposal for this car dealership.

PHOTOMETRIC DATA REPORT
The owner of the dealership helped a great deal in this process. He sent us diagrams and pictures of his car lot, and he gave us a copy of the previous proposal that had not materialized. We did a quick photometric lighting design analysis and concluded that this client needed more than one option to consider based on to the challenges inherent in lighting this facility. Ultimately, we were able to him two proposals and the benefit of one over the other.

The first was an upgrade of the original car lot lighting system which had used horizontal burning, metal halide shoe-box fixtures. The owner had requested seeing what an upgrade of this nature would look like and cost, so this was the first option we provided.

We also proposed a commercial lighting system that we felt was even better. It used high-performance vertical burn SVL series lighting fixtures. The larger housing, better performing reflectors, and a sag glass lenses, enable these fixtures to consistently and cost-effectively output more light.

We created three dimensional models of both systems so the owner could compare the two.

FINAL SYSTEM PROPOSED BY RLLD
Both models showed the same number of parking lot lighting fixtures in use, but the results were overwhelmingly in favor of the SVL series equipment. With the SVL, luminance was more evenly distributed throughout the merchandise area, but the shoe-box type fixtures produced too many hot spots directly underneath the poles. There was also too little light between the existing pole locations.

The SVL fixtures were clearly the best architectural lighting choice for the car lot considering the location of the existing pole bases. We also installed perimeter fixtures to enhance the visibility of the dealership in the front along the highway, and we installed two additional poles on the inside of the lot that supported four 1000W fixtures, each equipped with specific reflector for interior area lighting.

HOW DO I CONTACT RLLD?
RLLD Commercial Lighting carries a wide variety of industrial & commercial lighting fixtures. If you can not find what you are looking for contact us toll free at 1-866-654-3961 and we will find it for you. You can also check out our glossary of lighting terms and commercial lighting blog for answers and tips to many lighting issues.

Our commercial lighting design office is located in Houston, Texas with warehouses located throughout the United States that enable us to service all 50 states including Sault Ste Marie, MI (CIU), Cleveland, OH, (CLE), College Station, TX (CLL), Port Angeles, WA (CLM), Charlotte, NC (CLT), Columbus, OH (CMH), Champaign, IL (CMI), Hancock, MI (CMX), Cody, WY (COD) and Colorado Springs, CO (COS).

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Commercial Indoor Lighting Solutions

Most clients you propose services to will be very concerned about the recession. They are going to want reassurance from the get go that the lights they buy today will last a long time to come and help them either save money, make money, or both. If you can prepare a proposal in advance that quantifies specific channels of ROI, you can give yourself a competitive advantage over almost any rival you are up against. Many commercial environments in and of themselves are defined by the type and quality of indoor lighting. Some depend on the lighting itself as a contributing factor that directly impacts the generation of capital. Others experience the benefits of indoor commercial lights on a more indirect, somewhat intangible level. The quality and nature of an organizationʼs commercial indoor architectural lighting system has a direct impact on its morale, production time, and generative financial power. Understanding the type of business you are looking to help will in turn help you very quickly what types of commercial indoor lights to order to best meet the requirements of your clientʼs environment, activities, and fiscal overhead.

Industrial Organizations
Industrial clients receive the greatest benefits from indoor commercial lights that cut power costs and provide superior supportive task lighting. They seldom take the time to focus on decorative concerns, choosing instead to give top priority to the utilitarian and functional requirements of task-supportive lighting. This is both a matter of focus and a matter of safety in industrial environments. Shadows constitute trip hazards in warehouses and factories, and glare can create an equally hazardous environment. For shipping/receiving, manufacturing, and material handling facilities, it is imperative to think SAFETY and CONSERVATION with every fixture you install. Keep in mind that industry is very heavily related in these areas, just as commercial indoor and outdoor commercial lighting are becoming increasingly regulated.

Service Based Organizations
Office personnel in service industries work best in an environment under commercial indoor light that is both task and decoratively oriented. Usually this involves multiple layers of light, and it almost always requires more than one lamping option. Commercial lighting controls help to control both indoor lighting levels and the consumption of electricity. Lighting control is especially vital to specialty rooms, such as conference rooms, that function in a multi-dimensional capacity. The ability to both control the overall level of light and directly manipulate layers and colors of light is vital to effective presentation and maximizing the potential of any environment used for presentations, audio-visuals, and teleconferencing.

Retailers
Retailers need commercial indoor building lights with the very best CRI to light products on shelves and to showcase anything of importance that has been placed in its own display. They also need multiple layers of light, normally at least two to effectively showcase both their floor space and specific products that are intended to be differentiated from general product selection. It is paramount to do this as cost effectively as possible. Retail profit margins are normally rather slim, so the more you trim a storeʼs overhead on power bills, the more readily they will embrace both the technology and the design you propose.

Hospitality Clients
Hotels, country clubs, restaurants, and resorts require a very specialized approach to commercial indoor lighting. Each location features a variety of buildings whose interior architecture varies on a room per room basis. So many special events occur within each room of every facility that commercial indoor lighting fixtures and lamps have to provide everything from task and general lighting to special decorative and associative aesthetic themes that support the brand of the organization, the activities that normally occur with each area, and a general sense of removal from mundane reality to a higher, superior, and more eclectic realm of activity.

Clients Interested in LEED Certification
You may find a client in any of the four industry classifications above could possibly be looking to obtain LEED certification. Installing the appropriate specification grade indoor fluorescent commercial lights be a major factor in earning points toward such an accreditation. Because high electric bills are very often the result of high temperature created by outdated lighting fixtures, very often the first step in lowering the power costs for these clients is to replace indoor lights that are burning too hot with cooler burning equivalents. Hand in glove with this methodology is also replacing lights with lower LPW with superior LPW efficiency ratings. New commercial fluorescent lighting, induction lighting, and most especially, LED commercial light fixtures and lamps all offer new options never before available to lower overall electric consumption and qualify for points in environmental friendliness and innovation and design as well.

Lighting Design Services from RLLD Commercial Lighting
Our clients range from general contractors and architects to property developers and commercial lighting design firms who range in size from the sole proprietor to the multi-site corporate level. To accommodate this broad spectrum of clientele, and to ensure that everyone has the ability to save time on proposal development and develop superior, energy efficient solutions in full compliance with all governing regulations, we have investing in state of the art point by point lighting design software which we will use to help you develop your clientʼs system at no additional charge provided you purchase your commercial indoor or commercial outdoor lighting fixtures from us. Smaller companies can appear equivalent to large ones through this partnership, and large companies can save money on training and staff development by outsourcing schematic design to our experts.

RLLD Commercial Lighting carries a wide variety of industrial light poles, industrial lighting fixtures and sports athletic field lighting fixtures. If you can not find what you are looking for call us toll free at 1-866-654-3961 and we will find it for you. You can contact us at our home office is located in Houston, Texas and we have warehouses located throughout the United States that enable us to service all 50 states including San Juan, PR (SJU), Isla De Vieques, PR (VQS), Fajardo, PR (X95), Erie, PA (ERI), Killeen, TX (ILE), Sheridan, WY (SHR), Casper, WY (CPR), Parkersburg, WV (PKB), and Escanaba, MI (ESC). We also service clients internationally, with lighting manufacturer representatives working out of Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America. ALBQ, NYC, LA, MPLS.

Commercial Lighting Fixtures

Incandescent
Although incandescent lamps are more frequently used in residential lighting applications, some commercial lighting fixtures also used this technology. Incandescent lamps pass current through a filament, which causes the filament to give off light. Because they are relatively short lived, incandescents are used mostly as decorative commercial lighting fixtures. Their ability to render warm colors effectively without ballast makes them well suited to this application, and the enormous variety of bulb designs make them highly soft after source of any type of accent lighting or decorum based commercial lighting design.

Fluorescent
Fluorescent lamps are used extensively in commercial lighting fixtures for a number of reasons. First and foremost of these reasons is their ability to use less power than other commercial lighting fixtures, making them very cost effective from an energy conservation perspective. Fluorescent bulbs also produce a very bright light that is evenly distributed, making them ideal commercial warehouse lighting fixtures and products, canopy lights, security lights, in interior retail lights in discount stores where high levels of general lighting help psychologically motivate larger bulk purchases of discount merchandise.

Fluorescent bulbs produce light by activating phosphors on the interior of the bulb using ultraviolet energy generated by a mercury arc. Ballast helps start and operate the fluorescent lamps by regulating electron flow through the gaseous arc. Trends in fluorescent lighting technology have made them more compact, increasing lumens per watt efficiency as high as 100 lumens per watt, and reducing the amount of toxic mercury within the bulbs interior. Fluorescent commercial lighting fixtures are best deployed underneath building eaves (as in the case of canopy lights), near loading docks, in wallpacks on the sides of buildings, or as large grocery store or warehouse lights. Placing them too far out into open spaces tends to diffuse their light output and diminish their intensity.

High Intensity Discharge (HID) Commercial Lighting Fixtures
HID stands for High Intensity Discharge. It refers to a technology where light is produced by a gaseous arc discharge using a variety of elements. Typical elements include mercury vapor, metal halide, and high pressure sodium. The arc tube within an HID lamp will contain one or more of such elements, and when current passes between the electrodes at either end of the tube, the current creates an arc that generates visible light.

HID lamps feature the highest efficiency in lumens per watt output and also feature a greater level of lighting control. They also last longer than other commercial gooseneck lighting fixtures, making them a wise investment for a company on a Spartan budget that cannot afford to continually replace equipment.

High intensity discharge sources include mercury vapor, metal halide, and high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps. Light is produced in HID and low pressure sodium (LPS) sources through a gaseous arc discharge using a variety of elements. Each HID lamp consists of an arc tube which contains certain elements or mixtures of elements which, when an arc is created between the electrodes at each end, gasify and generate visible radiation.

Light Sources and Lamp Characteristics

Mercury Vapor (MV)
Mercury vapor lights were some of the first HID commercial landscape lighting fixtures developed. They were designed originally to meet a rising demand for a very compact, high output, and energy efficient source of light. They are used extensively in a number of landscape lighting applications, being commonly deployed as tree lights in high-end commercial outdoor lighting systems. In other applications they have proven somewhat less effective duo to their inferior color rendering abilities, although this has improved to a certain extent over the years by phosphor coated interior bulb walls.

The life of mercury vapor lamps is good, averaging 24,000 hours for larger wattage lamps. However, because the output diminishes so greatly over time, economical operational life is often much shorter. Efficacy ranges from 30 to 60 lumens per watt, with the higher wattages being more efficacious than the lower wattages.

As with other HID lamps, the starting of a mercury vapor lamp is not immediate. Starting time is short, though, taking 4-7 minutes to achieve maximum output depending upon the ambient temperature.

High Pressure Sodium (HPS)
High Pressure Sodium (HPS) commercial parking lighting fixtures gained huge popularity in the 1970’s to meet the needs of a powerful, yet super efficient, source of HID lighting. Lumens per watt output in an HPS lamp can be as high as 140 lumens per watt—approximately 7 times the luminance as incandescent lamps and twice that of MV or Fluorescent. They also last for approximately 24,000 hours---the longest lamp light on the market.

The problem with HPS commercial lighting fixtures has always been the quality of light they create. HPS lamps give off a yellowish or orange-tinted color and are not acceptable light sources for situations where illuminating a brand, architectural keynote, or any type of ornate exterior landscaping requires a high level of color rendering. For the most part, they are used in applications such as commercial parking garage lighting, warehouse lighting, and certain outdoor applications such as security flood lighting.

Metal Halide (MH)
Metal Halide (MH) commercial warehouse lighting fixtures are fast becoming the preferred source of HID lighting in most commercial environments. This is because they produce a very bright white light that nearly equivalent to daylight in its color rendering ability. The variety of applications is significant as a result, ranging from decorative street lighting, commercial parking lot lighting, car lot lighting, outdoor landscape lighting, architectural lighting, security lighting, and general site lighting. Traditionally, their biggest drawback has been their short lamp life—only 7,500 hours on the average.

Newer designs in Metal Halide commercial lighting fixtures include pulse start technology and ceramic metal halide design. These improvements have increased lumens per watt efficiency, control of the light itself through superior dimmability, better stability of color rendering, longer lamp life, and shorter start time.

Unfortunately, recent legislation has called for the phase out of certain standard forms of MH commercial exterior lighting fixtures due to their use of incendiary elements that fall under the classification of greenhouse gas sources. This in turn paves the way for the most sophisticated lighting ever developed on our world, and quite possibly, the singular source of lighting used both commercially and residentially in the very near future: LED commercial lighting fixtures.

LED Commercial Lighting Fixtures
As technology improves, the ability to create truly “white” led light continues to evolve. LED commercial electric lighting fixtures are featuring higher lumens per watt efficiencies than their initial prototypes initially offered. This has opened the door for a number of architectural lighting and site lighting applications that were previously the exclusive domain of HID commercial lighting fixtures.

We are also seeing an upsurge in the use of led commercial lighting fixtures in street and roadway lighting, where a number of municipalities in the United States and Europe have reported some very promising findings in regards to both power cost reduction and the overall quality of street lighting itself.

Look for quarterly leaps and bounds in the engineering gains made by LED commercial lighting fixture manufacturers, and be sure to sign up for our RLLD Commercial Lighting Newsletter which will feature news updates and case studies about this exciting and revolutionary technology.

RLLD Commercial Lighting carries a wide variety of industrial, commercial and sports athletic field lighting fixtures. If you can not find what you are looking for contact us toll free at 1-866-654-3961 and we will find it for you. Our home office is located in Houston, Texas with warehouses located throughout the United States that enable us to service all 50 states including like Ft. Lauderdale, FL (FLL), Orlando, Florida (MCO), Santa Monica, CA, (LAX) Columbus, Ohio (CMH) (LGA) New York, NY, (JKF), St. Louis, MO, Detroit, Michigan (DTW), Madison, WI (MSN), San Francisco, California (SFO), and Omaha, Nebraska (OMA).

Commercial Lighting Energy Saving Tips

The following summary represents the top five reasons to upgrade indoor and outdoor lighting with energy efficient luminaires :

Energy efficient lighting uses less electricity.
This is perhaps the most important benefit your clients will receive from energy efficient lighting. Rising fuel costs have had an effect on the cost of power, and reducing your clientʼs operating costs even by a marginal amount helps buffer them against the recession. Right now is a good time to take stock of all indoor and outdoor lighting luminaires and make a qualitative assessment of their long term value. If they can be replaced with more energy efficient equivalents, then savings on the light bill will pay for the fixtures in a few short years.

Energy efficient lighting minimizes replacement costs.
Luminaires eventually wear out because of thermal stress on the components. The less electricity a fixture uses, the less heat it generates. Reducing heat helps prolong the life of the bulb and minimize replacements. The money saved on luminaire replacement is yet another revenue stream that brings ROI on the equipment investment.

Energy efficient light fixtures are more environmentally friendly.
Incandescent lighting is notorious for producing C02 emissions through its inefficient management of power. It has been estimated that buildings with inefficient lighting systems contribute 40% of the world’s greenhouse gases. Replacing all of these luminaires with energy efficient equivalents would significantly impact the global environment in a positive way.

Energy efficient lighting is essential to LEED certification.
Companies are starting to take LEED certification very seriously. Power conservation is becoming a top priority for new building construction, and is much easier to accomplish when designing the building with LEED certification in mind. Companies in existing buildings, however, may be considerably more difficult due to poor ventilation and outdated wiring and power outlets. Energy efficient commercial lighting alone may not provide enough total points for these facilities to earn an immediate certification, but the money saved on subsequent power bills can contribute funds toward any necessary future remodeling.

Energy efficient lighting helps avoid conflict with lighting regulatory codes.
In some areas of the nation, energy efficient lighting is required under regulatory codes as part of a more comprehensive community push toward sustainability. In other places such as California, state legislation has now stepped in to make power conservation a top priority.
While we have yet to see a standard for regulating energy efficient outdoor lights emerge on the Federal level, we have reason to believe one may be created in the near future with increasing public demand for a comprehensive, national energy policy.

RLLD Commercial Lighting carries a wide variety of industrial & commercial lighting fixtures. If you need a quote or can not find what you are looking for contact us toll free at 1-866-654-3961 and we will find it for you.

Our home office is located in Houston, Texas with warehouses located throughout the United States that enable us to service all 50 states including New York NY, Los Angeles CA, Miami, FL. Chicago, IL. Denver CO., New Orleans, La., Cleveland, Ohio, Kansas City, Mo., Mesa, Arizona, Virginia Beach, Va., Omaha, Nebraska, Oakland, California, Miami, Florida, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Arlington, Texas, Beaumont, Texas, Denton, TX, McKinney, Texas, Midland, TX, Killeen, Texas, Dallas TX, San Antonio, TX, Austin, TX, ALBQ, NYC, LA, MPLS.