Commercial Lighting Articles & Information

RLLD Commercial Lighting operates as an online lighting equipment supplier and adjunct lighting services design vendor to contractors, developers, and suppliers in the commercial lighting design industry. We sell only lighting fixtures, lamps, and accessories that are made in the United States, and we operate from Coast to Coast working in partnership with builders, architects, and electrical services professionals to assist in creating the very best indoor and outdoor commercial lighting systems in the country. With a staff whose experience totals over 30 years in expertise and excellence, we strive to be a bright spot in the commercial lighting industry…an oasis, if you will, of products and services aimed at helping lighting design professionals pass on solutions to their clients that will generate tangible, measurable returns on investment that will work toward recession proofing both contractor and client alike. RLLD Commercial Lighting also leads the way in energy saving solutions; lighting regulations compliance, emerging technology, and community management for professional organizations who can stand to gain much more than equipment and basic support when they opt to participate.

At RLL Design, we strive to provide a plethora of commercial lighting articles, glossaries and commercial lighting case studies to our valued clients. Our philosophy is simple: Sell the right products and leave a legacy of satisfied clients!

High Bay Lighting
Contractors installing high bay lights in warehouses and factories can find a wide range of fixture manufacture and lamping options through RLLD Commercial Lighting.

Metal Halide High Bay Lighting
Metal halide high bay lighting consistently remains the most popular form of high bay lighting in factories, warehouses, gymnasiums, public halls, transportation stations, and hangars.

Dark Sky Lighting Regulations
Dark sky regulations are the result of worldwide efforts on the part of the dark-sky movement. This grass-roots movement began when astronomers became extremely concerned that artificial light from cities was obscuring the view of the stars.

Commercial Lighting Systems
Commercial lighting systems are often much more complicated than they appear at face value. A significant number of factors influence the selection of equipment.

Commercial Lighting Pole Installation
Commercial light pole installation is a systematic process that flows from the conceptual and the general to the systematic and precise. This process is similar to a flowchart, with each segment depending on the segment before it.

Commercial Indoor Lighting
The quality and nature of an organization’s commercial indoor lighting system has a direct impact on its morale, production time, and generative financial power.

Commercial Sign Lighting
Many contractors, sole proprietor lighting design consultants, and do it yourself landscapers often fail to include sign lights in their commercial lighting systems. Many times this is because they mistake them as an unnecessary expense.

Commercial Lighting Fixtures
RLLD Commercial Lighting fixtures feature the highest commercial grade lighting fixtures in all major light sources used for building exterior, site lighting, security lighting, warehouse interior lighting, roadway lighting, and security lighting systems.

Commercial Electric Lighting
Commercial Electric Lighting fixtures can either be high intensity discharge lights for parking, landscape, and security lighting, or they can be architectural building that minimize power consumption.

Commercial Gooseneck Lights
Gooseneck lights are excellent fixtures to propose to clients who need functionality combined with aesthetics. These lights can be placed in a number of key locations both outside the building and inside the building.

Commercial Exterior Lighting
Commercial Exterior Lighting. The diversity of clients in need of superior commercial exterior lighting requires the contractor to rely upon a source of luminaires that is robust, flexible, energy efficient, easy to install & maintain.

Commercial Fluorescent Lighting
Commercial Fluorescent Lighting. Recent laws have been passed that require all incandescent lights to be replaced by 2010 at the latest. Because of this, commercial fluorescent lights are going to play a major role in future lighting design for businesses.

Commercial Warehouse Lighting
Commercial warehouse lighting must take a number of factors into account to be truly cost effective and functionally supportive of operations and labor. Foremost on the list of consideration is lighting levels.

Commercial Parking Lot Lighting
Commercial Parking Lot Lighting has become increasingly regulated over the years and requires expert knowledge beyond electrical expertise to properly configure and install.

Commercial Landscape Lighting
RLLD's commercial landscape lighting fixtures and accessories represent a broad spectrum of options for the commercial exterior lighting designer working to accent and define the natural exteriors of commercial, academic, municipal, hospitality, and entertainment.

Decorative Commercial Lighting
Decorative commercial lights are important components of every outdoor lighting system. Commercial decorative light fixtures are often smaller than purely functional outdoor lights and can be concealed for special lighting effects.

These are just examples of the many ways that commercial lighting can enhance a property with site lighting and commercial decorative fixture designs. Call an RLLD Commercial Lighting expert for more information on how to use these unique luminaires in key locations that will add aesthetic and functionality to your client’s location.

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).

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Commercial Lighting Supply House

RLLD Commercial Lighting inventories a comprehensive selection of indoor and outdoor commercial lighting supplies. All of our equipment is American made by established and renowned domestic manufacturers. Our products are either standard commercial grade lighting products or specification grade lighting fixtures, lamps, poles, mounts, and other accessories. This allows the commercial lighting specialist to rely upon our sourcing as a single point of procurement. Because we assume an impartial distributor relationship with multiple manufacturers, commercial lighting designers can rely upon us to honestly recommend the very best types of fixtures and lamps to propose to their clients. Since we have no quotas to fill with our sources or specific brands to promote above others, this gives the contractor complete freedom of choice in obtaining commercial lighting supplies for their clients.

In many respects, RLLD Commercial Lighting is a virtual lighting agency.

Unlike many competing entities entrenched in brick and mortar, we have unlimited offerings from manufacturers located from Coast to Coast. We deliberately restrict our offerings to American made products, too. We believe in supporting American industry, and we are convinced that United States manufacturers still produce the very best commercial lighting supplies found anywhere in the world. This allows us to pull stock from a number of key geographic centers and fast track commercial lighting supply orders in as little as 2 weeks. Contrast this to the industry standard 4-6 week delivery time, and you can clearly see the advantage of working with a virtual lighting vendor whose access to commercial lighting supplies and expedited drop shipping give you the power not only to propose, but to deliver impeccable results to your clients.

Contractors who reside in certain areas often encounter parts shortages at the worst possible times. In places where light fixture regulations and dark sky laws suddenly change, the unavailability of the best commercial lighting fixture supplies can cost a company a bid. Brick and mortar supply depots in these areas usually cannot help because they are limited by the same geography and suffer from the same parts shortage themselves. Contacting manufacturer agents on a state or regional level often does little to improve the situation either. These agents are loyal to one or two major manufacturers and are going to take advantage of the contractors desperation by pushing only the commercial lighting supplies their representative distributorship is paid commissions and bonuses to source. This narrows the scope of the proposal to someone elseʼs profit margin, and it serves neither the lighting designer nor the client at the end of the day.

RLLD commercial lighting design labors to break the proposal free of these limitations. We not only maintain an impartial stance toward manufacturers during the procurement process, but prior to even invoicing a purchase order, we take an active role in planning, consultation, and systematic site analysis. We supply every commercial lighting contractor with a complimentary photometric lighting design analysis of the clientʼs location, detailing necessary light levels to comply with mandatory foot candle requirements and fixture placements to contain illumination within the boundaries established by dark sky laws and restrictions on glare. This gives the contractor not only the advantage of being able to choose from a Coast to Coast selection of top-brand manufacturers, but cuts the time of lighting fixture selection by more than half. The client has an easy to read, visual reference at the end of this process which makes winning the final bid a matter of simple demonstration rather than strenuous persuasion.

RLLD Commercial Lighting carries a wide variety of athletic sports lighting, industrial & commercial lighting pole 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. 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 Office Lighting Designers

Business office light plays a very significant role in morale and motivation. People associate light with positive energy and activity, and they tend to be more alert and enthusiastic in a well-lit office environment. Office lighting is a significant portion of the companyʼs overhead because it tends to consume a great deal of electricity. When possible, commercial indoor lighting fixtures should be as energy conscious as possible. Also, depending on the type of business your client is in, office lights often play a critical role in interior design. If a business decorates extensively with fine furniture, fine art, unique color schemes, or even statuary, lights will have to be installed in the office to provide these decorations with the special significance they deserve. Cornerstone to all of this is functionality. No matter how large or small the office or what type of industry it operates within, office lighting systems should be configured to support the specific activities that make the organization money. In more and more instances, this involves not only the very best luminaires, but also customized lighting fixtures and lighting control systems.

Morale and Motivation
A number of studies have shown that the quality of light in an office has a direct impact on the psychology and performance of the workplace. If you are designing an office lighting system, try to think beyond the simple functional requirements of visibility. If you want to out compete other contractors, hand your clients a proposal that shows him or her how your design will establish a tone and momentum appropriate for their workplace. Commercial lighting for offices should provide enough bright, comfortable illumination that people do not have to strain their eyes. This requires a skillful combination of direct and indirect layers of light, because too much direct light will almost always cast a shadow behind any large object like a cubicle. Too little direct lighting, however, is often too dim, and people end up looking out the windows too much to get their jobs done.

A roomʼs vertical and horizontal dimensions work together to determine the correct number of horizontal and vertical foot candles the office lights will need to produce to strike this delicate balance. These dimensions must be factored together to determine the room cavity ratio for the office before lighting fixtures and their placements can be selected and determined.

Appropriately Decorative
Companies that frequently have large numbers of clients or business partners visiting their offices tend to decorate toward the high end of the spectrum. They frequently use fine photography, artwork, floral arrangements, eclectic furnishings, and even statuary to set apart different office spaces from normal operations. These places within an office need lights that complement and enhance whatever decorative themes and elements are used in these areas.
Three areas in the building where you should really strive to impress your clients with your lighting design skills are foyers, conference rooms, and executive offices. These areas not only host special activities, but they also feature unique interior architecture that requires specific decorative and architectural lighting fixtures, such as cove lights, to properly compliment the color scheme and fine furnishings that typify these environments.

Office light fixtures here will perform at their highest when wired to dimmers and lighting control systems that can adjust the level of light, manipulate single fixtures or groups of fixtures, or even one or more specific colors of light mixed with general white light for special effects.

Task Supportive
On a practical not, office lights have to facilitate the work flow process of an organization by providing glare-free illumination that eliminates pockets of shadow and white spots on monitor screens and desk areas. This often requires the use of indirect lighting. Because indirect lighting reflects from either the ceiling or wall back into the open spaces where people are working, it tends to be more diffused and therefore less likely to reflect a second time off of work areas.

To find out just how much indirect lighting an office will need, you will have to calculate the roomʼs reflectivity ratio. Different colored walls will absorb more light than others, so before installing any type of office lights it is necessary to factor this value into your photometric equations before you choose equipment for your client.

Energy Saving
As fuel costs rise around the world, energy costs rise with them. Along with inflation, concerns about climate change continue to mount as well, placing a great deal of pressure on businesses to use more energy efficient indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures. Because scientists now know that 40% of all the worldʼs greenhouse gases are produced in buildings, new kinds of office lighting fixtures are being developed that conserve electricity and operate at more environmentally standards. Compact fluorescent, new commercial fluorescent lights, induction lights, and an explosion of fixture and lamping options in revolutionary LED lighting give you more options in cost effective office lighting than ever before. Not only does your proposal make a business look better in this way, but it also creates a savings surplus which helps recession proof a business in unstable times.

Adjunct Lighting Design Assistance
To effectively illuminate office space, you must first develop a point-by-point photometric analysis based on the room cavity ratio and reflectivity ratio. Without a firm understanding of the many nuances that characterize the officeʼs interior architecture, floor space, and general range of activities, it is difficult to know exactly which office lighting fixtures you should propose to your clients. Room cavity ratios and room reflectivity ratios require complex calculations to work out by hand, and computing these when you are a solo proprietor or have only a few employees can slow you down too much.

Let RLLD Commercial Lighting do this for you. Using our advanced design software, we will provide you with a free photometric analysis of sites and interior office space for all clients who purchase lighting fixture equipment from us. We also provide design services on paid basis at a reasonable fee. Smaller companies and contractors who lack the budget, manpower, or time to invest in lighting design software can now compete with larger firms that have these software programs. If this describes your current situation, simply pick up the phone and provide us with general dimensions and specifications of your clientʼs site, and we will use our tools to help you develop the schematics and technical parameters of your proposal.

RLLD Commercial Lighting carries a wide variety of industrial & commercial 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. 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 Fixtures & Supplies

RLLD Commercial Lighting has thousands of commercial lighting fixtures and lighting products from which contractors can choose, and they are all made in the USA.

Knowing that contractors have to find the right fixture for the right job to win the bid, our job is to find the right commercial lighting product that will do the job right. In order to accomplish this ambitious goal, we have established some very unique manufacturer agreements that allow us to sell commercial lighting products for a wide number of leading American lighting manufacturers, not just one.

As a representative of multiple manufacturers, we can promise you impartiality and professionalism in our recommendation of what commercial lighting products will best fit your requirements. Because we are not required to sell a specific number of any particular models or meet any type of deadline or quota, we can give you multiple options whenever you need help locating the right commercial lighting products for your proposal.

We drop ship commercial site lighting products straight from the factory to your client’s location. This saves time and eliminates parts shortages that often hit distributors who rely upon warehousing for inventory. Our distribution network is nationwide, giving us full access to any commercial lighting product necessary to meet the contractor’s needs, and giving us expeditious delivery power on rush orders in as little as two weeks.

In addition to supplying contractors with commercial lighting products, we also provide them with adjunct commercial lighting services. The most important of these services is a photometric analysis of a client’s facility. This schematic is created with advanced lighting design software and details necessary foot candle levels, fixture placement locations, recommended number of fixtures, and types of lamps optimal for the client’s lighting requirements.

For certain commercial lighting products, such as parking lot lighting poles and fixtures, we provide turnkey installations on a nationwide basis. Ask an RLLD Commercial Lighting Specialist about these services.

Our inventory of commercial lighting products is extensive and includes both indoor and outdoor commercial lighting fixtures. These include, but are no means limited, the following:

· LED Industrial Lights
· Induction Lighting
· Metal Halide Lights
· High Pressure Sodium Lights
· Floodlights
· Wall Packs
· LED Interior Lights
· LED Outdoor Lights
· Fluorescent Light Fixtures
· Parking Lot Lighting
· Solar Powered Street Lighting
· Security Lighting
· Architectural Lighting
· Sign Lighting
· Office Lights
· Lighting Control Systems
· Outdoor Accent Lights
· Landscape Lighting
· Sports Lighting
· Baseball Lights
· Soccer Lights
· Football Lights
· Volleyball Lights and Lighting Kits
· Tennis Court Lights and Lighting Kits
· Commercial Parking Garage Lighting
· Warehouse High Bay Lighting
· Roadway and Highway Lighting

…and a growing selection of many more lighting packages, lighting kits and lighting case studies.

RLLD Commercial Lighting offers all adjunct consultation services to clients on a complimentary basis and charges a small, reasonable fee for contractors seeking paid consulting services on an as need basis. There is a fee for every photometric analysis, but for contractors who buy commercial lighting products from RLLD Commercial, the full fee is subtracted from the purchase order.

RLLD Commercial Lighting carries a wide variety of industrial & commercial 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. 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 LED Lighting

LED lights have experienced major improvements in design, performance, and commercial application. For most of their history, they have been used mainly for display and specialty lighting. Now, Led’s have emerged as a legitimate alternative to traditional light sources in both general indoor lighting and commercial outdoor site lighting. This change has resulted from engineering developments that made it possible to produce white light with LED chips. These energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly lamps are now competing directly with every traditional form of fixture and lamp. Some experts even believe that LED lighting may actually become the dominant light source in the world some day. While there is no way to know in advance when and if this will actually happen, it is safe to say that led lighting is no doubt here to stay, and will only continue to both improve and penetrate new markets as concerns over lighting pollution, energy savings, and environmental quality continue to mount worldwide.

HOW LED'S WORK
The word “LED” stands for Light Emitting Diode. A diode is a solid state semiconductor that radiates light when a voltage is applied to it. While diodes have been around for many, many years, they did not make inroads into general lighting applications until very recently. This is because the LED lights of the past were incapable of producing the type of white light the human eye requires for the safe performance of tasks and the proper differentiation of colors. Early Led’s also did not produce enough lumens per watt to make them powerful enough for general indoor lighting and outdoor site lighting needs. All of this changed, however, when engineers created white light using ingenious modifications to existing LED lamps.

LED lights now produce white light by one of two methods. The first of these is known as “phosphor conversion.” A diode that emits blue or near ultraviolet light is coated with phosphor. When the UV light strikes the coating, it creates white light in a manner similar to that produced by a fluorescent lamp. Not only is the light output white, it is also characterized by high LPW efficiency and tends to be very bright.

The second method used in creating white light is known as RGB. Light from red, blue, and green LED lamps is mixed together in various combinations to form white light. This is the same way Nature mixes colors in the natural spectrum, so the light can be varied to a wide range of color temperatures and also “fine tuned” the light toward one or more primary colors if certain effects require doing so. This is highly useful in decorative and display lighting, commercial and retail interiors, and believe it or not, LED street lighting. (See our Article on LED Street Lighting to learn why).

BENEFITS OF LED LIGHTING
The benefits of solid-state lighting are too voluminous to discuss with any amount of detail in a single article. Briefly summarized, this new technology represents an energy saving solution to mounting concerns about power consumption. Commercial LED lights are also dimmable and compatible with lighting control systems, making them even more energy efficient upon command. Diodes are environmentally friendly as well because they contain no toxic gas, such as mercury, and they are consequently safer and less expensive to dispose of when they finally do fade out. Any numbers of color temperatures are now available for both indoor and outdoor decorative and architectural lighting.

OBJECTIONS CONTRACTORS FREQUENTLY HEAR
Several misconceptions about solid state lights have to be cleared up first any time you consider proposing them to a client. The most notorious of these ideas is that LED lighting generates too much heat to be efficient in high-end or site lighting applications. This misconception actually arose from past, failed attempts to retrofit LED lamps to traditional fixture housings. Because filament-based and gas-based lighting technology differs greatly from solid state lighting technology, thermal management problems always from attempts to hybridize the two.

However, led lighting fixtures that are specifically designed for solid state lamps and light bars perform exceptionally well in the arena of thermal management, which is one of the many reasons that commercial Led’s last for up to 100,000 hours.

Another false belief that many of your clients may have is that LED lights simply are not as bright as HID lights and cannot be used to illuminate areas such as parking garages, streets, roadways, outdoor landscapes, buildings, and security perimeters. Again, this is a misconception based on stereotype, not on fact. While it is indeed the case that Led’s have been heavily utilized in the past for special effects, display lighting, and accent lighting for mood, theme, and effect, new phosphor conversion technology now makes it possible for Led’s to rival even the most powerful HID fixtures with less energy consumption and longer lamp life. For clients looking to recession proof their businesses like bowling alleys in uncertain times, the ability to cut power costs and redirect funding normally set aside for lighting maintenance and replacements can only make your proposal look more attractive at the end of the day.

The most important thing to point out to cautious, of not fearful clients, is that a 40%-70% savings on their energy budget represents a complete recovering of the initial price of purchase and functions as a form of recession-proofing businesses, small business office buildings, municipal governments, nonprofits, and academic institutions alike.

ASK AN EXPERT FOR COMPLIMENTARY HELP DEVELOPING YOUR PROPOSAL
Knowledge is only power when it is based on reality, not speculation or hearsay. RLLD Commercial Lighting experts know the facts about LED and will share them freely with all clients and serious inquirers. Detailed information can always be obtained by calling an RLLD Commercial Lighting expert for free technical documentation on any type of LED lighting fixture or lamp you might be considering as a line item to your proposal.

WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT BUYING LED LIGHTING?
RLLD Commercial Lighting carries a wide variety of industrial & commercial outdoor lighting fixtures. If you can not find what you are looking in our growing list of lighting case studies call us toll free at 1-866-654-3961 and we will find it for you.

Our design studio is located in Houston, Texas with vendors located throughout the United States that enable us to service all 50 states including New York NY, Babylon, New York, Rochester, New York, Los Angeles CA, Miami, FL, Orlando, Florida, Chicago, IL. Denver CO., New Orleans, La., Cleveland, Ohio, Kansas City, Mo., Mesa, Arizona, Virginia Beach, Va., Omaha, Nebraska, Madison, Wisconsin, Hialeah, Florida, Chesapeake, Virginia, Akron, Ohio, Chula Vista, California, Modesto, California, 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, HOU, DAL.