Commercial LightingThere are many categories of lighting, the sub categories of lighting fall into three major categories. There is no particular order of importance, but since this article is about Commercial Lighting, it will come first. The next major category is Industrial lighting, and the third is Residential Lighting.According to the Smithsonian Institute, which is currently conducting a fact finding mission on the changes of commercial lighting, half of all the electricity used in retail stores or office buildings are used by lights. In turn, commercial establishments account for approximately half of all energy used in the United States. So what is Commercial Lighting? As a simple definition, Commercial Lighting is any Office Building or Retail outlet. There are specific applications of light within office buildings or retail outlets, but at this point we’ll stay within a general path to explain. We really can’t talk about Commercial Lighting without talking about its history. Early on, business would pretty much just turn the lights off to save on electricity cost. However, someone figured out that by turning the lights on one could see better. Go figure! They also came to the conclusion that if a person could see better, he or she performed their perspective task better. Therefore any increase in electricity cost was more than offset by the increase in productivity. It’s amazing that something that we take for granted today was ground breaking study in the early 20th century. Another thing that we take for granted today in Commercial Lighting is the fluorescent lamp. Not many people realize that the fluorescent lamp did not hit the commercial lighting scene until late 1930’s. Fluorescent lamps produced twice the output of light for the same amount of electricity. This was a no-brainer for commercial businesses. As you can imagine fluorescent lighting dominated! It is important to point out here that most of the major advances in lighting have been brought about due to commercial lighting. Residential lighting has always been slow to accept changes. Fluorescent lighting takes ballast and until recently the fixtures were always somewhat large. Residential Lighting unlike commercial lighting has always preferred the smaller less expensive fixture. Not to mention that until advances in lighting color came about, the incandescent lamp was the way to go. The color is warmer and preferred by home owners. The next major thing to happen to the commercial lighting market was the energy crisis of the seventies. Up until this point commercial lighting has always strived for efficiency, however this is where efficiency takes a major turn. Until now the major advancements have been with the fluorescent lamp. Since stores and office buildings came to rely predominately on the fluorescent lamps, that is the focus of this aspect of commercial lighting. When it comes to fluorescent lighting there are three components that make up the system. There is the lamp itself, the ballast, and finally you have the control device or switch. A ballast is a control device also, however, unlike a switch that simply turns the light on or off, a ballast controls the flow of electricity to the fluorescent lamp. Until the seventies the ballast pretty much stayed the same. This presented a two fold problem. First, since energy prices were increasing stores and office building were simply removing lamps. Managers would take two lamps out of a four lamp fixture. This would create buildings that became under lit in important areas. Corridors became tunnels. Office simply became darker. The second problem was technology. In many cases, taking out lamps from a fixture made the entire fixture not work at all. Also, ballast would not work with newer technology lamps. This brought about better ballasts and the introduction of compact fluorescent lighting. Design changes brought about lighting changes as well. The goal in design was always to have a “blanket of light.” However recently, the focus is on giving the individual control or “task oriented lighting.” Putting light exactly where it is needed. This also brought about advances in lighting control. Commercial lighting is an important key to advances in lighting. It is what motivates most manufactures in their quest for better more efficient lighting. Here at ewholesalelighting.com we offer a wide variety of commercial lighting products, and our selection increases everyday. If you don’t see the product you are looking for, send us an email and we will find it for you. Commercial Lighting will always be an important aspect of our product offering. |
