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Lighting: The Basics
More efficient lighting is probably the fastest way to save energy and reduce costs while increasing productivity. Lighting consumes 40 percent of electricity in commercial buildings and is accountable for another 10 percent for the cost of cooling the heat it produces. Improving your lighting by way of daylighting, smaller and more efficient fluorescent bulbs, and simply reducing overlighting while decreasing the number of units will produce incredible savings for a company.
Certain lighting techniques can substantially increase worker productivity. Task lamps and dimmer switches, for example, personalize employee workspaces and improve comfort levels, hence productivity as well. Daylighting techniques, designed to capture sunlight to supplement the artificial light inside of buildings. “Light shelves” (see Technologies, Lighting below) reflect light off ceilings and walls, providing overhead lighting for specific workstations with fewer, more energy-efficient lamps. Making structural changes and using energy-saving technologies will produce further energy reductions.
