Going Green With Better Lights

For Go Green Week at The News On 6, we're looking at all kinds of ways that people have found to be environmentally friendly.  The News On 6's Steve Berg reports a school has gotten the green light to save energy.

You might not think that light bulbs could make that big of a difference in energy consumption.  What The News On 6 found was enlightening.

Mike Lemley, with Lighting, Inc., says the fluorescent lamps in Oologah's gym have gotten leaner and meaner.

Fluorescent lighting technology has vastly improved in the past decade, but he says most businesses have been slow to catch up.

"Most of our facilities are using lamps that were basically made in 1938," said Mike Lemley.

At Oologah High School, they've swapped every fixture with the new lamps and with a new, more advanced, electronic ballast.

"And this is what gives us our efficiencies," said Mike Lemley with Lighting, Inc.

One fluorescent light bulb costs about $8 a year in electricity.  Lemley says they can get just as much, even more light with two of the new lamps per fixture than they did with four of the old bulbs.

"If I can save you basically $17 a fixture, start multiplying that," said Mike Lemley.

Not only does that save on electricity going directly to the lights, the side benefit is that fewer lights produce less heat.

"For about every 30 fixtures, we save one ton of air-conditioning load," said Mike Lemley.

"We've probably seen $5,000 a month in savings," said Oologah Superintendent Rick Thomas.

Thomas says they'll recover the cost of the retrofitting in less than three years.  Incidentally, the bulbs last seven years or more, which means less maintenance.

"Ya know on a school our size, that almost becomes a full-time job, just going around and changing light bulbs," said Oologah Superintendent Rick Thomas.  "So, there's cost-savings on that side, too."

The savings are most noticeable on a large-scale setting like a school or at an office building which is also getting retrofitted with the new lights.

"About 44% of the energy that's consumed in those buildings are in the lighting systems," said Mike Lemley with Lighting, Inc.

Besides being more efficient, the new bulbs also produce a more consistent light in a color that is more pleasing to the eye than the older fluorescents.