Parking Lot Lights-LED's and Reducing Energy Costs

They are an often overlooked but integral part of our island community's landscapes.  There is no question that parking lots influence how we live, work, and play. They also require a substantial amount of energy and money to operate. A trend is growing across the globe and one that is seeing some traction in Guam-business owners are recognizing the potential of light-emitting diode (LED) technology in parking lot lighting. 

The reasons are simple: to save energy, reduce maintenance costs, and improve environmental sustainability.

LEDs have been shown to save energy in limited applications, but are they ready for wide-scale adoption in parking lots? 

The U.S. Department of Energy continues to ask this question as well as property owners and entrepreneurs alike.

Researchers and trade organizations have joined forces to develop a set of criteria retailers could follow to implement LED parking lot lighting and realize energy savings and reliability. Whether it is a parking lot in Atlanta or Agana, a LED Site Lighting Specification developed in cooperation with the U.S Department of Energy provides information about both luminaire, or light fixture, performance and how the site should be lighted. For instance, the Specification outlines how lighting needs vary across the different parts of the parking lot. The Specification optimizes the performance of sites, satisfying more than pure lighting needs. Business concerns such as site aesthetics, branding, and customer safety also come into play.

Additionally, the Specification recognizes the potential risks businesses face in adopting new technologies, including reliability and maintenance costs. To address these, the Specification requires that manufacturers guarantee product performance with a five-year minimum warranty for LED luminaires.

The LED Site Lighting Performance Specification provides requirements for lighting the site as well as the luminaires. Here are a few key details of the specification:

• Both power density and illuminance requirements are by lighting zone (LZ); different amounts of light (illuminance) are needed for different parts of the parking lot, and different environments need more or less light (and thus use power differently).
• Luminaires should follow the backlight, uplight, and glare (BUG) rating requirements in IESNA TM-15.
• Luminaires should carry at least a five-year warranty covering the luminaire, finish, and power supply.
• Testing requirements are identified on manufacturers cut sheets or specification sheets.

LED technology has advanced into new categories of “white light” applications, including parking lot lighting, where early indications suggest a high-quality light and long life. At present, however, tested products are available from a limited number of suppliers, performance in the later years of the product’s life-time can only be estimated, and LED luminaires are relatively expensive on a first-cost basis. Nonetheless, there are many benefits for LED lighting in parking lots.

Need an LED parking lot light solution for your facility? Check out our website at www.get-guam.com or give GET, LLC a call at 671-797-0789.  We are a provider of Independence LED Lighting and Deco Lighting Inc. products-Made in America!!!

GET,LLC LAUNCHES GENIE INDUSTRIES SERVICE FOR GUAM AND MICRONESIA

GET,LLC Managing Partner Tricia J.S. Gumataotao today announced the establishment of Genie Industries  Services for Guam and Micronesia.

"This effort has been months in the making and we are so very excited to provide this important service to Genie Aerial Lift owners in the Western Pacific," said Gumataotao.

With the full support of Terex and Genie, GET,LLC now offers factory warranty repairs service and support,  on-site scheduled routine maintenance, comprehensive annual inspections, lift options & enhancements, major inspections (10 Year Test), specialty applications, equipment refurbishing and customized paint services.

"GET,LLC stands ready to support the Genie service needs to those contractors and equipment owners who need factory trained service and parts assistance for their respective booms, scissor, aerial work platforms, vertical mast, telehandlers,  or material lifts," said Gumataotao. 

In December 2013, GET, LLC was appointed by the Terex Corporation as its authorized distributor for Terex and Genie aerial work platforms, cranes, construction and materials processing equipment and parts in Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Republic of Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.

"You can count on us to provide Genie assistance when you need it most-our professional service and support team can respond 24 hours a day, 7 days a week".

To arrange for a factory trained technician to attend to your Genie Industries equipment service needs in Guam and Micronesia, please call 671-727-1789.

Inside the Watt Controlled LED Driver

Assistant Marketing Manager for Deco Lighting Amanda Keen wrote a great post on her company's Blog recently on how our Commerce, California-based partners have come up with a watt-controlled driver for their lighting products that is outperforming the competition in this ever changing marketplace. 

Keen wrote that most LED Drivers are only capable of operating in mild environments, rated for operation up to 75° or 80° Celsius (167°F or 176°F) and remarked that temperatures inside a lighting fixture are often higher than this.

"Small fixture compartments and poor air circulation can generate extreme heat, often coming close to temperatures that boil water," wrote Keen.  "The heat results in damage to the driver’s battery-like electrolytic capacitors. The electrolyte, which is typically a gel, evaporates over the life of the capacitor’s components. Higher operating temperatures speed up this evaporation, shortening the life of the capacitor and leading to premature driver failure."

It appears that Deco Lighting has solved the dilemma of premature power supply failure by utilizing watt-controlled drivers designed to stand up to extreme heat. Unlike other LED drivers, Deco LED watt-controlled drivers are rated for operation up to 90° Celsius (194 °F).

"Our process focuses on making the driver operate cooler and longer than the competition," wrote Keen.

Deco Lighting's  driver components are positioned on the circuit board in a manner that prevents the build-up of heat. Also, their circuit boards are arranged in a way that allows Deco Lighting driver components to touch the metal housing so the driver components can be used as a heat sink. Also, Deco insulates key heat-sensitive components inside the driver.

Interesting to note, Deco Lighting ensures quality in every component that comprises their LED lighting fixtures, from high-quality Nichia LEDs to finely-engineered heat transfer castings to state-of-the-art drivers. GET,LLC has these on Guam and would be happy to arrange a presentation.

It is for these reasons why we are so bullish about Deco Lighting. Yes. Deco Lighting offers a ten-year, one hundred thousand hour warranty, which includes labor. Deco’s warranty backs up the confidence they have in their products-we stand ready here and across Micronesia to support them.

For more information about Deco's LED drivers or other products please check out our website at www.get-guam.com or call us at 671-483-0789 to discuss solutions for your important lighting needs-All Made in America!!!

New LED Optics Rolled Out for Deco Lighting's Area Lights

GET,LLC was certain that once we were able to introduce the Western Pacific market to Deco Lighting's innovative Area Lighting that something cool was going to come out of our Commerce, California-based partner to make these products even better.  

Deco Lighting President Ben Pouladian and the team at Deco late last month introduced new optics for their lines of Light-Emitting Diode (LED) street lighting and flood lights.  The Deco Team wrote recently that optics are a fundamental component of LED lighting systems, and the optical performance of an LED system determines the system’s quality and performance.

"Deco Lighting’s advanced optical designs make their luminaires the perfect solution for any lighting application. Indexed to the circuit board to ensure consistent optical alignment, their new optics deliver repeatable photometric performance, and their precision-molded acrylic lenses provide optimal luminaire spacing and improved uniformity. 

Deco Lighting’s focus on producing clean-energy products is demonstrated through their optical systems, which are Dark Sky compliant, and control light above 90 degrees, eliminating wasteful up light. These optics will now be applied to several of Deco’s outdoor luminaires including the D824-LED and D826-LED, two premiere roadway lighting fixtures, as well as the D816-LED and D823-LED, two aesthetically appealing flood lights that utilize a soft-cornered aerodynamic design to provide excellent light distribution."

If in Guam, ask the people of Santa Rita and their Mayor Dale Alvarez about the D823-LED lights currently lighting their Municipal Basketball Court.  A sleek looking flood with light distribution not see anywhere else in the Marianas. A great asset to the community there.

Deco Lighting customers will have a choice of three optimized distributions: Type II, Type III/Type IV, and Type V. The addition of these optical systems to several of their outdoor products greatly expands Deco Lighting’s offerings and, with their high-performing Nichia LEDs and 10-Year Warranty with Labor, makes Deco Lighting the go-to place for all outdoor applications requiring specified lighting optics.

To learn more about the lighting products that GET, LLC provides, including the LED lines of our partners, Independence LED Lighting and Deco Lighting Inc., please check out our website at www.get-guam.com or call us at 671-483-0789 to discuss solutions for your important lighting needs-All Made in America!!!

Independence LED-"More Efficient" say DOE

When the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) talks about energy efficiency, America listens.  Our friends at Independence LED Lighting have won accolades recently from DOE and continue to outclass the Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Tube Lighting marketplace.

According to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) report data, Independence LED tubes are 15% more efficient in lumens per watt than the average from the field of over 30 LED manufacturers, including tubes from major competitors Philips, Cree, and Osram Sylvania.

In the report, the DOE found that LEDs are more efficient than ever. The CALiPER Summary Report 21: Linear (T8) LED Lamps concludes: “Compared to previous CALiPER testing of the same product type, there have been notable performance gains. With the efficacy (lumens/watt) of many lamps now equivalent to or exceeding that of fluorescent lamps.” 

Independence LED has stayed well ahead of the curve. As the below chart indicates, the U.S.-made Independence LED tube is 15 lumens per watt more efficient than the average of the tested field (15.95%) and over 10% more efficient than global lighting companies like Philips, Osram Sylvania, and Cree.

“We could not be more proud of how our American-manufactured LED lights squared up in the 2014 Department of Energy CALiPER Report," said Independence LED Lighting CEO Charlie Szoradi. "Independence LED tubes are substantially more efficient than competitors, yielding extraordinary energy savings, particularly when retrofitting existing light fixtures. Safety is a paramount concern, and Independence LED’s external-driver system ensures that switching the lights won’t be shocking anything but your electric bill. And because we manufacture right here in America, Independence LED tubes and fixtures are supremely reliable, allowing us to offer an industry-leading 10 year warranty.“

Also, the 2014 report indicates that, based on their design, Independence LED tubes are potentially safer than competitor products. Typical fluorescent fixtures bring line voltage into the fixture via Alternating Current (AC), and then convert it through the ballast to lower-voltage Direct Current (DC). Internal driver LED tubes – like most of Independence LED’s competitors -- override the ballast, creating a potential safety issue. 

Additionally, the Report did elaborate on how the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) approved clamp system for Independence LED provides safety and the ultimate flexibility to either use, or not use, the existing fixture sockets. This flexibility is important for de-lamping to center new tubes in two to one retrofits.

What does this all mean?  

The cost and performance of an individual LED tube is only a subset of the fixture performance, so end users should look at the LED efficacy, warranty, and cost to determine the technology and manufacturer that is most appropriate for their facility.

Keep up the great work Independence LED Lighting!  

To learn more about the lighting products that GET, LLC provides, including the LED lines of our partners, Independence LED Lighting and Deco Lighting Inc., please check out our website at www.get-guam.com or call us at 671-483-0789 to discuss solutions for your important lighting needs-All Made in America!!!

10 YEAR WARRANTY-Independence LED Lighting Makes Huge Announcement at LIGHT FAIR International

Great news to come out of the recently completed LIGHT FAIR International held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-INDEPENDENCE LED LIGHTING HAS NEW 10 YEAR WARRANTY!

GET, LLC is so very proud to be an Authorized Distributor of Independence LED Lighing and able to offer the "strongest Warranty" in the marketplace: 10 Years + the Highest Efficiency: 112 Lumen / Watt for LED tubes. 

It is pretty exciting that the 2013 combination of best in class warranty protection and energy reduction further secures the position of Independence LED as the “Best Built LED Tube.”

On the heels of this announcement, Energy Manager Today recently featured Independence LED Lighting CEP Charlie Szoradi on the news of the 10 year warranty. Szoradi is quoted in the Colordao-based daily trade publication that "While some facility managers have taken a measured approach to lighting upgrades, replacing older fluorescent lights with newer models, there’s more talk of LED leapfrogging, or just jumping to the end-game and retrofitting with LEDs, rather than repeatedly paying for the labor of installing slightly better fluorescents."

Szoradi adds there are three factors to consider to maximize the return on investment of LEDs:

• run time
• inefficiency of existing lights,
• cost of electricity.

"Run time refers to how long the lights are turned on," said Szoradi.  "The highest run times are locations where the lights are on 24×7. If the existing lights are highly inefficient, then obviously the return on investment of a retrofit will be higher. And markets with high costs of electricity are good places to retrofit with LEDs, as well. If a building is high on all of these factors, it’s the perfect application scenario for LEDs."

Guam and the Western Pacific have power rates that are among the highest in the world.  Making the switch to LED lighting here will certainly provide a great investment with positive results. Utilizing an Independence LED Lighting solution, with help from GET, LLC, expect a quality product and the industry's best warranty.  Give us a call or drop us a line to discuss lighting solutions for your respective facility or building.