Fiber Optic Lighting: More Efficient Than Fluorescent
by Justin Thomas, Virginia on 09. 8.06
An Ohio-based company called Fiberstars has come up with a way to combine lamps with fiber-optics to create lighting systems that consume far less energy than traditional fluorescent or incandescent bulbs. A single 70-watt metal halide lamp combined with fiber optics can provide as much lighting as eight 50-watt incandescent bulbs. Fiber optics also do not contain mercury like fluorescents. The Declaration of Independence is lit by a Fiberstars system because the light source does not emit ultraviolet rays or heat. "We just did the Magna Carta a couple of months ago," John Davenport, CEO of Fiberstars said.
To date, the company, which was founded in the late 1980s and has received around $16 million in federal research grants, has mostly sold its EFO (efficient fiber optics) lighting systems for use in niche applications, in part because fiber costs more. Las Vegas hotels have bought them to beam special effects onto ceilings and walls. Swimming-pool manufacturers have gravitated to the company's lights because all the electronics are located outside the water, thereby eliminating the threat of electrocution.
Rising electricity prices, combined with new regulations, however, could push EFO lighting closer toward the mainstream. The W Hotel in New York plans to install the lights in its notoriously murky hallways. Whole Foods Market has replaced incandescent lights in its seafood departments at various stores with EFO. Not only is electricity consumption down, the ambient temperature of the seafood departments has dropped.
Grocery chain Albertson's ran a trial showing that the lights can reduce energy consumption in freezers. It will now test EFO to light seafood, wine, vegetables and other products. Traditional lights melt ice and can change the flavor of wine. "There's a huge problem with potato greening," said Keith Tarver, an engineering manager at Albertson's. "It removes all of the heat out of the freezer case."
Residential EFO lighting may come next year, Davenport said.
Via: CNET via Clean Break
Wow. I was looking at the stats on metal halide lamps. These things are EFFICIENT!
The only problem I've found is finding these for home use. The color temperature rendering on them is fantastic, and a 25 watt bulb is equivalent to a 100w tungsten.
So where can I get a home room-lighting system that uses metal halides?
I love how green CFL's are, but I hate their color rendering, and believe me I've gone through a ton of them. These are only slightly less "green" but might be what I'm really looking for.
Where did you see those stats? I used to run 2 175watt MH's on my salt water reef tank and they were far from efficient. I did use a magnetic ballast though. But I guess penetrating far enough into the water for coral to grow is different than just lighting up your home.
If power is interrupted, even briefly, the lamp's arc will extinguish, and the high pressure that exists in the hot arc tube will prevent re-striking the arc; a cool-down period of 5-10 minutes will be required before the lamp can be re-started. This is a major concern in some lighting applications where prolonged lighting interruption could create manufacturing shut-down or a safety issue. A few metal halide lamps are made with "instant restrike" capabilities that use a ballast with very high operating voltages (30,000 volts) to restart a hot lamp.
I wonder if it is cost efficient versus fluorescents?
Well I did post about how I used MH's for my fish tank. Not for home use sine they were 175watt a piece. They were not efficient, but they had a magnetic ballast and you shouldn't look directly at them. Never heard of anything smaller than 50watt. Of course that's all for fish tanks.
This guy on ebay has some small MR16 sized HID lights for sale, and ballasts too. Might be a good replacement for downlights, I may look into this when finances allow because they sure are'nt cheap - http://stores.ebay.com/LEDSEE-electronics
We totally have these in the pastry case at Whole Foods Market - Sarasota.
We use metal halides at Patagonia. I discovered by reading the box that the bulbs are to be treated as hazardous waste = bummer. When I read this thread, I wondered how it got here -- isn't the original post about fiber optic lighting? That's what I was looking for, which is more consistent with TreeHugger.
For those interested, this is what I've found in my search:
http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Marketplace/looking_at_sustainable_design_that_doesnt_suck