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Home / Technical Articles / 7 energy-efficiency improvement opportunities in lighting system

Lighting in industrial facilities

There are a lot of opportunities to optimise lighting system in (almost) any industrial facility.

7 energy-efficiency improvement opportunities in lighting system
7 energy-efficiency improvement opportunities in lighting system (on photo: Warehouse Led Lighting)

Seven practical energy-efficiency opportunities to reduce energy use cost-effectively are given below:

  1. Lighting controls
  2. Replace T-12 tubes by T-8 tubes
  3. Replace mercury lights with metal halide or high pressure sodium lights
  4. Replace metal halide (HID) with high-intensity fluorescent lights
  5. Replace magnetic ballasts with electronic ballasts
  6. Optimization of plant lighting (Lux optimization) in production and non-production departments
  7. Optimum use of natural sunlight

1. Lighting controls

Lights can be shut off during non-working hours by automatic controls, such as occupancy sensors which turn off lights when a space becomes unoccupied. Manual controls can also be used in addition to automatic controls to save additional energy in smaller areas.

The payback period for lighting control systems is generally less than 2 years.

Lighting control panel
Lighting control panel (photo credit: cse-distributors.co.uk)

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2. Replace T-12 tubes by T-8 tubes

In industry, typically T-12 tubes have been used. T-12 refers to the diameter in 1/8 inch increments (T-12 means 12/8 inch or 3.8 cm diameter tubes). The initial output for these lights is high, but energy consumption is also high.

They (T-12) also have extremely poor efficiency, lamp life, lumen depreciation, and color rendering index. Because of this, maintenance and energy costs are high.

Replacing T-12 lamps with T-8 lamps approximately doubles the efficacy of the former, thereby saves electricity.

T8 fluoroscent tube 3d structure
T8 fluoroscent tube 3d structure (image credit: solarengineeringltd.com)

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3. Replace mercury lights with Metal halide or High pressure sodium lights

Where color rendition is critical, metal halide lamps can replace mercury or fluorescent lamps with an energy savings of 50%. Where color rendition is not critical, high pressure sodium lamps offer energy savings of 50 to 60% compared to mercury lamps.

Metal halide lamps applied in industrial and warehouse spaces
Metal halide lamps applied in industrial and warehouse spaces

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4. Replace metal halide (HID) with High-intensity fluorescent lights

Traditional HID lighting can be replaced with high-intensity fluorescent (HIF) lighting. These new systems incorporate high-efficiency fluorescent lamps, electronic ballasts and high-efficacy fixtures that maximize output to the work place.

Advantages to the new system are:

  1. They have lower energy consumption,
  2. Lower lumen depreciation over the lifetime of the lamp,
  3. Better dimming options,
  4. Faster start-up,
  5. Better color rendition,
  6. Higher pupil lumens ratings and less glare.
High-intensity fluorescent systems yield 50% electricity savings over standard HIDs. Dimming controls that are impractical in the HIDs can also save significant amounts of energy. Retrofitted systems cost about $185 per fixture, including installation costs.

In addition to energy savings and better lighting qualities, high-intensity fluorescents can help to reduce maintenance costs.

High intensity fluorescent lighting fixture
High intensity fluorescent lighting fixture (photo credit: gea.com)

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5. Replace magnetic ballasts with electronic ballasts

A ballast is a mechanism that regulates the amount of electricity required to start a lighting fixture and maintain a steady output of light.

Electronic ballasts save 12 – 25% of electricity use compared to magnetic ballast.

Electronic ballasts for fluorescent lamps
Electronic ballasts for fluorescent lamps (photo credit: alibaba.com)

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6. Optimization of plant lighting (Lux optimization)

In production and non-production departments

In many plants the lighting system is not specifically designed for the process. There are lux standards for each type of textile process.

For instance, the required lux for weaving is usually higher than that of wet-processing. Even within just one production process, the required lux varies by the process step.

For example, in a cotton spinning process, the required lux in the blow room should be much lower than that of ring frame section. If the lighting provided is higher than the standard (required lux) for any part of the production, this results in a waste of electricity.

Therefore, the plant engineers should optimize the lighting system based on the standard lux specific for each process step.

Cotton spinning production line of clothing manufacturer in Bangladesh
Cotton spinning production line of clothing manufacturer in Bangladesh (photo credit: knitfab.com)

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7. Optimum use of natural sunlight

Many plants do not use natural sunlight to an optimum level. In addition to optimizing the size of the windows, transparent sheets can be installed at the roof in order to allow more sunlight to penetrate into the production area.

This can reduce the need for lighting during the day.

Let the Sun Shine In! Let's incorporate daylighting strategy in industrial facility
Let the Sun Shine In! Let’s incorporate daylighting strategy in industrial facility (photo credit: greshamsmith.com)

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Reference // Industrial Energy Audit Guidebook: Guidelines for Conducting an Energy Audit in Industrial Facilities – Ali Hasanbeigi, Lynn Price

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author-pic

Edvard Csanyi

Electrical engineer, programmer and founder of EEP. Highly specialized for design of LV/MV switchgears and LV high power busbar trunking (<6300A) in power substations, commercial buildings and industry facilities. Professional in AutoCAD programming.

6 Comments


  1. Kalpesh Vyas
    Oct 15, 2020

    Just join today anh comments will give after receiving new technology suggestions for improvement power consumption


  2. Sandip
    Aug 28, 2017

    Sir, please give me some project topic related to electrical engineering.


  3. Daniyal Altaf
    Feb 01, 2016

    Dear All,

    how can i detect occupancy in room to control lights, I used PIR but it only detects change in temperature, then i also tried IR sensors on the door but their range of detection is very small.
    please advise how can i improve the circuit or add any thing in it so that i may be able to detect human presence in room.


  4. Abraham Rothenberg
    Aug 02, 2015

    today we retrofit T8 fluorescent with T5 high output. and nowadays start to appear on the market tubular LED fixtures who DO NOT NEED A CHOKE at all and I replaced in a big kitchen for a wedding parlor , instead of 4 rows of T8 lamps I put 2 rows of T5 and got more light than before. in street lighting instead of energy eaters (400W +magnetic choke) HID lamps on poles spaced at around 25 meters , I use 56W LED lamps with no extra losses! the cost of those fixtures is going fast down on the market, the only problem is no interchangibility is possible. Maybe IEEE should issue a standard for those LED fixtures.


  5. ManivannanK
    Aug 02, 2015

    Very good application and very much useful for growing Engineer


  6. Teguh Laksono
    Jul 30, 2015

    Dearest,
    Please send the pictures

    Thanks and Best regards,
    Sono-Bali, Indonesia
    mobile phone: 081338304308

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