While reading my latest issue of Natural Health Magazine, this quote from the back page caught my eye:

"Oh boy!" I thought, "my magazine is going to address lighting quality. Yay!" But I went on to read suggestions that ranged from getting a fish tank or a potted plant to making ergonomic adjustments to the furniture and meditation to manage stress. No mention whatsoever of how to address the lighting quality problem. Even a paragraph about getting up and walking around only addressed the aspect of stretching. How about taking that walk outside to get exposure to sunlight? Or at least walking to a window for the emotional boost of the view?

If you find your fluorescent lighting to truly be soul-sucking, might I make a suggestion or two?

• Are you still sitting under T12 magnetic technology? Upgrade to save energy and improve lighting quality. You're going to be forced to make this change eventually. Change now while you can still get a utility rebate!
• Maybe it is just a matter of changing the lamp color temperature for a more pleasant atmosphere.
  
• If you can, go ahead and change to a completely different fixture - or try an indirect pendant.
• If you don't have the ability to change the overhead lamps or fixtures, plug in a small task light or lamp at your desk. Switch off the overhead lights if you can, and work by your lamp light. You may discover that this is plenty of light for computer tasks.
• Try pointing your task light or lamp toward the wall to create indirect light in your office or cubicle.

How about you? What have you done to take the "soul-sucking" out of your fluorescent office lighting?

As a student at the University of Kansas I worked for the EADC - Energy Analysis and Diagnostic Center. This was a fantastic DOE-sponsored program (now called IAC) which employed college students to perform free energy audits of manufacturing plants and commercial office spaces and then provide them a report full of Energy Conservation Opportunities (ECOs.) One of our most common ECOs at that time was: replace existing T12 fluorescent lamps and magnetic ballasts with energy-saving T8 fluorescent lamps and new electronic ballasts. One of the added benefits of this upgrade was the elimination of "flicker." Though imperceptible to some, flicker can be quite problematic for sensitive individuals, causing headaches or even seizures. Flicker happens with the natural cycling of AC power, but with the higher frequency inherent in electronic ballasts, the fluorescent phosphors do not have time to dim, and therefore flicker is eliminated.

We had a handy tool that we could use to verify whether the existing ballasts were magnetic or electronic. It was a top, called a flicker checker. When you spin it under electronic ballasts, you see a series of concentric gray circles like in the first video below.

However, if the existing fixture had magnetic ballasts, the flicker checker displayed choppy squares instead of concentric circles, illustrated in the video below. 

The thing is, this second video wasn't a top spinning under a fluorescent lamp with a magnetic ballast. It was spinning under a dimmed LED fixture! Once again we need to watch out for flicker in our lighting. The great news is that this time almost everyone is armed with their own personal flicker checker! No...maybe not a top. Pull out the camera on your phone and point it at the nearest LED source. If you see a series of bars or stripes on your display, the source is flickering. If not, then you have a high-quality LED with a compatible dimmer and/or driver.

Try it. Let us know what you find! 

When Envision Lighting Design, LLC first became an ActOnEnergy Program Ally, we blogged about the great rebates available for replacing old T12 lamps. Today Ameren wants to remind its customers that the end of this great deal is near.
T12 Announcement
ActOnEnergy announces its next T12 bonus ramp-down will go into effect June 1, 2012.  This ramp-down will permanently reduce the current 10% bonus to 5% on lighting projects that replace T12 lamps or fixtures. Once the incentive bonus amount is reduced, T12 replacement projects can never receive better incentives than what is currently being offered. 
Take advantage of this last opportunity to get an additional 10% cash incentive for your replacement opportunities. There is still time left to submit and complete a project!

As always, If you want to know more about rebates available through the ActOnEnergy program, contact Envision Lighting Design!