In retail most business owners take careful planning into the walls, the floors, and how products are displayed. But often we find that smaller business neglect to recognize the need for good lighting. Often times business owners tell us that by the time they get the store up and running that a good lighting system is not in the budget. Great lighting doesn’t have to come from any large expense. This is a misconception and due to lack of knowledge.

Great Lighting Is Not Expensive

Great lighting can be created by simply selecting a fairly inexpensive light bulb that is appropriate for the type of products being displayed, or sold. Factors to consider are the primary colors of merchandise, reflectance of walls and floors as well as natural day lighting coming in through windows. When we look at a situation such as a Mattress Store, the primary color is white. Therefore having light bulbs that give the truest tone of white coloring, the mattresses will look whiter and brighter.

There Is No Excuse For Bad Lighting

On a visit to another local mattress store, the sales person informed us that they did not want bright white light bulbs in their ceiling because they did not want customers to lay down and stare into a bright light. However retail logic tells us that customers are not concerned with what is in the ceiling, just how great the product they are interested in buying appears. So when Land Of Sleep decided to purchase natural White Light Bulbs from Synergy Lighting, they did exactly what any great mattress store should do. Make their product look amazing!

Making The Change Is Easy

The change over to Natural White Lighting for this mattress retailer was inexpensive and resulted in a 40% energy savings over traditional 4 lamp fluorescent fixtures. No new fixtures or large expenses was needed, just a simple change of light bulbs to do the trick!  Not only was the change a dramatic effect, but it paid for itself from the energy savings. Now when customers come in to view a mattress, the product looks stunning, sales are increased and when laying down to try the matress out, customers can close their eyes and picture themselves in mattress heaven!

For more information on Natural White Light Bulbs, view our website and call Synergy Lighting for a free consultation.

Phone: (941)-756-4844

Toll Free: (877) 220-5483

e-mail: sales@synergylightingusa.com

One of the most common forms of industrial warehouse and large commercial lighting is Metal Halide High Bays. These fixtures which are often selected initially because of their high lumens per watt and relatively low price are found virtually every where you look. They can be found in Grocery Stores such as Publix, and Retail Stores Like Sports Authority and HHGregg as well as 90% of all warehouses. We like to refer to these fixtures as the “Engineers Choice” when a new construction project is being developed. They are easy to specify, very bright and can be laid out using a relatively low amount of fixtures.

Metal Halide High Bays Are Really Not Efficient

It is highly likely that the era of the Metal Halide High Bay still being used today is not out of necessity or efficiency but merely that of imitating others. “Well, Best Buy has those lights, we should too”. The unfortunate situation is that nobody upfront considers the true reality of metal halide lighting. This reality is:

• Color shift, lights turning green and pink
• Enormous electricity cost of operation
• High priced replacements of ballasts and bulbs
• High heat loads emiting from the light fixture
• Possible harm from explosion and uv radiation
• Long start up and restrike time

T8 Fluorescent High Bay Fixtures Can Do The Job

T8 Fluorescent has been around for years, in fact you may have them above your head right now in an office! Most people do not realize that those lights used in the office can also be used to provide the high levels of light required where Metal Halide High Bay fixtures may exist. T8 Fluorescent has improved so dramatically just in the past 12 months, that these lamps can now be used for the same purpose. Using specially designed 6 lamp T8 High Bay fixtures such as those available through Synergy Lighting can reduce the electrical consumption by 54% compared to 400 Watt Metal halide Fixtures. Warm up and Restrike times from power outages is elliminated with Instant On/Off illumination. Additionally, there are large tax deductions available to those who makes this change.

Benefits achieved are:

• No color shift with aging lamps
• Improved light quality without hot-spots
• 54% energy savings
• 210% reduction in heat output from the light fixture
• 70% reduction of maintenance costs
• Ellimination of safety hazards
• Instant On / Off

The above retail store converted from MH400 Highbays using 468 watts per fixture to T8 Highbays supplied by Synergy Lighting using only 221 watts per fixture.

Installation of this Project was Performed by WES Inc. FL-EC0001689

A Metal Halide lamp has a rated life of 20,000 hours compared to 36,000 hours of a ECO Friendly Super T8 Fluorescent. For more information view our MH to T5/T8 Retrofit Flyer, view our website or call Synergy Lighting for a free consultation. Phone: (941)-756-4844

Toll Free: (877) 220-5483

e-mail: sales@synergylightingusa.com

Often we talk to customers about Scotopically Rich Lighting, and for those who have never heard the term before it can be a little confusing. Manufacturers have performed studies for year on the photopic lumens that are produced by a light source such as a light bulb. The photopic lumens are a measurement of brightness by a lumen meter. This measurement can be translated by how light is percieved the cones in the human eye. These light meters completely ignore the effect of rod activated vision (scotopic). As a result, lighting practice accepted this single sensitivity function because it was erroneously assumed that the more light sensitive rods only functioned at very dim light levels.

How the eye perceives light

Light arrives at our eye from all portions of an illuminated space. At the back of the eye there is a light sensitive membrane called the retina which contains millions of very tiny light receptors. These receptors convert light into electrified signals that are sent to the vision centers of the brain. The retina contains two major categories of light receptors (photoreceptors) called the cones and rods because of their geometric shapes. The central part of the retina, the fovea, contains only cones. In the rest of the retina there are both rods and cones, with the number of rods dominating the cones by about 10 to 1.

Scientists have recently discovered that the rods in the human eye can perform in dim light levels as well as interior lighting levels of those commonly found in office environments and stores.  These rods are sensitive to light sources that emit bluish-white color tones like those found in higher kelvin temperature fluorescent light bulbs.   Vision specialists put both functions of the rods and the cones together to measure a complete value of light sensitivity know as a Scotopic/Photopic (S/P) Ratio. The S/P Ratio of most fluorescent and incandescent lamps is very low. For example, a Warm White Bulb has an S/P Ratio of 1:14 while a full spectrum 5000K lamp lamp such as an Ultra 50 or Skybrite has a ration of 2:47.  These number can be hard to understand, so lets look at it in a more simple light.

Lamps that are in the yellow kelvin temperature range 2700-4200 use primarily the cones in the eye. The pupil becomes enlarged to allow more light to enter the eye, and therefore causing more muscles in the eye to work harder to provide visual clarity. Lamps in the 5000 Kelvin range allow the rods to work better, which in turn constricts the pupil and allows for easier visual clarity which is a scotopic response. In otherwords, thwo light sources can have the same photopic lumens, but the lamps with higher scotopic values will apear to the eye  as being percieved brighter. This scotopic response reduces visual fatigue, increase reading ability and reduces “disability glare”, especially in the electronic office.

Scotopically Rich Lighting Redues Fatigue and Glare

Disability glare is defined by the Illuminating Engineering Society as “glare resulting in reduced visual performance and visibility.” It is often accompanied by discomfort. Disability glare occurs as a result of “light scatter” in the eye. Light scatter is caused by imperfections in the optical media of the eye (the cornea & lens). These imperfections are common to some degree in everyone, and become more severe with age. The imperfections in the optical media cause a scattering of light rays coming from the non task area, causing undesirable light to fall on the central part of the retina (the fovea) where the task is focused. This causes a background haze of useless light on the central retina (the fovea) and reduces retinal contrast. Because the fovea contains only cones, just the photopic content of the ambient or general light is responsible for disability glare. Because people of age suffer from other conditions such as macular degeneration and cataracts, one must understand that the visible spectrum of light becomes diminished.  In the case of a retail store or office, a customer may only see 60% of the visible light produced, therefore the increase of both photopic and scotopic light levels can be increasingly important to reduce glare and visual fatigue thus increasing productivity and sales.

Benfits of Scotopically Rich Lighting

• Reduces visual fatigue
• Elliminates disability glare
• Improved visual clarity
• Makes products appear more appealing
• Increased safety
• Objects appear much brighter
• Shows colors more accurately
• Greater energy efficiency

For more information on Scotopically Rich Lighting, view our website or call Synergy Lighting for a free consultation.

Phone: (941)-756-4844

Toll Free: (877) 220-5483

e-mail: sales@synergylightingusa.com

If there is any ideal candidate for color corrected light bulbs, Art & Frame of Sarasota would be near the top of our list! Robert Antovel; Owner of Art & Frame had reached the point where he realized that it was time for a significant change. With the current economy as it is, and with the changes going on globally, it was time to Go Green, and Go Big! That’s just what Robert did when he decided to enlisted the help of Synergy Lighting of Sarasota to help achieve his goals. One of the top of Robert’s list was to cut the electricity costs of his nearly 10,000 s.f. facility on US41 & Bahia Vista. The Second on his list was to Go Green.

Synergy Lighting helped by hand selecting light bulbs that were bright enough to use less wattage, but had to be of the highest available color rendering. With the customer in  agreement, Art & Frame converted to Natural White Lighting using the latest in Tri-Phosphor Technology with the Ultra 50 Pure Natural Daylight Lamps. Unlike standard daylight bulbs, the Ultra 50 yields a true replication of natural light produced by the sun. This special Tri-Phosphor technology available exclusively through Synergy Lighting has the greatest levels of light output, allowing the client to use less light bulbs through a practice called “De-Lamping”. This is a common practice used by Lighting Experts to improve light quality while reducing the number of lamps, and ballasts in a business.This results in a 50% energy reduction per fixture that is de-lamped.

The end result for Robert was an extremely well illuminated store that shows all color accurately to natural sun light. In an art supply store such as  Art & Frame Sarasota, there couldn’t be a greater reward for the store and it’s large clientele. Customers can more accurately select the paints that they need, match any colors for Framing and Matting as well as showing products with visual acuity. Going green was achieved due to the low mercury content, and the reduction of our natural resources used to produce the electricity to power the Mega Art Store. 

For more information on using Pure Natural Daylight bulbs such as Sky Brite and Ultra 50, check out our Natural Lighting Articles, or call Synergy Lighting.

Phone: (941)-756-4844

Toll Free: (877) 220-5483

e-mail: sales@synergylightingusa.com

Ultra 50 Specs
Download Ultra 50 Light Bulb Article

Recently we we’re asked to produce a Techno Look to a retail fashion store in Brandon, Florida. This was a very unique challenge for Synergy Lighting, as the customer wanted natural bright white light bulbs for color rendering throughout the main portions of the store, but also did not want it to be too bright.  Usually our depth is increased with brighter lighting, however to achieve a “Techno” Look, we had to get a little advice from local teenagers. It seems Synergy Lighting is not quite in touch with the “Techno” Community of younger generations.

The end result was a combination of Bright White Skybrite lamps utilized in 2×2 troffers, and Compact Fluorescent Warm White PAR’s to develope contracting color schemes between display and racks. This project not only achieved a more than satisfying result for the client, but resulted with a 35% energy reduction over the previously installed Cool White Troffers.

Synergy Lighting goes beyond the realm of ordinary lighting with the ability to research and design nearly any concept in lighting. Our design services are no-charge.

For more information, visit www.synergylightingusa.com , or call Synergy Lighting.

Phone: (941)-756-4844
Toll Free: (877) 220-5483
e-mail: sales@synergylightingusa.com