International School of Aberdeen Gymnasium – Filamento

International School of Aberdeen Gymnasium – Filamento

School Gym

International School of Aberdeen Gymnasium

Location

Aberdeen, Scotland

Highlights

Products

The International School in Aberdeen Scotland (ISA) gymnasium is about eight years old, and the aging HID lighting needed to be upgraded for maintenance purposes and energy savings. The lighting levels were 265 lux/25 fc, significantly below the recommended standard of 500 lux/46 fc for basketball courts. It was also important to minimize the cost of any new solution, so they were looking for a solution that would work directly work with their magnetic ballasts to minimize installation costs. Even though the light levels weren’t nearly as high as recommended, there was a very high level of glare.

The requirement to work with their magnetic ballasts allowed Ian Williamson, Facility Operations Manager, to narrow the options and embark on trial installations which proved vital to making a final determination.

The Solution

Ultimately, ISA identified Filamento and one other retrofit as possible solutions and they embarked on testing both in a head-to-head comparison in the gymnasium. The Filamento lamp used 105 Watts and delivered 15,000 lumens for an efficiency of 100 lumens per watt. This Filamento option had a <1% failure rate in 50,000 hours, was UL listed for any ballast between 175 and 600W, and thanks to Filamento’s patented optical design, had virtually no glare with a UGR of <15.

Though the other solution was also an LED retrofit, it had a much higher failure rate, wasn’t UL listed for any ballast, had high glare – UGR<27 – and didn’t have any control options.

The Results

As a result of the testing, ISA determined that the Filamento 105W solution would deliver average lighting levels of 665 lux and 62 footcandles. This was 2.5x higher than what the alternative could provide. According to Ian Williamson, “the new lights [Filamento] were much easier on the eyes and very bright on the floor, but the other HID or LED lights were only bright when you looked up and then blinded you.”

When ISA looked at the numbers, they backed up what everyone had seen in the gymnasium. Energy savings of 27.8 kWh/year, simple payback of £4,462/year at then current usage and rates, and light levels of 665 lux and 62 fc.

“The comparison was shocking, and we could not go back to the dark,” Ian Williamson.