Reduce emlighting utility cost

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Adams14

Adams14

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Commerce City, CO
I manage a 208,000 SQF High school that was completed in 2006. Some of the District administrators have been complaining that the place is lit up like a Christmas tree at night. Can I deactivate some of the em lights and still be 2015 NEC compliant?
 
Adams14 said:
I manage a 208,000 SQF High school that was completed in 2006. Some of the District administrators have been complaining that the place is lit up like a Christmas tree at night. Can I deactivate some of the em lights and still be 2015 NEC compliant?
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There are standards for the minimum amount of night lighting required (presumably that is what you mean by em lights). I don't think the lighting level required will be found in the NEC.

It seems unlikely that the architect who designed the place would have over lit it at night.
 
Adams14 said:
I manage a 208,000 SQF High school that was completed in 2006. Some of the District administrators have been complaining that the place is lit up like a Christmas tree at night. Can I deactivate some of the em lights and still be 2015 NEC compliant?
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Grab a good light meter with a large display, kill some lights and tow it behind you. You have to maintain one (1) foot-candle at the walking surface to comply with the IBC, if that's enforced in your jurisdiction.
 
As far as I know there are no codes requiring any lighting of unoccupied buildings.

We have done large stores where all circuits, including exit signs are shut down when the building is unoccupied.
 
iwire said:
As far as I know there are no codes requiring any lighting of unoccupied buildings.

We have done large stores where all circuits, including exit signs are shut down when the building is unoccupied.
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:thumbsup:

There are two different reasons for this kind of indoor and outdoor lighting.
The first is emergency egress lighting, which is only needed when the building is occupied and may only have to cover part of site if, for example, only one building is occupied.
The second is security lighting, meant to deter theft and vandalism. There are not mandatory standards for that so you are in a much more subjective area.
It would be interesting to find out what the architect considered important and whether that included guidance from the school district.
 
Is/was there maybe some misunderstanding of how emergency ballasts operate? You need constant power to the emergency ballast, but still can switch the luminaire off when lighting is not needed - should the constant power lead lose power the emergency battery is put on line and powers the backup lamp(s) whether they were on or not before power was lost.

Something tells me somebody did not realize this and thought those luminaires with emergency ballasts needed to be on all the time.
 
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