My house is not quite 31 years old. That’s not terribly old so far as houses go. But in that time, lighting technology has evolved so rapidly, I have installed three generations of light sources in a valance I incorporated into a wall separating the living room from the den.
The den, just so you know, is
where I keep my rock collection.
The original light I installed
was a 4-foot, 2-lamp fluorescent fixture powered by a magnetic ballast. Somewhere after our turn into the new
century, I swapped out the magnetic ballast for an electronic ballast. Yesterday, I converted the light to an LED
source. Following are some details:
- Gen 1: 40-watt, T12 fluorescent lamps
with magnetic ballast (2475 lumen output)
- Gen 2:
32-watt,
T8 fluorescent lamps with electronic ballast (2800 lumen output)
- Gen 3:
24
-watt LED retrofit lamps with onboard LED driver (3120 lumen output)
Overall, the generational
changes in lighting sources have yielded a 40% drop in power consumed while, at
the same time, providing a 26% increase in light output. As an added bonus, the light output for LEDs does
not rapidly decay as do fluorescent lamps.
Furthermore, LEDs may function adequately for 30 years.
I have posted “before” and
“after” photographs I captured yesterday with my smarter-than-me-phone.
The photographs will reveal a
difference in color temperature. The new
LED lamps deliver a cooler color of light.
BEFORE (T8 Fluorescent)
AFTER (LED Lamps)
—Mitchell Hegman
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