Over Two Million U.S. Buildings are Candidates for Lighting Upgrades
Of the nation’s 2.7 million commercial buildings built before 1980, more than 2.2 million have been using the same lighting for the past three decades, the National Lighting Bureau (NLB) reports, citing data published by the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Of the nation’s 2.7 million commercial buildings built before 1980, more than 2.2 million have been using the same lighting for the past three decades, the National Lighting Bureau (NLB) reports, citing data published by the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Energy Information Administration (EIA).
NLB estimates that 3 million or more commercial and other nonresidential buildings are candidates for lighting-system upgrades.
EIA divided the buildings by age: Those built before 1980 (2.73 million) and those built since (1.92 million). According to EIA data, only 455,000 (17 percent) of the older buildings reported lighting-system upgrades since 1980.
Federally mandated phase-out of older, inefficient technologies, like magnetically ballasted T12 fluorescent lighting, as well as rising energy costs are expected to drive lighting-system renovation, says Robert Colgan, Jr., NLB chair.
Federal tax incentives designed to encourage lighting-system upgrades in commercial buildings, as well as a variety of state and utility-company incentive programs are also expected to boost renovation activity.
The data was derived from EIA’s “2003 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey,” the most recently available. New EIA data is being calculated for 2007.
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