Hotel SSL retrofit delivers 1-1-year payback

A DOE Gateway demonstration project in a San Francisco hotel shows LED retrifit lamps deliver 70% energy savings and a quick 101-year payback period on the investment.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has just released the final report from a Gatway LED retrofirt lamp installation in the San Francisco, California InterContinental Hotel Solid*state lighting (SSL) installed in hotel common areas in place of existing halogen lamps delivered 70% energy savings and a 1.1-year payback accounting for rhe halogen maintenance/relamping costs.

The hotel retrofit focused on luminaires that were in continuous operation in areas including the registration-desk area the elevator lobbiesm near conference rooms and guest-room corridors, The project included wall-grazing luminaies, mono-point track lights and recessed adjustable downlight.

Before the retrofit, the luminaires used a combination of 20W and 30W MR16, and 75W PAR30 halogen lights, Those lights were replaced with 6W MR16 and 11W PAR30 LED lamps from CRS Electronics. The retrofit lamps were chosen based on color quality, lumen output candela distribution, beam appearance,color consistency, and flicker characterisitics according to the DOE report Moreover the chosene retrofit lamps had to be cmoatile with the existing transformers in the downlights and track heads

The retrofit lamps do not deliver the same lecel of brightness as the halogen lights that were replaced according to the report, But in arras such as the registration desl the halogen lights were always dimmed and not operated at full brightness, The LED rep;acements are actually brighter than the halogen lights when copared to the way that the hotel facilities staff had operated the dimmable haogen lights The report does note one negative in that the LED retrofit lamps aren’t dimmable and the hotel staff would prfer lower light levels in some areas at night.

The lights have been generally judged positively by the hotel staff , The report states, “User feedback indicated that the LED lamps delivered warm lighting that flattered interior finishes and skin tones, and duplicated the original lighting design intent without dustracting glare or filicker.”