Silver Spring, MD—The National Lighting Bureau (NLB) reaches millions of lighting decision-makers each year; more in 2008 than ever before.
 

According to NLB Chair Robert W. “Rob” Colgan, Jr. (National Electrical Contractors Association), “Lighting decision-makers need to understand what High-Benefit Lighting© is all about and how it’s changing. When the Bureau began in 1976, our mission was to publicize the bottom-line benefits of better lighting, so the owners and managers of buildings and processes could use lighting to achieve improved productivity, fewer errors and rejects, better security, enhanced safety, improved retail sales, greater building resale value, and so on. We created the term ‘High-Benefit Lighting’ to symbolize what good lighting could do. While we still use the term, it’s come to mean more than just bottom-line benefits. We have helped promote awareness of new discoveries that illustrate lighting’s ability to support good health and even help slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. We have also broadened our audience by making our message germane to more than those in the commercial and industrial markets, including homeowners and others who can benefit from the information we have to share.”
 

The Bureau uses various media to “spread the word,” including news releases, articles, and brochures. It also provides experts for news media interviews and continually updates and expands its website. In 2008, Mr. Colgan said, the audience for NLB material “easily surpassed 5 million lighting-decision makers and lighting-decision influencers.” Hard-copy and electronic publications using NLB materials had as their principal readerships the general public, businesspeople, lighting industry “insiders,” lighting system designers, consulting engineers, architects, sustainability consultants, environmental professionals, utility representatives, electrical contractors, facility and property managers, lighting maintenance and management companies, government managers, state energy officials, retail managers, museum directors, college and university officials and students, and tax advisors, among many others.

While specifics of the message may vary with the audience, Mr. Colgan said, all Bureau statements tend to have a central theme: “We emphasize that the quality of lighting determines the extent of the benefits derived for a specific application. High-Benefit Lighting consumes the least amount of energy possible consistent with achieving optimal lighting conditions.” He said that the bottom-line value of “optimal lighting conditions” typically far exceeds the cost of the energy consumed by electric illumination. “An organization might pay about $15,000 a year for the energy consumed by the lighting needed by 100 office workers. If one were to halve consumption, the organization would save $7,500 per year. However, if that energy savings came at the expense of a one-percent productivity loss, every dollar saved could cost the company four dollars. That’s hardly a good trade-off, especially when you consider that an organization might be able to achieve the same or even better energy savings while improving productivity by more than one percent – even by five percent or more, depending on what’s installed to begin with.”

Mr. Colgan noted that not all benefits show up on an organization’s bottom line. “We are really only now beginning to learn how important the link is between lighting and health. As new research findings are announced, we make them known.”

Above all, Mr. Colgan said, “If people want to achieve optimal results – including minimal energy consumption – they have to invest in good design.” The Bureau helps by supporting an online database of individuals who provide lighting-system design services. “There’s no cost for designers to be listed and no cost to use the service,” Mr. Colgan said.

The Bureau’s website (www.nlb.org) includes guidance on how to select a lighting-system design consultant.

The Bureau also serves as a trusted source of information about the commercial building tax deduction (CBTD) that was enacted via the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005), and extended through subsequent legislation. Mr. Colgan noted that, for a lighting system to be eligible for the tax benefit, it must be certified by a qualified individual. “Our website provides guidance on who is qualified, and also provides a list of people who claim to have those qualifications.”

Mr. Colgan summed up by stating that “the Bureau has never rested on its laurels, which is one of the reasons we’ve earned so many laurels since we started, more than 30 years ago. We will continue to make a difference in 2009. We invite interested organizations to lend their support.”

Established in 1976, the National Lighting Bureau is a not-for-profit, independent, lighting information source sponsored by professional societies, trade associations, manufacturers, and agencies of the U.S. government, including, among others:
 

• Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc.;
• GE Lighting Industrial Technology, Inc.; 
• Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES);
• interNational Association of Lighting Management Companies (NALMCO);
• Lutron Electronics Company, Inc.;
• National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED);
• National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA);
• National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA);
• OSRAM Sylvania, Inc.;
• Philips Lighting Company;
• Philips Lighting Electronics (makers of Philips Advance branded ballasts); and
• U.S. General Services Administration.

For more information, refer to the NLB website (www.nlb.org) or contact NLB staff by telephone (301/587-9572) or e-mail (info@nlb.org).