A Durham, N.C., high school replaced outdated T12 fluorescent lights and ballasts with CR24 troffers, reducing its energy consumption by 75 percent.
embarking on a lighting system retrofit, a building owner and/or facility manager has much to consider: ›› What is the budget? ›› What return on investment is expected? ›› What are the project’s goals: a new look, visual comfort, energy savings, all of these?
›› What types of technology, including light- ing sources and controls, are preferable?
›› Will a lighting upgrade result in code updates? With so many questions and much at
stake when investing in a new lighting system, many building owners and facility managers wonder where to start. Three lighting designers from different firms of- fer a bit of guidance.
STEP NO. 1: Find an Experi-
enced Lighting Designer Today’s lighting designers are challenged to remain educated to help guide their clients to a lighting system that meets specific needs. A lighting designer’s job also requires him or her to delicately balance the science of voltage and lumens with the art of color temperature and ambiance creation in a space. “I don’t think entirely like an architect or entirely as an engineer, but I can work as the interpreter between the two,” explains Ingrid McMasters, LC,
38 RETROFIT // March-April 2013
senior lighting designer with KJWW Engi- neering Consultants, Madison, Wis. “That is a special skillset that lighting designers, in general, have. We can go back and forth be- tween the science and engineering, as well as use light as part of the palette, choosing color, shape and form.” To locate an experienced lighting designer who can skillfully balance the art and science of lighting, a number of lighting-focused associations offer help. The Chicago-based International Associa- tion of Lighting Designers (IALD) provides a list of experienced member designers from across the country. “IALD provides an accreditation and requires a certain number of years in practice and amount of projects installed, presented or in design,” explains Matt Minard, LC, lighting engineer for Eco Engineering LLC, Cincinnati, and an associate IALD member. “You submit your application to IALD, and then you must be elected to this group based upon your ap- proach to lighting design and whether you will properly represent the philosophy of the IALD in your process.” The Austin, Texas-based National
Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Professions (NCQLP) tests and accredits lighting designers. The accreditation signi- fies a lighting designer understands how (continues on page 40)