Your Project:  Every project is different.  Each project receives careful review to identify Architectural style, coordination with existing site lighting, lighting level requirements, municipal requirements, potential light trespass issues and budget requirements.  Picking the right lighting system for your project requires the judgment to balance initial cost, operating cost, lighting uniformity, light trespass issues and compliance with lighting regulations.  Whether your needs are utilitarian or ornamental, we’ll make sure that you are satisfied with the result and keep you informed of our progress.

Land Development Plans:  We submit our Site Lighting Plans and calculations along with our Landscape Plans for Municipal Reviews and Approvals.  We can deliver a fully coordinated plan set with minimal conflicts between trees and site lighting faster than any design firm that does not provide these services in-house. 

Experience:  Our staff has over 25 years of site lighting design experience.  We keep up with the latest technologies and we use the latest software to develop our designs.  We actively review our designs with local manufacturer’s representatives to assure that the most current and most economical products are specified.  As the 21st century has arrived, so has the renewed need to conserve energy and to select Green, non-hazardous, products.

Conserve Energy:  The need to save energy is likely to become an even greater concern as the deregulation of electric utilities approaches.  On December 31, 2009, PP&L will be deregulated and by December 31, 2010, Allegheny Power, MetEd, PECO, and Penelec will be deregulated. No one knows exactly what the new price of electrical power will be but we would not be surprised if estimates of a 25% to 30% increase become a reality. We conserve energy and reduce your monthly bills by specifying high efficiency lighting equipment, lamp sources and control systems that turn off or dim to a lower level when they aren’t needed.
 
Energy Efficient Lamps:  Think of a lumen as the amount of light given off by a small wax candle.  Quality L.E.D. lamps now offer up to 115 lumens per watt with the promise of up to 180 lumens per watt as the technology matures.  Pulse Start Metal Halide lamps offer up to 105 lumens per watt in larger wattages and the next generation of Ceramic Metal Halide lamps offer up to 115 lumens per watt in the smaller wattages.  Metal Halide and other lamp sources are naturally 50% up, 50% down, 360 degrees (bare bulb). LED sources have the advantage of being inherently 100% down, 180 degrees or less.  L.E.D. fixtures can be close to 100% efficient while Metal Halide fixtures depend on reflectors and can only deliver between 35% and 80% of lamp lumens.    There are high efficiency light sources, fixture designs, dimming systems and motion sensor controls available now to reduce your energy costs. 

Green Products:  Look for the D.O.E. Energy Star Logo on some new products, look at the D.O.E. CALiPER test reports for unbiased reviews of LED products and look for new products that are fully recyclable.  There are still heavy metals in many lighting products that will need to be recycled or avoided.

Lighting Technology:  We live in an exciting age of rapid change.  The Edison lamp is rapidly being replaced by compact fluorescent.  Mercury Vapor lamps are no longer made.  High Pressure Sodium lamps were used everywhere and now remain only on our roadways and in our industrial parks.  Metal Halide lamps have been the standard for site lighting for the past decade.  Older forms of Metal Halide have been virtually regulated out of existence with the passage of The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.  The magnetic ballast will soon be a thing of the past.  L.E.D. lighting will soon be economical for most site lighting needs.  We keep up with the progress of these technologies and we will advise you where they make sense and when they don’t.

More Efficient White Light:  Metal Halide is now even more efficient and more efficient forms of Metal Halide lamps now available offer to give the new L.E.D. light sources a run for their money in the short term.  Fixtures to house these new light sources are coming soon.  L.E.D. site lighting products that offer the promise of reduced maintenance and greater efficiency are already here but still very expensive.  There are high efficiency light sources, dimming systems and motion sensor controls available now to reduce your energy costs. 

Lighting Fixture Recommendations:  We will carefully review your needs to identify Architectural style, coordinate with existing site lighting, establish lighting level requirements, comply with municipal requirements, minimize light trespass issues and address your budget requirements.  We will use our judgment to balance initial cost, operating cost, lighting uniformity, light trespass issues and compliance with lighting regulations.  We’ll recommend a good lighting system for your project and we’ll give you the information you need to make an informed decision. 

References:  We have many successful site lighting projects to share with you throughout the Delaware Valley.  We have designed site lighting for streetscapes, parking lots, courtyards, parks and other public places.  

Contact:  Please feel free to contact Chris Isenberg, RLA at our office to discuss your site lighting design needs.