Chapter 1-Recommendations Related to Lighting

One energy-saving recommendation is to change from incandescent lights to the cold cathode or compact fluorescents. Replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent or dimmable cold cathode bulbs can save 8,000 to 12,000 kilowatt hours/house/year, with a payback period of a few months to 2 years

Compact fluorescent lights

When you make the change from incandescent light bulbs to energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs, you get similar light levels for about a quarter of the energy and cost. Retrofitting your poultry houses with money-saving, energy-efficient compact fluorescent lighting really is as simple as changing a light bulb. Dimmable compact fluorescents are available, usually made with “cold cathode” technology.

When comparing compact fluorescent lights to incandescent lights, consider these facts:

• Traditional incandescent bulbs typically last about 1,000 hours and waste about 90% of their energy-generating heat.
• Compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) on the other hand, will use up to 67% less energy with no loss of light, and last eight to ten times longer.

It is important, however, that whichever bulb you use that be kept clean so that light can pass through

It is very important to recycle CFLs, as they contain small amounts of mercury. If breathed and absorbed by the body, mercury can cause neurological damage. A compact fluorescent light bulb contains an average of 5 mg of mercury – about one-fifth the amount of mercury in an average watch battery, and one-hundredth the amount of mercury in an amalgam dental filling. No mercury is released when CFLs are intact or in use.

It is against the law to dispose of any items containing mercury in regular solid waste trash. Compact fluorescent light bulbs must be disposed of in the same way as paint, batteries, thermostats, and other hazardous items. The Kentucky Division of Waste Management provides an online list of solid waste coordinators in Kentucky (KY Solid Waste Management Planning Directory.pdf). For questions, call 502-564-6716.

CFLs versus Incandescent bulbs

A recent study reported in Popular Mechanics tested seven CFLs against the classic Incandescent bulb and noted the following:

• Overall the Incandescent bulb was rated the lowest.
• The Incandescent bulb was labeled as a 75-watt bulb but 78.2 watts were observed. The CFLs on the other hand used only 1 extra watt than what was stated on the label, or they actually used less.
• All of the CFLs were rated better than the incandescent bulb.
• Replacing all of the bulbs in your home would save about $180 a year. [Note: Since bulbs are used in poultry houses, greater savings are expected.]

Why use CFLs?

• CFLs can last up to nine years.
• A high-quality 24-watt CFL can produce the same brightness as a 150-watt incandescent bulb.
• The CFL bulbs are much better for the environment and your wallet.

Cold cathode lights

Cold Cathode lights are another potential energy saver for poultry houses. The name may sound strange, but cold cathode lights are really just another type of fluorescent light. They have been used extensively in signs and other applications where a curved tube-style light is needed, but are only recently being used as screw-in-bulbs.

Anyone who has used a laptop computer has benefited from cold-cathode fluorescent lighting since this technology is used to provide the back lights of the computer. In conventional CFLs, a hot cathode made of tungsten wire coated with barium carbonate emits electrons that pass through mercury vapor and generate ultraviolet light. It doesn’t take much energy to release these electrons, but the lamp takes a minute or two to reach full brightness. By contrast, with a cold-cathode lamp it takes a much greater voltage drop—and hence more energy—to release the electrons in the unheated cathode. As with all fluorescent lamps, mercury vapor is used to produce light, so used lamps should be properly disposed of.

The biggest advantage of cold cathode lighting is that it can be dimmed with most light dimmers, including those currently used to dim incandescent light bulbs. The lights are capable of a full range of dimming from 100% to near zero. Cold cathode lights also start at low temperatures; can be cycled on and off without significant bulb life reduction, and are flicker-free when dimmed.

The output of cold cathode lighting, measured as lumens per watt, is a little less than compact fluorescent lights. For example, an 8-watt cold cathode light has a rated initial lumen output of about 40 lumens per watt. A 10-watt compact fluorescent light provides about 52 lumens per watt. Incandescent bulbs produce only 12-15 lumens per watt. The expected life of cold cathode bulbs is over two times that of a compact fluorescent bulb. An 8-watt cold cathode bulb has a rated life of 18,000 hours, whereas the rated life of a 10-watt compact fluorescent bulb is 8,000 hours.

One disadvantage at the present time is that cold cathode bulbs with a screw-in base that fits standard light fixtures are only available in 5-watt and 8-watt sizes. A simple replacement of incandescent lights with cold cathode bulbs may not supply sufficient light intensity for brooding young chicks. One solution is to install an additional lighting circuit in the brood half of the barn. On this new circuit, compact fluorescent lighting can be installed in between the cold cathode lights and turned off when no longer needed. In poultry houses that only have lights over the feed lines, an additional row of cold cathode bulbs could be installed in the center of the house.

An 8-watt cold cathode bulb costs about $10, approximately four times the cost of compact fluorescent bulbs. As already indicated, cold cathode bulbs do have a longer life expectancy, but the initial cost is still substantially higher at the present time. Cold cathode bulbs are the most cost-effective when replacing incandescent lights. The energy savings from replacing compact fluorescent lighting with cold cathode light is not sufficient to offset the initial set-up costs.