LED Testing & Application  

CONSERVING NATURE AND ENERGY

BY ELIZABETH HALL

W hat better way to promote conservation than by practicing it? To demonstrate its commitment to preserving the natural environment, the National Park Service wanted the new visitor center at Lassen Volcanic National Park to be sustainable and incandescent-free. The soon-to-be LEED-Platinum certified, 9,000-sq ft Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center at Lassen National Park in Northern California features custom-molded LED track lighting, a daylight harvesting system and a variety of CFLs that helped the NPS team meet its goal.
  Project manager Ric Alesch looked for lighting solutions that would comply with California’s Title 24 energy standards without compromising the quality of the lighting. The biggest challenge was finding the right light for the 1,500 sq ft exhibit area—the center’s focal point. After considering halogen and CFLs, Alesch found a dimmable LED track lighting system (from Journée Lighting). One major reason for the selection was energy savings. Alesch explains, “the Lotus LED system uses less than half of the energy required by similar halogen-based lighting systems.” Using only 16 watts, the track lights provide the equivalent of 40 watts of incandescent light and have a 40,000-hour lamp life, fulfilling another LEED sustainability objective—using long-life components.
   Another reason for selecting LEDs was light quality. Alesch wanted to achieve a “high-end look” that was best accomplished by bright white LEDs. Fifty LEDs illuminate the exhibit’s displays, kiosks and historic photos with 80-CRI light. The customizability of the Journée track system was an added bonus. “The system allowed us to position the lamps in the best way to match the exhibit,” says Alesch. Molded in a snake-like pattern, the track mimics the curvature of the walls for an effect that increases the visibility of exhibit materials through accurate light placement and distance and balances the architecture.
  Further reducing energy use, the track lights are linked to a daylighting harvesting system. The LEDs dim according to the amount of daylight entering the space from the building’s north-facing picture windows.
   Where the budget didn’t allow for LEDs, the team chose CFLs. Used in can lights to provide ambient lighting in the concession and restaurant areas, as well as pendants hung over the reception area, CFLs offered an energy and cost-efficient method of lighting larger common spaces. Linear fluorescent CFLs were also used to light offices in the back of the house. The CFLs and LEDs, along with the daylighting control system, helped reduce the center’s energy output to 30 percent less than the standards specified by Title 24 and other federal codes.