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L ibrary collections are transitioning from paper to digital, so it’s hardly surprisingly that library lighting would evolve, as well. But for the venerable New York Public Library—home to artifacts such as the Gutenberg Bible and Thomas Jefferson’s manuscript copy of the Declaration of Independence—switching from incandescent lamps to compact fluorescent took a leap of faith by Heike Kordish, director of the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, one of the New York Public Library’s four research libraries. “There was a degree of trepidation when heading into this project, due to the history of the library,” she says.
In other words, incandescent—for all its drawbacks in terms of energy usage and maintenance—was something of an aesthetic security blanket for the library, particularly in its stunning main reading room. “The change from incandescent to CFL is a huge step,” admits Ellis Yan, president and CEO of TCP Inc., Aurora, OH, which manufactured the CFLs for the project. “It’s a change from the past 125 years of lighting.”
 As a result, the New York Public Library project represents that rare CFL installation driven more by aesthetics and ambiance than by energy savings and maintenance. The design team, led by Quality Conservation Services, Inc. (QCS), New York, NY, found that most of the library’s existing fixtures were large, ornate, bronze and glass hanging chandeliers. Each grouping of fixtures was consistent with the general purpose and appearance of the area. In switching to CFL, replicating the light pattern, distribution and quality, while reducing energy were extremely important, but it was the overall appearance that was the library’s primary objective. “Color and ambiance weren’t one criteria, they were the only criteria,” says James Maitilasso, president of QCS.
QCS initiated a sampling process that took place in every location of the 96-year-old Humanities and Social Sciences Library, which stretches two full blocks along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Each area, hallway and room has different lighting fixtures and aesthetic requirements. Thus, the color temperature was based on the specific application, the color of the walls, the furnishings within the space and color reflection, in order to meet the pre-CFL color condition.
TCP tweaked—and re-tweaked—its lamp designs throughout the process to achieve both the desired light quality (i.e., warmth, CRI, lumen output) and a physical approximation of the vintage Edison bulb where necessary. “The lamps are not just the spiral CFLs that everyone is used to seeing,” says QCS program manager Karen West. “We were able to duplicate the look of the existing bulbs.” According to Christopher Williams, senior property manager of the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, the transition “has been seamless. A lot of staff and most patrons didn’t even know we had changed to CFLs.”
The library flipped the switch on the new lighting during a ceremony in October. Completed at no cost to the library, the project was funded by Con Edison’s Demand Side Management program. A total of 5,311 CFLs are used throughout the facility (most visibly in the chandeliers of the Adam R. Rose Reading Room) but also in various wall sconces and accent lights. The retrofit is expected to conserve 1.35 million kWh annually, saving the library $250,000 per year in energy costs.
FOCAL POINT
 The centerpiece of the retrofit is the Rose Reading Room. The room has 16 massive, four-tiered chandeliers that each contained 90 60-W clear incandescent globes. These globes have been replaced (on a one-for-one basis) with 9-W CFLs that match the 2,700K color temperature of incandescent but are brighter, according to Yan. The CFL globes burn 810 watts per chandelier, resulting in a reduction of 4,590 watts for each chandelier. “They will also save hundreds of man-hours per year in maintenance,” says Kordish. In addition, 168 table/reading lamps in the Rose Reading Room have been retrofitted with CFLs. Visitors would be hard-pressed to spot any difference in the design of these CFLs vs. incandescent.
QCS also found 150-, 200- and 300-W incandescents in many domed chandeliers throughout the building. Here, spiral CFLs were viable; 32- and 42-W (2,700K and 4,100K) lamps were specified to meet color and light level requirements.
Existing high-intensity discharge (HID) fixtures were also evaluated. These have been replaced with CFLs comprised of a spiral-based lamp with a separate electronic ballast. The existing 250-W metal halide lamps, which were rated at 285 watts, including the ballast, were replaced with 85-W CFLs. While the wattage was reduced, lumen levels were maintained.
One application of note took place in The Dorot Jewish Division of the library, which had an in-line series of 48 magnetic ballasts operating 24 250-W metal halide lamps. The fixture was a pendant-mounted, marbleized base-down dome producing uplight on the white ceiling. The heat and hum produced by the ballasts in the research room were a major concern. The Dorot chief librarian had another concern; he wanted the light level at the scholar’s desk height to be three times the lumen level of the existing lighting source. To meet this requirement, QCS removed all the magnetic ballasts and rewired the dome components to accept the new electrical system. QCS also took out the downlight shield and altered the fixture to accept the installation of two 42-W CFLs. Heat and noise were reduced, while light levels were increased.
The map room presented another obstacle. The room has two walls of windows and four three-tiered chandeliers. The chandeliers had clear 60-W incandescent globes in the lower tiers and 50-W PAR lamps in the top row, which highlighted the ornate ceiling’s panoramic painting and gilded figures. The chandeliers are on a dimming circuit. QCS and TCP devised a “removable cover” attached to the dimming 9-W CFL, shaped like a G30 incandescent lamp, for the lower two tiers of the chandelier. Meanwhile, an 11-W CFL with a reflector was installed for the third tier’s uplighting. This was accomplished by isolating the dimmer circuit that was serving the top tier of the chandelier.
COOL DOWN
In other areas of the library, high-wattage incandescent lamps (some as high as 300 watts) were damaging wiring and socket components. Replacement with the cooler CFL technology not only helped to preserve the lighting system components, but also enabled a 70 to 80 percent reduction of the heat generated by the incandescent lamps, as well as reduced maintenance cost. “Some of these fixtures are original, 100 years old, and reducing the number of times they have to be handled is very important to maintaining their performance life,” says property manager Williams.
Finally, with mercury content always a consideration regarding CFL disposal, the library can return burned-out lamps to QCS for the first year after installation; these will be replaced for free. Once QCS’s obligation ends, the library will continue disposal of the lamps in accordance with federal regulations.
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