City targets energy-eating lights
By: Brent Begin
Examiner Staff Writer
March 27, 2009
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| Lighter load: Fluorescent tube lighting would be considered a “public nuisance” and buildings would not be able to obtain permits under legislation currently being drafted. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — A lot of light has been cast upon energy efficiency recently in The City.
The latest news is about lights — fluorescent tube lighting, to be exact.
City building owners who have yet to replace the energy-sucking fat light tubes, technically known as T-12 bulbs, with more energy-efficient ones may soon be required to by law.
Privately owned commercial buildings, including schools and tourist hotels, would have to make the changes by Dec. 31, 2010. Residential buildings are excluded from the ordinance.
Buildings that fail to install slimmer-type tubes, called T-8 bulbs, that are more energy efficient would be considered a “public nuisance” and would be unable to obtain a permit from the Department of Building Inspection.
The legislation has been in the works for more than two years, according to Jared Blumenfeld, who is expected to return soon to the position of director of the Department of the Environment.
“The goal is psychological,” Blumenfeld said. “People who care have already made these changes, but out-of-town landlords need more encouragement. We’re looking to change the behavior.”
The Building Owners and Managers Association, an advocacy group representing 72 million feet of office space in the Bay Area, is supportive of the legislation, which “improves lighting efficiency in an orderly fashion without becoming an extreme economic burden on building owners,” according to a statement.
The law is part of a concerted effort to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings, Mayor Gavin Newsom said Thursday. A green-building task force is expected to suggest more legislation by June.
“It occurred to us that as a city, we can actually mandate [this] not only from our own municipal purchasing side ... but we can actually regulate the sale of some of these bulbs,” Newsom said.
The ordinance, which the mayor plans to introduce to the Board of Supervisors, is the latest effort by The City to cut back on the energy expended by lightbulbs.
On Saturday, The City will turn off large swaths of lights for Earth Hour, an international effort to highlight the importance of energy conservation, between 8 and 9 p.m.
On Tuesday, Board of Supervisors President David Chiu introduced legislation that would require downtown building owners to always turn off their lights after-hours or face fines of up to $500.
“I’m glad we’re all rowing in the same direction by addressing a major source of energy consumption that we’ve known about for years,” Chiu said of the plan to change out the fluorescent lights.
Also this week, the Public Utilities Commission and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. unveiled a grid of energy-saving streetlights in the Tenderloin neighborhood that will most likely be a model for the entire city.
Bright idea
The City wants to require that commercial properties change all their inefficient fluorescent bulbs for more efficient ones by Dec. 31, 2010.
The bad bulb
- Called the T-12
- Measures 1½ inches in diameter
- Among the least expensive fluorescent bulbs
The good bulb
- Called the T-8
- Measures 1 inch in diameter
- More efficient than T-12 bulbs and produce more light
Source: www.servicelighting.com
