Follow the LEEDer
by Victor Korzen, President U.S.WAY Lighting

We came to this land of opportunity with a dream and found that one of the ways to achieve it is to become a “garage genius” - a lesson learned from many prominent Americans. In my particular case, after years of scribing for the Underwriters Laboratories Inc. where I had taken the opportunity to learn aplenty about the quality control of electronic components, my interests drifted into developing electronic shticks that would keep Motorola and Philips think-tanks blushful. In 1985, I invented and patented the first no-radio-frequency Electronic Table Pager that employed electroluminescent light powered with AA battery energizing the high voltage/low frequency inverter - a precursor to the LED technology and its applications. A year later, in 1986, as the newly formed U.S.WAY Lighting company, we showed the first “twisted U-shaped” Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs at LDI Show in Las Vegas. We did not predict that a few months later they would be offered all over the country as “Twisters” by “another” manufacturer that had happened to obtain our samples at the Show. Once CFLs launched its own carrier with many producers, our attention concentrated on the high output CFLs that eventually would terminate heavy energy consumption by the conventional HID lamps. While ambitious proponents are taking pride in offering CFLs of “as high power as 45W”, U.S.WAY Lighting has in its stock 85W, 105W, 200W, and 300W already. And here is why:

HID/Metal Halide lamps, like any high intensity gas discharge lighting source, have some characteristics that make them really a burden. First, their indispensable autotransformer ballasting device, needed to secure high current to boost the lamp, weighs about 20 lbs, emits familiar buzzing noise, and occupies a substantial space in the lamp. Its weight, though, is the unwanted factor to consider when calculating the structure of the roof and/or ceiling trusses to hold those lamps in addition to the weight of snow.

Second, the HID lamps can manage only up to 5 percent of the voltage fluctuation; otherwise they extinguish themselves and do not restart for several minutes until the lamp cools down and the gas pressure decreases.

The third and outright dangerous feature of those lamps is their operating temperature reaching 1385°F each. Watch your bill for air-conditioning! Should burst bulb debris fall on skin, fourth degree burns will call for specialized emergency medical assistance and treatment. To prevent this situation, HID lamps are normally caged and/or fully covered at the bottom, which obviously reduces the amount of desired lumens.

Fourth, only 20 percent of energy is seen as the visible light spectrum at optimal Color Rendering Index (CRI) of up to 50 only. 30 percent of energy is wasted to produce ultraviolet radiation, and remaining 50 percent of energy is consumed by the ballast.

Now, if you do not have to replace rather expensive Metal Halide light bulb once a year, consider yourself as a lucky one. High bay ceilings to deal with and $40 a pop may only add to the aggravation. With our deep compassion for the building owners and serious consideration of the diligent objectives of the D.O.E’s ENERGY STAR program and USGBC’s LEED Standard, U.S.WAY Lighting has come up with two flag-ship products that, frankly, kick convention to the curb:

Self-ballasted Multi-Quad Universal High-Output Compact Fluorescent Lamp CF12Q66 (Patented) and High-Power T5 Fluorescent Fixture YW454T5.

While our 105W CFLs (6,720 lumens) already easily compete with 400W HIDs when replaced 4:3, the new screw-in 200W (14,400 lumens) and 300W (21,600 lumens) Multi-Quads replace HIDs 1:1. A user may want to add 1000 lumens with our mirror-shine aluminum reflector CS-3202. Energy saved (yes!): 180-watts per lamp, that is $337 a year times 100 lamps in an average warehouse…Be my guest. No autotransformer, operating temperature lukewarm, will work with electronic switches like photocell, Universal Input Voltage from 100V up to 277V, CRI: 82, and customer’s choice of the Color Temperature. Our CF12Q66 come with fourteen 2H-PLC, 6400K, tubes included; nevertheless, the customer may want to select another Color, or even mix them up following his own fantasy.

Our lower High-Output light bulbs, in their own pace, find successful applications in the park and parking fixtures that have been exclusively constructed for the U.S.WAY light bulbs. Their film-friendly full spectrum feature is demonstrated here in the picture taken at the Lemont, Ill., Park District facility where 175W HIDs have been successfully replaced with the U.S. Way’s 65W Compact Fluorescent bulbs.

Another way to save some utility money and energy is to replace HIDs and/or office T12 fixtures with T8 fixtures. Lowe’s and Home Depot did it a year ago, which was a smart idea then. Meanwhile, “garage geniuses” have not departed. Gallant T5 troffers have popped up, and U.S.WAY leads in their development, too.

With IES Lighting Level recommendation for an office of up to 50 footcandles, retrofitting T12 fixture into T8 fixture will save 40 percent of energy. Yet, it costs about $80 per fixture (check you local labor cost) to rewire, replace the ballast and tubes. For the same cost, you may want as well to write off your grand buzzing T12 fixture and replace it with the U.S.WAY amazingly gratifying T5 Troffer YW354T5 that will save you 60 percent of energy. We have them characterized with typical Universal Voltage and wave mirror reflector. What is extra to their equivalents in the market is additional 3200 lumens per fixture, and readiness to snap-on the self-learning Occupancy Sensor - no rewiring needed. Compared to an average office lit by 12 40-watt T12 fluorescent lamps ($4,305/ ann.), your saving will amount up to $1,839 - that‘s 60 percent. You will be smiling all the way to the meter.

We have achieved this phenomenon by utilizing the cost-saving Rectifier Control ICs effectively

drawing less power while producing high frequency output to operate the fluorescent tubes in parallel, each with its own L-C resonant circuit. At Power Factor exceeding 0.99, U.S.WAY 44kHz ballasts operate 3 x 54W fixture drawing 109.2W only - an achievement offered to energy conservation fellows with a tip of my hat. Our high-bay fixture, 4 x 54W, emits 19,600 lumens while drawing 145.6 Watts.

The revolutions in LED technology have enabled LEDs to replace basically all incandescent bulbs in a large number of applications.
First, they found their niche in the automobile industry where in the telltale example the total power dissipitated by the AlInGaP lamp is 25mA times 12.8V, or 0.32W compared to 3.8W originally used by the incandescent bulb. They can also be turned ON selectively to create alphanumeric messages. As the LED light assemblies are less than an inch thick, they can be attached directly to a panel of any shape. Based on that feature, U.S.WAY has developed the first white-lite LED Reflector (in picture) that consumes only 30-watts while emitting the light equivalent to a 100W light bulb. This time it saves 67 percent of energy, not mentioning that any shape of the panel may be constructed. With the LED life span expectancy of 10 million hours compared to 10,000 hours of the CFLs, I would say: fluorescent fixtures, beware!

Another example of the LED application is the EXIT signs of which no part requires replacement. They work on the solid-state lighting systems for buildings and/or theatrical production illumination. And, yes, as the electrical code designers want it, our housing is made of metal. That much about the static lighting innovations. If an opportunity occurs, I will be happy to present another article on dynamic lighting gimmicks in combination with self-sustainable energy infrastructure U.S.WAY has designed for the houses of the future.


Education: 1974 – M.S. in Industrial Engineering, Polytechnic of Silesia, Poland

1979 – M.S. in Sociology, University of Silesia, Poland
1984 – B.S. in Management Information Systems, College of Automation, Chicago

Involvements:
Department of Energy – Energy Star Partner
U.S. Green Building Council – Research Committee member on energy conservation and renewable energy technologies
U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology – Lighting Commission member on scenography and recent technologies
Chicago Artists Coalition – member, working with visual artists and designing lighting for galleries, store windows, etc.