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Lighting Tips - Farm

Energy efficient lighting options for barns and outbuildings
There are many strategies available for reducing your lighting costs in barns and outbuildings. Installing fluorescent tubes instead of incandescent light sources where applicable, using dimmer switches, timers and motions sensors are all easy, cost-effective ways to cut energy costs. Also, some new technology and ideas in farm lighting may prove effective for your particular operation, and provide greatly reduced energy charges for years to come.

Electric lights serve many purposes on a farm, including:

• Extending the period of light (day length) in poultry pens and animal barns.
  
• General lighting to permit easy, safe operation of activities.
  
• Security and convenience.
  
• Increased crop production in greenhouses by increasing the daylight period on short or cloudy days, and increasing crop yields.
  

Light sources and general uses
There are a wide variety of light sources available for use in barns and outbuildings. Standard General Lighting Service (GLS) incandescent bulbs are still perhaps the most widely used. Fluorescent tubes and new compact fluorescent bulbs are more efficient to run, and continue to increase in popularity. Other alternatives include mercury vapour, metal halide and high- and low-pressure sodium lamps.

Incandescent bulbs are recommended for all poultry and animal buildings, where high humidity, ammonia, and/or low temperatures are common, and where dimming may be required. However, the newer compact fluorescent bulbs should be considered for some uses.

Some suggestions for general lighting uses in your barns and outbuildings:

• Install switchless, weatherproof, pigtail lamp holders in poultry and animal barns to reduce damage in case an animal or a piece of equipment hits a light.
  
• Use incandescent, weatherproof lights in gasketed globes in areas exposed to rain, dripping or splashed water.
  
• In dusty areas such as feed grinding rooms, feed storage areas, or hay mows, vertically suspend and mount lights in totally enclosed gasketed globes.
  
• On stairways, use enough lights to illuminate the whole stairway, and control them with three-way switches.
  
• In areas without ceilings, such as free stall or loose housing, use reflectors to direct the light downward for greatest benefit.

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Applications of various lighting sources

Incandescent lamps
These traditional "light bulbs" are by far the most common lighting source on Ontario's farms. There are more incandescent bulbs in use than all other types of lighting sources combined. Incandescent lights are very useful in livestock and poultry barns, in dusty or damp locations, for irregular or short duration use, for trouble lights used to repair equipment, and where dimming is required.

Energy saving incandescent lamps
Energy saving incandescents don't look any different from standard bulbs - they're just as easy to install and cost about the same to buy. Energy saving incandescents are available in 34, 52, 90 and 135 watts, to replace standard 40, 60, 100 and 150 watt bulbs. Although the light output of energy saving incandescents is slightly lower, their power savings more than compensate for their subtle difference in brightness.

Don't confuse energy saving incandescents with long-life incandescent bulbs. Although long-life bulbs may last up to 10 times as long as their regular cousins, most put out 30% less light and still use the same amount of power. For more information, see the Lighting Replacement Chart.

Halogen bulbs
Although their light output is similar to that of regular incandescents, halogen bulbs use up to 40% less energy because of their quartz crystal and non-toxic halogen gas components. Not only is the light emitted brighter, but halogens last up to twice as long as regular incandescents. For more information on halogen lamps, see the Lighting Replacement Chart.

Fluorescent tubes
Today's fluorescent tubes use 60-70% less energy than incandescent bulbs and last up to 10-20 times longer. Cool white tubes are the most common, but Standard Warm White and Deluxe Cool White models are available for various lighting applications, as well. Standard Warm White is probably best suited for use in your barns and outbuildings. All are available in 18", 24", 36" and 48" lengths.

Several companies manufacture sealed fluorescent fixtures. They are designed for use in areas with high moisture, gas and dust levels. These sealed and gasketed fixtures prevent corrosion of the base, reduction of light output or reduction of lamp life. They are suited for milkhouses, swine breeding and finishing rooms, broiler and egg-laying areas.

When installing a new fluorescent lighting system, consider using the energy efficient T8 32 W lamps instead of the standard 40 W lamps. Also, consider using energy-efficient ballasts. These can be used with standard or energy efficient lamps.

Compact fluorescent lamps
These small fluorescents are energy saving lamps that can replace incandescent bulbs. Many have specially designed adapters, which include ballasts, sockets and bases that screw straight into standard incandescent sockets. For more information on compact fluorescent replacement bulbs, see the Lighting Replacement Chart.

Typical applications for compact fluorescents are as in offices, milkhouses, milking parlours, cattle barns, workshops, and other sites requiring good light levels. They are also popular for security lighting fixtures, exit and directional signs, and alleyways and doorways where lights may be on constantly.

Mercury vapour lamps
This lamp is the oldest HID (High Intensity Discharge) lamp. Light is produced by a current passing through the mercury vapour at relatively high pressure. This will be useful primarily for outdoor security lighting and yard lighting for animals.

Metal halide lamps
These lamps are similar in construction to mercury vapour lamps, and operate on the same principle as all HID lamps. The metal halide tube, however, contains metallic salts as well as mercury vapour and argon gas. These lights can be used for outdoor security lighting and yard lighting for animals, and also as supplemental lighting for some greenhouse crops. These are a very suitable replacement for Mercury Vapour lamps.

High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lamps
HPS lamps are HID lamps in which the arc is carried by ionized sodium vapour. The arc tube is made of ceramic that can withstand high temperatures and resist the corrosive effects of hot sodium. Similar to other HIDs, these lamps can be used for outdoor security lighting or as yard lighting for animals. These lamps can also be used for supplemental lighting in greenhouses, or in areas where colour rendering is not critical.

Low Pressure Sodium (LPS) lamps
This HID lamp operates at low pressure. The arc is carried by sodium vapour. The lamp design fully utilizes the generated heat, which results in extremely high luminous efficacy. The lamp emits monochromatic yellow light. This lamp is best used for outdoor yard and security lighting, as supplementary lighting for some greenhouse crops, or where colour rendering is not important.

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Timeswitching and dimmers
Proper management of a lighting system in a livestock building requires the use of timeswitches and dimmer controls. Sometimes the dimmer operation itself is time controlled.

Timeswitches
Timeswitches should have a spring or battery backup to maintain timing for a limited period in the event of power failure. Depending on your lighting strategy, you may require special equipment to accommodate timing cycles longer than 24 hours (especially if using an ahemeral or other lighting scheme - see below).

Dimming
Either a variable voltage transformer or an electronic device should perform dimming of lights.

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Emergency lighting
Any prolonged loss of light is a problem in most controlled-environment buildings, and for certain types of farming operations, these light losses can lead to significant financial loss, as well.

Although separate emergency fittings and wiring can rarely be justified by any but the largest farming operations, other options for emergency power recovery exist. For example, many smaller farmers with environmentally controlled buildings have a stand-by generator that is capable of taking both the lighting and ventilation loads.

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New ideas in farm lighting
Several new approaches to controlled lighting are beginning to become more popular, in response to the need for reduced costs and higher efficiency throughout the farming operation. The following are two of the more popular methods of controlling lighting in barns and outbuildings, utilized mainly in the poultry farming industry to reduce costs without sacrificing productivity.

Biomittent lighting
This concept is based on the idea that, during light periods, the same level of production can be maintained with very short periods of actual artificial light every hour compared with continuous lighting throughout the entire sixty minutes. By switching the light on for 15 minutes, and leaving it off for the remaining 45 minutes out of every hour (using timeswitches, of course), ordinary production levels can be maintained while energy used for lighting is considerably reduced.

Ahemeral lighting
Ahemeral lighting, in this context, simply means a controlled lighting scheme for poultry production that is based on a non-24 hour day. The most common ahemeral cycle is a 28 hour day. This approach basically puts the hen on a 6 day week, to which the main response is laying fewer, heavier eggs. Since large eggs are at a premium, this can have a significant financial benefit for the producer.

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