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High Performance Lighting Guide

Principles

Service Areas include closets, laundry rooms, utility rooms, workrooms, basements (unfinished), and garages. Service areas should be the first step in any approach to high performance lighting. Because of their utilitarian nature, service areas benefit from the simplest level of direct lighting with surface mounted fixtures, which is often quite satisfactory. Though the frequency and length of use of these rooms may not be high, it is common for occupants to leave these lights on and often unattended for long periods, so the efficiency of high performance lighting can provide significant value in reducing lighting energy costs.

High performance lighting in the closet. Click for a larger image.

The lighting in these rooms often serves as task lighting, as well as ambient, and thus provides somewhat higher levels of illumination than ambient lighting criteria alone would require. It is recommended that 830 (80CRI, 3000K) lamps (Specifications for Lamps and Bulbs) be used even in these utilitarian spaces for consistency with high performance lighting in other rooms and with incandescents. It is particularly important to use these lamps for closet lighting, so that clothing colors appear accurately. Selecting recessed lighting for closets will provide a crisp, dramatic illumination of clothes. In laundries and other workrooms where cabinetry is mounted above counter surfaces, the use of undercabinet lighting is recommended for good task illumination. The high quality of light provided by indirect lighting is typically considered unnecessary for these service areas.

What approaches are recommended to apply HPL?

Garage (21 ft x 21 ft)
Fixtures: Ceiling mount or pendant mount, 1x4 with two 32W T-8.
Spacing: For ambient lighting - up to 15 ft on center. For task and ambient lighting - up to 10 ft on center.
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Small Closet (2 ft x 4 ft)
Fixture: One 14W undercabinet light.
Spacing: Mount above door.
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Medium Closet (3 ft x 8 ft)
Fixture: One 32W undercabinet light.
Spacing: Mount above door.
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Large Closet or Utility Room (up to 6 ft x 12 ft)
Fixture: Ceiling mount, 1x4 fixture with two 32W T-8.
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Large Closet or Utility Room (up to 6 ft x 12 ft)
Fixture: Recessed downlights with white reflectors, 26W CFL
Spacing: For maximum spacing, see Fixtures for Direct Lighting.
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Basement (22 ft x 32 ft)
Fixture: Ceiling mount, 1x4 with two 32W T-8
Spacing: Ambient light up to 15 ft on center. Activity light up to 10 ft on center.
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Large Closet or Utility Room (up to 6 ft x 12 ft)
Fixture: Recessed downlights with clear reflectors, 18W CFL.
Spacing: For maximum spacing, see Fixtures for Recessed Lighting.
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