Commercial Lighting Solutions web tool for commercial buildings launched

The interactive Web tool is designed to help commercial building owners improve lighting efficiency by at least 30% over ASHRAE 90.1-2004. Commercial Lighting Solutions was introduced at LIGHTFAIR International, the world's largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference.

Developed by DOE in partnership with lighting designers, architects, and commercial end-users, the tool provides energy savings projections based on user input and selections. The solutions are designed to meet or exceed energy savings levels needed to qualify for tax incentives established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Commercial users and designers can also use the Web tool to document performance against energy goals which can support end-user applications for incentives and rebates from utilities and state or regional energy efficiency programs.

Commercial buildings in the U.S. consume an estimated 18% of total U.S. energy use and contribute nearly 4% of global carbon dioxide emissions. In 2006, lighting constituted about 25% of the commercial sector's energy use, making it the largest single component of building energy use, and accounted for 42% of a commercial building's cooling load.

Commercial Lighting Solutions is the first commercial technology solution to be launched as part of the DOE's Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative (CBI). The first application of Commercial Lighting Solutions has been developed and analyzed for five types of retail stores (big box, small box, grocery, specialty market, and pharmacy). Solutions for office and institutional buildings are already underway.

CBI aims to achieve marketable net-zero energy commercial buildings by 2025. CBI collaborates with the private sector, national laboratories, other federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations to advance energy efficient commercial building technologies.