One Sailor Beefs About Lights, Navy Responds with New High Efficiency LED Technology

February 25th, 2011 by Tina Casey

Congressman Ron Paul seems to have a weird thing for old light bulbs, but you’ll find no such sentimentality in the U.S. Navy. Following up on a Sailor’s complaint about the noisy hum from out-of-date berth lights in submarines, the Office of Naval Research has been working on a new high tech LED lighting system that is estimated to use about 50 percent less power to produce the same amount of light.

The U.S. Navy and Innovation

Actually, it’s a bit unfair to characterize the Navy’s lighting issue as a complaint. It came up through the Navy’s new TechSolutions program, which encourages Sailors and Marines to identify areas in which new technology could improve effectiveness, and get those ideas in front of a rapid-response tech squad. The goal is to develop a solution within twelve months. In this case, what started out as a relatively modest berth light upgrade has turned into a full blown demo project that could find its way across the whole fleet.

Fluorescent Lights and the U.S. Navy

If there were no other alternatives available, the noise problem could be solved simply by upgrading to new compact fluorescent fixtures. They have a lot going for them, compared to those humming, flickering, irritating old fixtures some of us endured in high school. The new ones are quiet, they don’t flicker, they last a long time, and they use less energy. However, the TechSolutions team wasn’t satisfied with a simple solution. Instead, they looked into new LED technology.

LEDs and the U.S. Navy

LEDs (light emitting diodes) save more energy and they are more compact, both of which are key issues for ships with long deployments. LEDs shrink the logistics of loading and storing spare bulbs, and of saving spent bulbs until they can be disposed on land. The challenge was to design LED fixtures that could pass the Navy’s strict standards for durability and electromagnetic interference. Where the old 10-watt berth lights were described as “a legendary maintenance headache,” the new LEDs are expected to last about ten years maintenance-free, and put out the same amount of light with only five watts compared to ten for the old fixtures.

From the Navy to Your Front Door

TechSolutions is working on the new system with a company called Energy Focus, which already has a track record in developing new LED systems for the Navy. LEDs are also starting to make their way into airports and other large facilities as energy-saving retrofits. Though they are still a bit pricey the economics are starting to work out for household LEDs, too. As for all those leaders in Congress who are outraged over the loss of their old light bulbs, I think I’d rather take the Navy’s lead on this one – or is showing a little support for our troops just a little too much to ask?

Image: Fluorescent light fixture by bredgur on flickr.com.

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Tags: fluorescent lights, Office of Naval Research, Ron Paul, TechSolutions

About the Author

Tina Casey Tina Casey specializes in military and corporate sustainability, advanced technology, emerging materials, biofuels, and water and wastewater issues. Tina’s articles are reposted frequently on Reuters, Scientific American, and many other sites. Views expressed are her own. Follow her on Twitter @TinaMCasey and Google+.

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Diesel Denim

I spent 8 patrols on nuke sub’s. I am a Navy Nuke. Don’t think for a minute that at the end of the day fuel usage is not importatnt on a nuke powered ship, esp. a submarine. It is. We senior engineering folks were always competing against the other shifts for efficiency – Reactor fuel usage is recored daily, diesel fuel is measured and recorded daily. When you make your own water, then after that, make your own oxygen from it, it takes a lot of energy just to make the air to breath in the sub. Every imaginable effieciency helps the operation and effective endurance of the submarine and its crew. Woe be unto the man who takes a long, hot “Hollywood” shower! Nothing worse than a water waster! It was no fun when we had to run on our battery during reactor scrams (shut downs) at sea underwater. First action is to turn off all unnecessary loads. That means A/C. The ship and war fighting is what’s primarily important. Humans get what’s left after that and in very metered degrees. Life is good when the reactor is running again – relatively.
Suffice it to say doing more with less is always the goal. I fully agree with the post that encourages us to use the “drop in” LED tubes to replace the fluorescent bulbs (I hated the hum from my light in my bunk, too!!). I just bought some on Amazon for $50 each. No one has mentioned the Mercury hazard in any fluorescent lighting technology. Even new ones can only boast “low Mercury.” Mercury is a prohibited and ‘hazardous’ substance on most all larger US Navy vessels, esp. Nuke ships. LED drop ins need to get pushed. Appears to me to be the lowest cost for the savings, not to mention the ease of upgrading the fixtures. I have done this already with several 4 ft fluorescent T8 bulbs at my job. Got to love those electricians on the sub’s. They had a dirty job and were usually involved in repairing any casualty because electricity is everywhere on the sub.
Underwater Lights

I have CFL’s throughout my house and some of them hum, so I don’t think they would have been a good solution. Maintenance and durability are where the LED’s will really help the Navy.
http://www.kitchenssimply.co.uk/ Kitchen clearance

I noticed that most of the homeowners avoid to installed fluorescent lighting. Even my father also avoid to use this lighting in my home. I could not find the reason behind for it. While on otherside virtually The demand of LED light in increase.
MD

Another thing to consider, LEDs are a lot tougher than tubes. In the event that the Navy does get into a shooting match, LEDs are better suited to survive the shock of an impact or nearby explosion.
Candance

Correction, Ron Paul does not have a weird thing for old light bulbs but rather the constitution of the United States and free markets rather than obtrusive government dictating the free market.
Build a better widget and the people will buy it without the government getting involved.
- Tina Casey
  
  Candance, thank you for your comment. Building a better widget is the easy part. On the business side, the hard part is getting people to notice your widget among all the other great widgets that are out there, finding a price point that works, and fending off unfair or predatory practices by other widget-makers, retailers, shippers, etc. On the consumer side, there’s sorting out which widget will actually do the best job for the money among all the widgets out there, and that lives up to its advertising, won’t fall apart in three days, has a decent customer support system, etc. It’s just not as simple as you make it out to be.
joe

Cry baby sailor whom doesn’t want to stand watch.
- Tina Casey
  
  Joe: If you would like to retract your comment let me know, I will be happy to delete it. Please re-read the post. The point of the program is to solicit new ideas from the people who are living and working with military technology every day, in order to improve efficiencies and effectiveness.
http://www.solidapollo.com/ SolidApollo.com

Being that we also are in the LED business we understand how this process can seem the obvious step to take to improve, in this case Sailors environment when at sea.
If you look what Boing is doing in their new air-crafts, implementing RGB LED lighting, to offer passengers a new experience on their flight.

If you know how to use lights you are able change spaces and dimensions, in other words if you use the right lighting you can make small places look bigger, warmer, taller, enhancing specific areas, etc.
Gman

Hehe, well I doubt the navy care so much about the power consumption when they are sailing with a nuclear reactor!
- Tina Casey
  
  Gman you have a point, the equation may be somewhat different depending on what kind of fuel the ship is using, but there are still storage/space/logistics advantages for LEDs.
- Bob Wallace
  
  Actually the US military is stepping out front of the parade of efficiency and renewable energy.
  
  The US military has acknowledged that gloabal climate change is a major danger for our country and the world. They recognize that if we let the climate spin out of control then they will be facing new wars over water and other resources.
  
  The US military also recognizes that it needs to cut its budget and efficiency is one way to get that job done.
  
  They also realize that they put many service members into high risk situations unnecessarily because they rely so heavily on liquid fuels in war zones. By moving to more efficient gear and on-site PV generation they are able to be more self-sustaining in front line positions and reduce the amount of fuel transported.
  
  Switching on board lights to LEDs, even on a nuclear powered vessel frees up more power for things such as desalinization.
  - Tina Casey
    
    Thanks for all the extra info, Bob. You’re right that military sustainability is a real eye-opener once you start looking into it. Check out some of the things said by the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the head of the Navy, regarding defense — of the environment. Some of these programs go back to the Bush administration but they were cruising along way below the radar. The Obama administration has really picked up the ball and they are doing some really exciting things.
- mds
  
  1. Certainly not all US Navy craft use nuclear reactors. Most use diesel and reducing their dependency on liquid fuel is a strategic priority.
  (Adds to Bob’s point on having to supply less liquid fuel to battle craft and remote combat stations.)
  2. As Tina has already stated, reduced maintenance is one of the important advantages. On a large craft you will free up a significant amount personnel time equivalent to a number of crew positions. You can re-assign these men/women to more pertinent duties or reduce your crew size …saving money.
  3. What if your generator (nuclear or diesel) is taken out during a battle. You still need lights to see below deck and electrical controls to continue firing. Those light and other electrical controls will last much longer on the same battery power if LED lights are used, reducing your consumption.
  4. Many Naval craft connect to shore power when in port. Reduced use of shore-side electricity means lower operating costs.
  - Tina Casey
    
    Thank you mds with your insights, it sounds like you have an insider’s perspective.
charles

I’m with the Navy’s way of looking at the transition to truly energy efficient and luminescencewise flexible LED tech.

CFL is rather inferior in illumination, and dimmable ones are too expensive. I’m using CFLs for years now, but getting rid of some applications like over the sink in the kitchen, where they gone dim in a few months of use, same as basement and shop lights that come on dim and by the time it comes to design illumination level.

They are ok in some applications, but I’d rather use solid state as soon as they are affordable. Subsidy money at the consumer level should be spent promoting LRDs.
steamer551

You can already buy LED replacement bulbs for florescent fixtures on the web for $50.00 Why does the government have to start a program to develop this? They use 10 watts instead of 40, and you don’t need the ballast. They come in 2 ft, 4 ft and 8 ft lengths and use the same prong ends as a florescent tube. Ron Paul get your staff to do some research before wasting money on projects not needed.
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