Date Announced: 14 Oct 2009 Visible from both the land and the sea, the First Baptist Church's 200-year-old steeple serves as a landmark for parishioners as well as visitors and residents in this Massachusetts coastal community.In the fall of 2008, parishioners of the First Baptist Church unanimously voted to renovate the church's historic but aging steeple. The restoration plan included additional renovations to the steeple's exterior lighting. The new lighting design aimed to fully illuminate the steeple's upper half, while keeping energy consumption to a minimum. Because they need to be replaced frequently, the conventional light fixtures that had traditionally illuminated the steeple were problematic, as replacement and maintenance was virtually impossible in this hard-to-access location. Consequently, the lighting design called for fixtures with long lifetimes and minimal maintenance requirements.The church staff worked with renowned church renovating specialists, American Steeple & Tower Co. Inc., to update the historic spire. For their lighting needs, they turned to local resident Scott Ferriero of Boston Light Source. The design team chose Philips LED lighting fixtures because they consume less energy, require far less maintenance, and offer an estimated lifetime of 50,000 hours of use.Before the renovation, the steeple used just eight 150-watt incandescent floodlights to illuminate the top of the spire only. The former lighting scheme called for four sets of lights — each set comprised of two lamps — which were installed on metal arms that extended approximately 3 ft (914 mm) from the seven-sided structure. The lighting ran from dusk until dawn, and because so few fixtures were used, energy consumption was not a large concern.Problems arose due to the fixtures' hard-to-access location. The lamps could only be replaced when a steeplejack was hired, which only occurred every seven to eight years when the steeple was painted. The incandescent sources had an estimated lifetime of just 4,000 hours, which meant that the fixtures would always burn out long before they could be replaced, leaving the steeple in the dark.When choosing the right fixtures to illuminate the refurbished spire, the design team wanted to expand the lighting to fully illuminate the upper half of the steeple. They also required light sources that closely matched the cool color temperature of the former system. And most importantly, they wanted fixtures that required no maintenance and would last until the next painting of the steeple - or even longer.Philips white-light LED fixtures in a cool color temperature of 4000 K proved to be the ideal option. eW® Blast Powercore, a white-light LED floodlight, now highlights the steeple's upper spire. A total of 14 fixtures are in use, two per side of the heptagon. Half of these fixtures use a clear lens to project light to the very top of the spire. The other half uses a frosted lens to illuminate the spire's lower level. Each side uses a fixture with a clear and frosted lens, installed on its bottom ledge.Not only do the new fixtures consume 58% less energy than the former system, but they also require little to no maintenance. To fully illuminate the spire year round with the former incandescent floodlights, the congregation would have needed to replace the burnt out lamps at least once a year. Taking into account lamp costs, steeple jack fees as well as energy consumption to illuminate the spire year-round, the new maintenance free system yields a 70% savings.Additional lighting added to illuminate of the midsection of the steeple, requiring only an additional 720 watts — less energy than a typical microwave oven uses. Twelve eW Graze Powercore wall-washing fixtures illuminate the two lower sections of the steeple. Underneath the spire, eight fixtures illuminate the wood shutters — one 4 ft fixture per shutter to bathe the shutters uniform white light. Further down, four eW Graze Powercore fixtures illuminate the four windows. These low-profile fixtures allow for discreet placement. Like the other fixtures that use Philips proprietary Powercore® technology, these fixtures directly accept line voltage for simplified installation.The church benefits from both the low energy consumption of the new LED fixtures and their rated lifetimes, which are significantly longer than the former fixtures. With an estimated lifetime of 50,000 hours, the new light sources will last for years to come at roughly six hours of use per day. And because the LED sources do not radiate heat or emit ultraviolet light, the fixtures will not damage the integrity of the new steeple.The Result? The newly renovated steeple is illuminated from dusk until 1 a.m. daily, providing a stunning focal point at the heart of the city.About Philips Color KineticsPhilips Color Kinetics transforms environments through dynamic and more efficient uses of light. Its award-winning lighting systems and technologies apply the benefits of LEDs as a highly efficient, long lasting, environmentally friendly, and inherently digital source of illumination - reinventing light itself as a highly controllable medium. Headquartered in Burlington, MA, USA, Philips Color Kinetics is the leading center of innovation and product development for Philips' global LED lighting systems business. The organization also enables widespread adoption of LED lighting through OEM partnerships in diverse markets. More information is available at www.colorkinetics.com.About Royal Philips ElectronicsRoyal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a diversified Health and Well-being company, focused on improving people's lives through timely innovations. As a world leader in healthcare, lifestyle and lighting, Philips integrates technologies and design into people-centric solutions, based on fundamental customer insights and the brand promise of "sense and simplicity". Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips employs more than 118,000 employees in more than 60 countries worldwide. With sales of $38 billion in 2008, the company is a market leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as lifestyle products for personal well-being and pleasure with strong leadership positions in flat TV, male shaving and grooming, portable entertainment and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.
Contact
Jill Klingler Philips Color Kinetics 781-418-9277
E-mail:[email protected]
Web Site:www.colorkinetics.com
