Metal halide safety at question

For quite some time I have been talking to thousands of people who run school gymnasiums, factories, big-box stores and other large spaces all across the country that they should be replacing their metal halide lamps with T-5 fluorescent lamps, or even T-8 fluorescent lamps. Besides significantly improving the quality of light, T-5 and T-8 linear fluorescent fixtures use around 35-50% LESS ENERGY for the same lumen output of metal halides. T-5's last for 24,000 hours on average and don't have the restrike time issues that metal halide lamps.

However last week I heard about this story http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070329/ap_on_re_us/broken_bulbs where four people say their eyes were damaged, perhaps permanently, by ultraviolet radiation from a broken metal halide lamp in an Oregon school gym. It was quite concerning that this could actually be the cause.

Since that time the Oregon Senate has proposed Senate Bill 479 which passed Friday 28-1 that requires the changing of metal halide lamp types to ones that shut off within 15 minutes of the lamp being broken.

Instead of spending all that money for a solution that still would be energy intensive, the Oregon Legislature should look at other technologies that are not only safer, but reduce the amount of energy consumed.

The bottom line is that if you have or know of people who have metal halide lamps, let them know they can cut their lighting costs significantly by looking at T-5 or T-8 solutions. But more importantly, they are reducing energy demand and their carbon footprint.

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