Keeping Track of Watts

Headnote

PacSun uses current-limiting subpanel to reduce calculated watts on track lighting

Complying with energy codes poses a challenge for retailers nationwide, particularly when it comes to lighting. Many of the new codes place a mandatory limit on lighting density. Track lighting now often carries an additional burden: an automatic wattage calculation per linear foot of track, regardless of the actual designed fixture wattage.

ASHRAE 90.1, which serves as the basis for many municipal energy codes, assigns 30 watts per linear foot of track; California's Title 24 assigns 45 watts. But with today's energy-efficient lighting technologies, the connected load is typically much less than the per-foot multipliers used by most energy codes. The end result is that lighting designs with energy-efficient track lighting are penalized, and available, unused lighting watts are wasted.

Here is how one chain coped with the new restriction:

Pacific Sunwear of California's (PacSun) outlet-store...