Ice Rink Installation

An ice skating rink had metal halide lamps in their arena and considered plasma lamps as a replacement. The facility had dimensions of 231ft x 148ft for a total floor space of 34188sq ft and had a ceiling height of 30ft. The target floor lumination was 700 lux, necessary for ice skating competitions and public ice skating sessions. The lighting simulation showed a requirement of 44 units of 700 watt plasma lamps, model PSH0731B to achieve the illumination targets. The metal halide lamps have had a substantial operating cost due to the equipment and downtime needed on the ice rink to replace the bulbs and ballasts so the decision to switch to plasma lamps was easy.

Luminaire Positions

Simulated Illumination Levels

Initial Fixed Costs

400w Metal Halide Lamps:				700w Plasma Lamps:
Part	# of Units	Cost	Total Cost	Part	# of Units	Cost	Total Cost
Bulb	109	$50	$5450	Luminaire	44	$1500	$66000
Ballast	109	$60	$6540
Fixture	109	$100	$10900
		Subtotal	$22890			Subtotal	$66000
Installation Labor Costs	109	$80	$8720	Installation Labor Costs	44	$80	$3520
		Initial Cost	$31610			Initial Cost	$69520

Installation labor costs is calculated at $80 per fixture, which takes into consideration the time to install, lift equipment and the wiring involved in installing these fixtures. The cost to install the lamps were higher given the environmental considerations. Initial fixed costs came out to be $69520 for the plasma lamps compared to $31610 for metal halide lamps, a difference of $37910. Note, the plasma fixtures prices are high estimates and are available at a lower price. The metal halide lamps are current retail prices.

Energy Costs

400w Metal Halide Lamps:		700w Plasma Lamps:
Watts per Fixture	460w	Watts per Fixture	730w
Color Rendering Index	60~65	Color Rendering Index	80~85
# of Units	109	# of Units	44
Power Consumption	50140w	Power Consumption	32120w
Cost per kWh	$0.15	Cost per kWh	$0.15
Hours per Day	12	Hours per Day	12
Days per Year	365	Days per Year	365
Annual Power Consumption	219613kWh	Annual Power Consumption	140685kWh
Annual Energy Costs	$32941	Annual Energy Costs	$21102
		Annual Energy Savings	$11839

The ice skating rink required the lights to be on for 12 hours a day, every day of the year. The 460w figure for the metal halide lamps include the power used by the ballast. The annual energy savings is obvious with plasma lamps. A total of $11839 is saved annually, which pays off for the price difference in the initial fixed costs within 3.2 years. But wait, there's more! Plasma lamps require less maintenance because the bulbs do not dim with age and the parts last longer, see the below chart for details.

Maintenance Costs

400w Metal Halide Lamps:		700w Plasma Lamps:
Bulb Life	10000 hours	Magnetron Life	30000 hours
Ballast Life	30000 hours
Hours on per Year	4380	Hours on per Year	4380
Hours per 10 Years	43800	Hours per 10 Years	43800
Bulb Replacements in 10 Years	4.38	Magnetron Replacements in 10 Years	1.46
Ballast Replacements in 10 Years	1.46
# of Bulbs Replaced	477	# of Magnetrons Replaced	64
# of Ballasts Replaced	159
Replacement Parts Cost	$33419	Replacement Parts Cost	$19272
Bulb Replacement Labor Costs	$19096	Magnetron Replacement Labor Costs	$2569
Ballast Replacement Labor Costs	$6365
Ten Year Labor Costs	$25462	Ten Year Labor Costs	$2569
Ten Year Parts Cost	$33419	Ten Year Parts Cost	$19272
Ten Year Energy Costs	$329419	Ten Year Energy Costs	$211020
Ten Year Total Operating Costs	$388301	Ten Year Total Operating Costs	$232870
Annual Total Operating Costs	$38830	Annual Total Operating Costs	$23287
		Annual Total Savings	$15543
		Price Difference Payoff Time	2.42 Years

Though metal halide bulbs might be rated for 20000 hours, lumen depreciation within the first 10000 hours drops by 30%. Bulb orientation can also have a substantial effect on the bulb life and brightness. We used a figure of $40 per part replacement for the labor costs due to the difficulty in doing maintenance on an ice rink. Once we factor in the maintenance costs, the savings are even greater. Total costs to operate the plasma lamps annually is only $23287 compared to $38830 for metal halide. This is an annual savings of $15543, which means the initial price difference of $24710 between plasma and metal halide will be paid off in just 2.43 years!

Keep in mind these energy costs are calculated under the assumption energy prices remain the same during the 10 years. History has proven that energy costs will always rise with time so the payback time might be quicker than the figures shown above. 477 metal malide bulbs and the 28000mg of mercury that those bulbs would have contained were saved from the landfills by going with plasma lamps. Note the lower color rendering index of 60~65Ra with the metal halide lamps compared to 80~85Ra with the plasma lamps. The savings and benefits are obvious.

Picture of Final Installation