While it is a fact that fluorescent lighting has been around for many years, many building managers still do not know all that this remarkable technology is able to do for their business.  Making decisions on what to buy, and what to ask a contractor to install, requires knowledge of the product’s operability and benefits in order to justify the expense to one’s busines partners or managing team. 

Fluorescent lamps are very different from incandescent fixtures.  They use a very unique method of generating light.  Rather than passing current through a wire, they create a chemical reaction within a glass tube that contains an inert gas, tiny amounts of mercury, and is coated with phosphor. 

Two electrodes, located on either end of the tube, pass an electrical current through the tube that agitates the electrons in the mercury and gas molecules.  This, in turn, causes the electrons to release photons, the basic particle-waves of light.   Since the majority of this light is ultraviolet, however, it must be passed through the phosphor coating in order to be transformed from invisible light to visible light.   

Due to its conservation of heat, fluorescent lighting is much, much more efficient than incandescent lighting.  This is because incandescent lights are induction based, which means they generate light by passing current through a filament wire to agitate electrons in the metal. 

This creates a release of photons in the form of visible light, but it also creates tremendous amounts of heat which are never converted to light.  This is both a waste of electricity and a cause of high cooling costs in buildings because the HVAC system has to work overtime to cool down the air around the lights. 

However, this is grossly inefficient, because all of this heat is energy that is being wasted.  It also shortens lamp life, which results in needless replacement costs for businesses that cannot afford to throw away.

Many businesses that are now becoming more environmentally conscious have expressed concerns about the mercury content of fluorescent lighting.  These are valid concerns, but they are no cause for alarm. 

Manufacturers and resellers include with these fixtures guidelines on how to handle cleanup in the event that an accident occurs and a lamp is broken.  Contractors also know where to take these fixtures when they are upgraded or replaced.  In terms of day-to-day operation, however, there no danger to humans, animals, or the environment.

In fact, fluorescent lighting is not only safe and economical, but it is poised now at the beginning of the second decade of the 21^st century.  They are ideal for any location near a building or around its perimeter—especially when it comes to security.  Because they use energy far more efficiently, they are more durable, and therefore more dependable, than other light sources. 

Where there was a time when fluorescent lighting once only lit office interiors, hallways, and break rooms, they have now exited the building to become a preferred source of outdoor lighting.   Many of the new fixtures that have emerged on the market in recent years include decorative outdoor light fixtures, walkway and pathway lighting fixtures, bollards, parking garage lighting fixtures, wall packs, façade lights, sign lights, landscape up lighting, and flood lights.