Author: Trevor Dimond

Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying “half the truth is often a great lie”.

I think the “great” referred to the size of the lie rather than the quality but you do see a lot of effort going into constructing a pretty good lie hidden behind a little bit of fact.

The Lighting Cartel in Australasia have been peddling a number of half truths as they battle to retain relevance and their self appointed “gate keeper” position.

Both the Australian and New Zealand building codes have been updated to recognise that traditional electrical emergency lighting and toxic battery back up exit signs are NOT the only one way to provide emergency visibility and identify exits.

Since modernisation of the building codes we have seen propaganda and half truths peddled around the industry inferring that AS 2293 is the only way to provide emergency visibility and exit signage that is compliant with the building codes. Complete RUBBISH!

In my opinion AS 2293 is a standard that is demonstrably flawed and outdated but the incumbent committee, having ruled the roost for so many years, seem to be able to ride roughshod over Standards Australia’s published Standards Guidelines.

I think it’s time we started to call out the half truths.

If there’s interest out there we’ll start a series of brief posts pointing out some of these technical constructs and leave it to you to decide if what’s true and what’s not.

I don’t want to waste my time so hit me with a “like” if you think this is a good idea – or if you’d like to keep it off the grid simply send me an email: td@ecoglo.com

Outdoor stairways are difficult and expensive to light and traditional emergency lighting is particularly problematic. Ongoing maintenance issues drive up operating costs so that’s where Ecoglo’s emergency visibility products can build a failsafe code compliant solution. It’s Ecoglo’s durability in outdoor conditions that really makes the difference.

Ecoglo’s engineers are continually approached to create emergency lighting solutions for outdoor stairways which are part of an evacuation route or exit path and now a recent engineering report confirms just how effective Ecoglo’s solution is, complete the form below if you’d like more information.

Ecoglo products absorb natural light during the day and then are visible all night.

Cost effective, failsafe, sustainable.

http://www.ecoglo.com
http://www.ecoglo.com.au
http://www.ecoglo.co.nz

I’ve had a number of reports about the pressure being applied to building surveyors, certifiers and fire engineers by the lighting cartel in Australia. It appears that they don’t like photoluminescent exit signs which are compliant building code solutions in USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan! The activity seems so orchestrated that you’ve got to wonder what’s behind it all?

The lighting cartel bleats on about “public safety being paramount” but is that the real reason they’re applying so much pressure to design and compliance professionals?

I think it’s the old “follow the money”. How many PL exit signs have we sold in NZ since the building code was changed? If the saving per sign is $150 we’re talking about many, many millions of dollars missing out of some poor emergency lighting sales manager’s budget.

When we get the same market penetration in Australia there will certainly be blood on their balance sheets, very sad 😦

The lighting cartel can keep going with their theatrics but every day we see more facility managers, consultants and regulators shaking their heads in disbelief, they know the huge dollars that the cartel are trying to protect.

The Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Montreal is an architectural gem with over 400 rooms and suites – not to mention excellent views of the gardens and city.

To make sure that the hotel’s exit signs will operate in any blackout the Bonaventure has installed Ecoglo’s revolutionary hybrid PL exit signs which combine state of the art LED technology with Ecoglo’s patented photoluminescent technology. No more battery failures or generators failing to start, not to mention big savings in facility operating costs!

Ecoglo’s technology essentially replaces the battery or generator with a photonic storage device – the Ecoglo photoluminescent panel. The Ecoglo hybrid PL exit signs use the panel to store the photonic energy from the built in LED’s (which are powered from mains electricity).

If the electricity fails in an emergency the stored energy in the Ecoglo panel is used to produce visible light.

This means no more battery failures and no need to find someone else’s backyard to dump the old batteries in.

Cost effective, failsafe, sustainable!

For a technical data sheet email Trevor: td@ecoglo.com

After extensive consultation with market participants the board of the Photoluminescent Lighting Council has ratified 3 standards relating to photoluminescent exit signs.

Although primarily written for Australia and New Zealand the standards have been structured so that they can be easily adapted to any performance based building code.

Download the standards at:   http://www.plcouncil.com.au/

I got a lot of comment last month regarding “Ecoglo Equivalent” products and I was reminded of an “Ecoglo Equivalent” sample that was sent to us last year. The sample was for a step nosing that was being proposed for Perth Stadium as an alternative.

Take a look at the photo of the sample taken last week, the sample has been sitting on a shelf in my office completely protected from any weather. I don’t know if this product was finally installed in Perth Stadium but let’s hope not.

The most frustrating thing is that products like these are made to look like Ecoglo and when they fail it impacts on our brand. We’ve had exactly this problem at AAMI Park in Melbourne, an Ecoglo look-a-like gets installed and very quickly starts delaminating, not great.

After the “no comment” wall went up from the building contractor at Perth Stadium we tried to advise the responsible government department and the building surveyor of our concerns relating to the “Ecoglo Equivalent” product’s durability and also shortcomings with the luminance testing. We had no response – I suppose just too hard for them to deal with!

The Photoluminescent Lighting Council (PLC) has released its next draft standard for public comment.

The PLC was formed in October 2015 to advance the use of photoluminescent (PL) technology in exit sign and emergency visibility solutions.

The PLC is currently working on a standard for “PRODUCT SPECIFICATION OF PHOTOLUMINESCENT EXIT SIGNS”.

As building codes are modified to recognise PL exit signs we need to ensure that the initiative doesn’t get bogged down with standards that are full of outdated electrical lighting terminology and procedures.

For a full rundown of the PLC objectives take a look at:
http://www.plcouncil.com.au/

If you want to be kept up-to-date with the development of standards you can join the PLC through the Members’ page on the website or send your input to info@plcouncil.com.au

We’re starting to see quite a few “Ecoglo Equivalent” products being promoted especially in Australia. Usually their promotional literature has a bit of cut and paste from Ecoglo’s website to back up the Equivalent’s performance 🙂

Take a look at one Ecoglo Equivalent sample that we were sent by a distributor.

Ecoglo is on the left and the “Ecoglo Equivalent” on the right. Top photo shows both products charging, middle photo is one minute after lights off and the bottom photo after only 7 minutes of darkness.

Maybe an Independent Test Report would be useful!

Ecoglo had the opportunity to be a sponsor at the Green Property Summit 2017. During the summit there were a few side discussions among attendees about exciting new battery technologies but all agreed that battery disposal continues to be an issue.

With emergency exit signs the batteries can now be disposed of forever! Batteries in exit signs and emergency lighting have now been superceded by Ecoglo’s photoluminescent technology.

Ecoglo’s technology is essentially a photonic storage device that replaces the battery. Ecoglo exit signs and emergency visibility products recycle photonic energy from natural or artificial light. The energy is stored and then used to produce visible light in an emergency.

This means no more battery failures and no need to find someone else’s backyard to dump the old batteries in.

Cost effective, failsafe, sustainable!

The Photoluminescent Lighting Council (PLC) has been consulting with industry participants over the last 18 months, initially to develop a best practice document, and now a draft standard for the Inspection & Maintenance of Photoluminescent Exit Signs.

As PLC Chairman I invite you to have your say. You can download the draft standard here:

PLC Exit Sign Inspection and Maintenance Draft V4.1

Comments can be emailed to: info@PLCouncil.com.au