- Poultry
- 4 minutes read
In the last decade, LED lighting has rapidly been taking over the world of poultry lighting. Nevertheless, fluorescent lighting is still being installed in a huge number of poultry houses across the globe.
Switching from fluorescent lighting to good LED lighting improves farm results and more.
Making the switch:
- Decreases energy costs
- Reduces replacement, labour and purchasing costs
- Improve poultry well-being and performances
- Increase fire safety.
Result: improved results and a safer poultry house.
How? Let’s have a look!
Higher energy efficacy
Energy efficacy
This is the amount of energy in Watt that is used to provide a specific amount of light output in lumens. Simply said: the higher the energy efficacy, the less energy is needed to realise the desired light output.
LED vs fluorescent lighting
The energy efficacy of LED lighting is way higher than that of fluorescent lighting because LED lighting produces light in a different way.
As a result, LED lighting wastes and uses far less energy (W) to produce the same amount of light (lm). When we compare our CORAX (LED) with our ED (fluorescent), we see a major difference in efficacy: 121lm/W vs 83lm/W. A difference of 46%!
| Energy efficacy | CORAX (LED) | ED (fluorescent) |
| Power consumption | 8.7W | 36W |
| Light output | 1050 lm | 3000 lm |
| Efficacy | 121 lm/W | 83 lm/W |
| Efficacy difference % | 46% |
Benefits
Thanks to the higher energy efficacy of LED lighting, energy consumption and therefore energy costs decrease significantly. As you can see in our calculation below, switching to LED lighting can save hundreds of euros per year per house. *
Example based on regular distributions on broiler house experience:
| Energy consumption & costs | CORAX (LED) | ED (fluorescent) |
| Wattage | 8.7W | 36W |
| Number of lamps needed to intend optimal climate | 100 units | 48 units |
| Energy consumption per year | 8.7W x 100 / 1000 = 0.87 kwh x 16 x 300 = 4176 kwh | 36W x 48 / 1000 = 1.728 kwh x 16 x 300 = 8294.4 kwh |
| Energy costs per year | 4176 kwh x 0.40 €/kwh = €1.670,40 |
8294.4 kwh x 0.40 €/kwh = €3.317,76 |
| Difference | ~50% / €1.647,36 more |
Longer lifetime
Lifetime
This simply stands for the number of hours a lamp can be illuminated before it reaches a certain amount of light attenuation (loss of light intensity). The lifetime of a lamp is normally expressed in the expected average lifetime in hours.
LED vs fluorescent
Again, LED lighting beats fluorescent lighting, because LED lighting produces light in a different way and because it contains no moving parts or filaments that may break or burn out.
If we look at our CORAX (LED) and ED (fluorescent) again, the difference in lifetime becomes pretty clear. Our CORAX has an expected average lifetime of 50,000 hours (+/- 6 years), whereas the ED (the lamp, not the fixture) has an expected average lifetime of 15,000 hours (+/-2 years). This means that during the lifetime of one CORAX, the lamp of the ED has to be replaced twice!
| Lifetime | CORAX (LED) | ED (fluorescent) |
| Hours | 50.000 | 15.000 |
| Years | 6 | 2 |
| Replacements in 6 years | 0 | 2 |
Benefits
Lamps that have a longer lifetime do not need to be replaced as often. Switching to LED lighting in this case benefits the farm results, since:
- Fewer new lamps are needed for replacements over the years. This reduces purchasing costs.
- Fewer labour hours & replacement costs are necessary to replace the lamps.
- The downtime due to replacement is much lower, which positively influences poultry well-being and performances
| Replacement costs in 6 years | CORAX (LED) | ED (fluorescent) |
| Purchases | 1 | 3 |
| Replacements | 0 | 2 |
| Downtime | 0 | 2 |
Optimal Light Climate
Optimal light climate
Lighting has several aspects that influence poultry in their own way. Altogether, they make up the light climate and include aspects such as the light spectrum, the light colour and temperature, light flicker and so on. In an optimal light climate, the different aspects of light fulfil the needs of the poultry.
LED vs fluorescent lighting
LED lighting outperforms fluorescent lighting in all of the aspects of light, enabling it to realise a much better light climate. The main difference? In short, good LED lighting.
- Its light spectrum simulates natural daylight better than fluorescent lighting.
- Its light colour (temperature) can be adjusted to suit the needs of the birds in the house. This isn’t the case with fluorescent lighting.
- Flicker-free to reduce stress. Fluorescent lighting always flickers.
- Dims smoothly from 100-0% to simulate sunrise and sunset. This is not possible with fluorescent lighting
Benefits
Switching from fluorescent lighting to good LED lighting improves the light climate. In this way, poultry vision, behaviour, well-being and performances are improved in multiple ways. Result: happier, healthier animals and better farm results.
Higher energy efficacy
Fire safety
The higher the fire safety, the lower the risk of an actual fire inside a poultry house. The fire safety of the lighting installation depends on multiple factors. One of these is the voltage of the lamps and, accordingly, the cables used and the position of the accessories and the cables.
LED vs fluorescent
The risk of fire in a poultry house is lower when using 48VDC LED lighting, compared with mains fluorescent lighting. Why?
- 48VDC cables have a lower risk of starting a fire in case of e.g., a short circuit than mains cables.
- With 48VDC systems, the power supply and the driver can be placed in the service area instead of inside the house.
Benefits
As a result, with a 48VDC LED system, fewer mains cables have to be used inside the house and the majority of the ones being used can be placed in the service area. This reduces the risk of fire.
Improving life through brightness
As you can see, switching from fluorescent to LED lighting can make a major difference. It improves overall farm results in multiple ways:
- Lower energy costs
- Lower purchasing, maintenance costs and labour costs
- Less downtime
- Improved poultry well-being and performances
- Improved fire safety
BE AWARE
There are major quality differences amongst the LED lighting solutions offered. Low quality LED lighting can seriously harm both farm results and poultry well-being and performances. Don’t be “penny wise and pound foolish” when it comes to your farm equipment. Choose quality and long-term results over low purchasing costs.
*Calculation based on:
- Type of house: Broiler house
- Measurements: 15 * 100 metres. Walls: 2.8 metres high. Ridge: at 5.2 metres height **
- Location: the Netherlands
- Energy price for business in the Netherlands: €0.40 excl. VAT***
- Lamps compared: CORAX (LED) & ED (fluorescent)
- Average time lamps are on full power: 16 hours for 300 days a year
** please note that this example is indicative. The actual figures may differ per house and per country of application.
*** energy prices in the Netherlands differ based on energy consumption. This is an indicative cost, but based on actual prices.
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