When you are running a green business, you never know what the next challenge you will be facing next. Some are expected: Finding green suppliers, customer service issues, choosing packaging and shipping, managing cash flow, etc.
Most of these are pretty much expected. Some are just part of running any business, green or not. Others are specific to green businessesm but still pretty much what we would expect.
Then, every so often one hits us from out of nowhere. This is one of those. Our business, Kate’s Caring Gifts is a certified Alameda County Green Business. Last fall, our certification was up for renewal, and that’s when the fun began.
The first step is that they audit our practices. In our case, it was fairly simple. We recycle almost everything. We use recycled packaging every time we can, we have almost no waste, one toilet and one sink. We don’t have an air conditioner or a furnance in the warehouse.
But, there was one area where we did not pass the audit. The new requirement for green businesses is that all T-12 style florescent lamps be replaced with more efficient T-8 lamps. Some estimates are that t8s are up to 40% more efficient
The numbers in T-12 and T-8 refer to the diameter of the tubular lamp, measured in 1/8ths of an inch. So a T12 lamp is 1.5 Inches in diameter (12/8) and a T8 is 1 Inch (8/8). T8 lamps are more efficient, produce more light for the same or less electricity, and contain less mercury.

Part of the efficiency of T8 lamps is that they use an electronic ballast (transoformer) rather than the magnetic ballast used by T12 lamps. That means that you can’t just put a T8 lamp into a T12 fixture. The lights will flicker very badly.
That means that either the old ballast needs to be removed from the fixture and replaced, or the entire fixture has to be replaced. We have 10 light fixtures. 8 of them are 17 feet up in the air. The other two are accessible using small ladders.
We called some electricians, and couldn’t find anyone who was even interested enough to come out and give us an estimate. So, we decided to do it ourselves.
Our first thought was that it would be cheaper and more efficient to change out the ballasts. I figured I would give it a shot on our two accessible fixtures. So, I went down to the local electrical supply store, and asked for a T8 ballast and lamps that would fit into my T12 fixture. The Ballast alone was $150. YIIKES! Still, I got one, took apart an old fixture and tried to install it. The only word I can use for the result was FAIL. The electronic ballast has a completely different wiring from the magnetic ballast, and when all was said and done, the light didn’t come on.
So, we were back to square one. I decided to pay a visit to the local Home Depot, and there were complete T8 fixtures for $47. These fixtures used two 4 foot T8 lamps end to end in place of one 8 foot t12 lamps, but otherwise were the same footprint as our old fixture.
We got a couple, and installed them successfully in the accessible area. HUZAH! So now, it was how to get them installed in our 17 foot ceiling. One thing was clear, I was NOT going up on a ladder. I checked into scaffolding, then my neighbor suggested we get a scissor lift from Sunstate Equipment rental (located right down the street from us)
OK - Now we had to move all our inventory and shelving so that we could put the scissor lift into the right places, and we were off!
Sunstate delivered at 7:00 AM and we were off - We took down an old fixture, put up a new one, tested, and moved on. Here are a few pictures of us at work. (sorry about the quality - it was dark, and I had to push the exposure)


So now we just need to put the shelves back where they were, and we are done - The whole project took about 6 months