108 • November 2014 • Lighting&Sound America

TECHNICAL FOCUS: LIGHTING

Ever since we began paying attentionto ecological sustainability, stage light-ing has seemed like a big environmen-tal villain. Its offenses are many: hun-dreds of high-wattage luminaires forevery show suggest exorbitant energyconsumption. Inefficient tungstenlamps emit a lot of heat relative to theamount of light they produce and driveup air conditioning loads. This vilifica-tion has been compounded by pro-posed regulations barring the produc-tion of general-service incandescentlamps, perpetuating the idea thatstage lighting represents an environ-mental threat. As theatres and otherperforming arts venues have intensi-fied their interest in environmentalimpact reduction, stage lighting hascome under increasing scrutiny.

Despite these concerns, little dataexists regarding the environmentalimpact of stage lighting for the theatre.Most theatre electrical systems are notsub-metered, and those that are rarelyisolate the stage lighting to allowaccurate power tracking. (If anyone issub-metering their stage lighting,please contact me!) Close attention toenergy consumption is uncommon in

American cultural buildings. In the UKand the rest of Europe, cultural facili-ties are subject to more environmentalscrutiny, but definitive measurementsfor performance lighting alone are hardto come by. As a result, the actualpower use of stage lighting is largelyunknown, and it remains an environ-mental bogeyman.

Up to now, most efforts towardreducing stage lighting’s energydemand have been focused onswitching from incandescent to higher-efficacy sources. Engineeringadvances have brought LED stagelighting products to the marketplace,and the energy savings they offer isused to justify their high initial cost.Although LEDs have only recentlybeen applied to white frontlighting,they have a long track record of suc-cess in applications where deeply col-ored gels reduce the transmission ofincandescent light to a tiny fraction ofits output. Their ability to emit highlysaturated colored light without loss ofluminous efficacy makes them attrac-tive options for deep washes andaccents. By and large, however, LEDstage lighting luminaires remain veryexpensive, and little comparative dataexists regarding luminaire efficiency orheat output that would allow us tocompare them directly to conventionalincandescent products.

A study to gather power use dataTheatre planning and design firmFisher Dachs Associates, in collabo-

ration with Seattle Repertory Theatre(SRT), conceived a project to gatherdata that would help inform environ-mental decision-making about stagelighting. It was a part of a larger studyto identify a range of projects thatwould help the organization addressecological sustainability in achievableways. These ranged from no-brainers(setting the printers and copiers todouble-sided) to costly systemsupgrades that could reap thousandsof dollars in annual utility savings(replacement of aging air-handlingunits). To examine the environmentaleffects of the stage lighting, we hadto find a way to measure the energy itconsumes.

Because sub-metering the stagelighting power feeds was impractical,we used the FocusTrack database tomeasure the stage lighting energy useover the season’s eight productions inSRT’s two spaces: the 250-seat LeoKreielsheimer Theatre and the 850-seat Bagley Wright Theatre.FocusTrack software, designed byRob Halliday, records rig and cueinput from the control console as wellas other information such as focusareas, lamp use, and gobo and colordata. Rob helped us optimize it touse the cue timing, channel levels,and rig data to calculate the electrici-ty use for each cue and then for theentire performance.

As the season progressed, SRT’slighting department recorded detailedshow data and tabulated the hoursspent in focus and rehearsal onstage.We extrapolated each show’s energyuse throughout the number of per-formances and rehearsals and usedthat data to estimate the use duringtech and onstage rehearsal. Although

Stage Lighting and the EnvironmentBy: Katie Oman

A year-long study yields some highlysurprising results

“The data supports a case against eliminating tungstenlamps in the name of ecological sustainability.”

Copyright Lighting&Sound America November 2014 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSA.html

the data are not the result of directpower metering, we believe they nev-ertheless give an accurate idea ofenergy consumption.

Results illustrate energy realitiesThe data offer a number of insights,

both for individual shows and the sea-son as a whole. At the study’s outset,given stage lighting’s reputation forenergy-guzzling, we had some expec-tations about the results. First, wethought that energy use for the seasonwould be so high that we’d be able toshow how important it is to pay atten-tion to the environmental impact of

stage lighting. Second, we thoughtwe’d get measurements that wouldhelp us calculate the payback periodfor LED stage lights. Third, we thoughtwe might be able to justify replacingexisting equipment with LEDs on thebasis of utility cost savings alone.Turns out, it wasn’t quite that easy!

Chart 1, above, illustrates the stage

110 • November 2014 • Lighting&Sound America

TECHNICAL FOCUS: LIGHTING

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0Hours

Sylvia

How to Write a New Book for the Bible

I Am My Own Wife

100

80

60

40

20

Po

we

r U

se

(kilo

wa

tts)

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Or,

Clybourne Park

Chart 1: Production power profile: Seattle Rep 2011-12 season.

lighting power use for six of the eightshows in the 2011 – 2012 season (forthe first two productions, HumorAbuse and Circle MirrorTransformation, integrating cue-track-ing was still in progress).

It’s not only neat to look at butgives us a holistic representation ofthe power use for these productions.Perhaps most obvious is the enor-mous variability in power consumptionbetween shows and from cue to cue.Though this variability might not comeas much of a surprise to lightingdesigners, it’s a valuable illustration ofhow much power consumption canvary even between productions of sim-ilar size and genre. The vast majorityof the shows’ power demands fallbelow 40kW—only around 20% of theaverage total connected load and like-ly much less heat than the building’sHVAC systems were originallydesigned to handle. See Chart 2 for acomparison of each show’s possible-versus-actual power use.

Further, conventional wisdom sug-gests that the curtain call will typicallybe the highest-energy cue in a givenshow. Though they are easily identifi-able in the overall energy-use chart,they show up only as brief spikes anddon’t come near rivaling many otherhigh-powered cues. Examining theshows’ periods of highest energydemand (in excess of 75kW), we findthat these are mostly cues where

incandescent cyc washes were usedat high intensities, and often withdeeply saturated gel. This suggeststhat to reduce overall stage lightingenergy use, higher-efficiency cyc light-ing may be a good place to start. LEDcyc luminaires are not new to the mar-ket, and although they remain costlyas compared with incandescent strips,the lamp life is much longer, colormedia are not required even for highly

700

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100

0

Pow

er

Use p

er

Perf

orm

ance (

kilo

watt-h

ours

)

I Am My

Own Wife

How to Write a New

Book for the Bible

Or, Red Sylvia Clybourne Park Circle Mirror

Transformation

Humor Abuse

Total Possible Power Use

Actual Power Use

253kWh

318kWh

200kWh

227kWh

719kWh

282kWh

160kWh

206kWh

75kWh

26kWh

100kWh120kWh

25kWh34kWh

57kWh

19kWh

Chart 2: Possible vs. actual power use.

TECHNICAL FOCUS: LIGHTING

saturated washes, and the dynamiccolor control of the luminaires isattractive to designers.

Comparing the power demand ofthese highest-energy cues also showsthe large disparity between the poweravailable and what is actually used.One might guess that the peak powerdraw for a particular production will be

a large percentage of the total con-nected load. In SRT’s 2011 – 2012season, only Clybourne Park’s bright-est cue used more than half of thetotal connected load, and the othershows used an average of 30% lessas shown on Chart 3.

In the US, the economic implica-tions of the availability of power in a

building are confined mostly to newconstruction where reduced load fore-casts might allow savings in the costof electrical supply systems; we payfor power as we use it. However, in UKand other parts of Europe, buildingowners and operators pay not only forthe kilowatt-hours they use but also anannual payment per megawatt ofavailable power. In this case, an under-standing of how power feeds can beminimized without affecting designers’artistic options could have importantfinancial implications.

Examining the power use totals forthe entire season yielded the biggestsurprises. While we expected to dis-cover that SRT was spending a for-tune each year on electricity for stagelighting, the total power used by thestage lighting for the entire seasoncame out to just under 25,000kWh.Not only does this amount to less than$1,600 (using Seattle’s commercialpower rate of about $0.065 per kWh),but it also makes up only 2% of SRT’s

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350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

I Am My

Own Wife

How to Write a New

Book for the Bible

Or, Red Sylvia Clybourne Park

Total Connected Load

Peak Cue

Pow

er

Use (

kilo

watts)

137kW 136kW

150kW 147kW

345kW

137kW

103kW95kW

64kW

47kW43kW

24kW

Chart 3: Total connected load vs. maximum power draw.

www.lightingandsoundamerica.com • November 2014 • 113

annual energy bill. Cutting the stagelighting power demand by 75% (apossibility offered by an all-LED rig)would not amount to an institutionallysignificant cost savings. In locationswhere power is more costly—in andaround New York City the rate can be$0.19 or $0.20 per kWh—a $5,000 billfor the season would still remaininsignificant relative to the rest of thebuilding’s energy costs. It should benoted that Seattle Rep’s facilities arepretty typical for a regional theatre; thetwo theatres and their stages make upa large portion of the building, andwhile it houses scenic, costume,office, and rehearsal spaces, the lob-bies are relatively small, and there isno restaurant on site. Thus, the build-ing can’t be characterized as an ener-gy hog that would make the stagelighting power use look small by com-parison. This only serves to under-score the insignificance of stage light-ing’s contribution to the total.

Taking into account the energy use

of cooling systems that counteractheat gains from the stage lighting is abit more difficult. Ignoring quiescentloads, the complexities of stage andauditorium cooling zones, and issuesof thermal storage in maintaining com-fort conditions, we can examine thesensible heat from stage lighting onthe basis of its wattage alone. If, theo-retically, cooling systems are alwayson during performances due to theheat loads imposed by the presenceof an audience, we can assume thatany reduction in heat from the stagelighting will result in a parallel reduc-tion in the work required of the coolingsystem. During tech and rehearsal, inthe audience’s absence, the coolingsystems might not be engaged at all,and energy from the stage lightingwould actually reduce the workrequired of the heating systems.

If the cooling systems’ load result-ing from the stage lighting systemsduring performances was reduced by75% throughout SRT’s 2011 – 2012

season (again using theoretical all-LEDrigs), it might save about 34mBTUover the season, about 40% of theheat loads imposed by a conventionalrig. The cost implications of thesehypothetical savings are impossible toascertain in the case of SRT becausethey use a central chilled-water cool-ing system that is shared throughoutthe Seattle Center campus. Further,Seattle’s climate is relatively mild, sowork required of the cooling systemswill be far less than in hotter, morehumid climates. The small cost of theentire season’s stage lighting electricityuse suggests that a partial reduction incooling demand will not make a signif-icant cost difference in the annualenergy bills.

However, the data does suggestthat for a new building, significant cap-ital cost savings could result from areduction in the peak capacity of cool-ing systems, and therefore the physi-cal size of those systems and therelated space devoted to air supply

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114 • November 2014 • Lighting&Sound America

TECHNICAL FOCUS: LIGHTING

and return. In performance hallsrequiring quiet HVAC systems withvery low air velocities (and thereforelarge ducts), this space can add signif-icantly to building volume and there-fore drive many other costs higher. Aclose examination of the Rep’s datashows that the median peak cuepower is only about 30% of the totalconnected load, and the brightestcues last for an average duration ofless than one minute, while the vastmajority of every show is spent draw-ing much less power than the peak.This suggests that the stage lightingsystems may be generating less heatthan the building HVAC systems weredesigned to handle. Further data mon-itoring of stage lighting may informmore precise systems design and cap-ital cost savings for new buildings andsystems.

In new construction, these savings,along with the possibility of reducingdimmer capacity, could be enough tojustify the cost of LED lighting equip-

Stage Lighting2%

Building Lighting39%

Plug Loads & Terminal Units

11%

Air Handling Units25%

Pumps2%

Cooling13%

Heating3%

Hot Water5%

Chart 4 – Seattle Rep annual energy cost profile. Source: McKinstry Energy Audit 2010.

ment to outfit a new space. In spaceswhere the lighting is always on orwhere it drives a large coolingdemand, such as broadcast spaces orconcert halls, the payback equationmay also favor using very-high-effica-cy light sources. However, in existing

theatres with existing systems, a largeinvestment in high-efficiency stagelighting appears to have little chanceof saving enough energy to pay foritself in a reasonable period. Takinginto account cost savings fromreduced lamp failure and gel use can

improve prospects considerably, espe-cially for cyc lighting, but saving ener-gy through investing in high-efficiencysources is likely to be much moreeffective off-stage than on. It wouldappear that theatres should invest inhigh-efficiency stage lighting equip-ment on the basis of benefits it offersto designers for color control andquality of light.

So where do we go from here?These findings need corroborationfrom other studies before solid conclu-sions can be drawn. However, thestudy does help set a direction fordeeper inquiry into stage lighting’secological profile. First, the data sup-ports a case against eliminating tung-sten lamps in the name of ecologicalsustainability. While higher-efficacysources will offer energy savings incertain applications (especially saturat-ed color washes), a total switch tonon-incandescent sources just won’t

make that much of a dent in a the-atre’s energy consumption. It would bebetter to replace lobby, shop, and cir-culation space lighting to reap theenergy and cost savings and to worrymore about patron transportation,waste management, building systems,and other more formidable environ-mental foes. Changes in stage lightingsources in existing buildings ought tobe made on the basis of artistic objec-tives, not energy savings.

Of course we may find, with furtheranalysis, that new facilities with all-LED rigs may be able to reduce thesize of their air handling systems, andthus see capital building and equip-ment cost savings significant enoughto justify the cost of the luminaires.Likewise, in applications where accessto power is a problem, or where ener-gy costs make up a bigger portion ofthe total costs of production, it may bepossible to make the case for a morereasonable payback period on anenergy-efficient lighting investment.

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“Changes in stage lighting sources inexisting buildingsought to be made onthe basis of artisticobjectives, not energysavings.”

116 • November 2014 • Lighting&Sound America

TECHNICAL FOCUS: LIGHTING

However, relying on energy use reduc-tion from luminaire choice alone maynot register as more than a blip on theannual utility bill.

The relative size of stage lighting’senvironmental impact frees us from

thinking of it as an ecological villainthat we have to hide from or apologizefor. Theatres around the world havemade great strides in reducing theirenergy use by simple buildingupgrades that don’t affect the work

onstage. In fact, prior to this study,SRT upgraded almost all the architec-tural lighting throughout the facility touse energy-efficient lamps, resulting inan estimated energy savings of morethan 100,000kWh, or about $6,000 peryear. The Grand Theatre, in London,Ontario, has changed all of its buildinglights to LED or compact fluorescentsources and has saved more thanCAD $30,000 annually since theupgrade. The UK’s GlyndebourneOpera has altered building lighting andcontrols, upgraded its air handling sys-tems, and trained staff to minimizeenergy consumption, with the goal ofreducing carbon emissions by 70%and getting most of its power from anew wind turbine. If theatres and otherentertainment venues continue toengage ecological sustainability andbegin to actively monitor and managetheir energy consumption, we as anindustry will have all the more dataupon which to base informed deci-sions in the future.

Katie Oman is a senior consultant withArts Consulting Group, a leadingprovider of management and planningservices for the cultural sector. She is aspecialist in strategic facilities planning,with an emphasis on sustainabledevelopment for arts and heritage.Katie’s approach combines deep tech-nical expertise in the complexities ofcultural buildings with sensitivity to theunique needs, values, and aspirationsof cultural organizations. She is aLEED-accredited professional and aCertified Sustainable Building Advisor.Prior to joining ACG, Katie was a proj-ect manager with Fisher DachsAssociates, a theatre planning anddesign firm. She holds a BA in archi-tecture from Princeton University and amaster’s in public history and culturalheritage from Trinity College Dublin.Katie loves dogs, cooking, adaptivereuse, and Gantt charts.

Equipment, Expendables, Systems, and Rigging for Entertainment and Architectural Lighting Since 1947.

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Humor AbuseBagley Wright TheatreDirector: Erica SchmidtLighting design: Ben Stanton

Circle Mirror TransformationBagley Wright TheatreDirector: Andrea AllenLighting design: AndrewSmith

SylviaBagley Wright TheatreDirector: R. Hamilton WrightLighting design: L. B. Morse

How to Write a New Book for the BibleBagley Wright TheatreDirector: Kent NicholsonLighting design: AlexanderNichols

I Am My Own WifeLeo K. TheatreDirector: Jerry ManningLighting design: RobertAguilar

RedBagley Wright TheatreDirector: Richard E. T. WhiteLighting Design: RobertPetersen

Or,Leo K. TheatreDirector: Allison NarverLighting design: L. B. Morse

Clybourne ParkBagley Wright TheatreDirector: Braden AbrahamLighting design: L. B. Morse

SRT 2011-2012 Season, Shows, and Personnel