The U.S. Energy Department has presented Brigham Young University and two BYU professors with a Special Recognition Award, during the federal agency's National Awards Program for Energy Innovation.
John Clegg, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Ariel Davis, an adjunct professor of electrical and computer engineering, accepted the award Friday.BYU's energy innovation project, to increase lighting output while reducing energy use, was among five selected to receive the special recognition awards. There were 130 candidates nominated for the 1988 award.
The technique Clegg and Davis developed is a high-frequency fluorescent lighting system that increases a light's output while cutting electricity consumption. It runs cooler and longer than traditional fluorescent lights, they said, and more efficiently.
In tests using this new system, under different temperature conditions and with various lamps, the BYU professors said they have recorded energy savings of 19-60 percent.
Brigham Young University has been using its new system to run 400 fluorescent light fixtures in the Crabtree Technology Building.