Illuminated Exit Signs

Photo:

THE PRODUCT:

An illuminated exit sign is designed to be permanently fixed in place to identify an exit.

THE STANDARD:

Traditionally, exit signs used small incandescent bulbs. However, these signs operate all the time, making energy use high. For example, a 40 W exit sign will cost $35/year to operate at an electricity cost of 10 cents/kWh. To address this high energy use, manufacturers first developed compact fluorescent exit signs (typically using around 13 W) and then developed LED (light emitting diode) exit signs (typically using 3-4 W). The LED signs were promoted by the Energy Star program and many utility and state programs. California and other states then adopted standards requiring use of exit signs using no more than 5 W per face (e.g. 5 W for a one direction sign, 10 W for a sign that faces two different directions). Congress made this a national standard in 2005, with the standard taking effect in January 2006.

Illuminated Exit Sign documentation can be found in EPAct 2005.

Links

Exit Signs, Mercury Vapor Ballasts, Pre-Rinse Valves, Traffic Signals, and Unit Heaters Federal Register Link

Timeline

Federal	Date	State
	2008	AZ Standard Effective *
	2007	WA Standard Effective *
	2007	NJ Standard Effective *
	2007	RI Standard Effective *
	2007	OR Standard Effective *
	2006	CT Standard Effective *
1st Federal Standard Effective	2006
	2005	MD Standard Effective
EPACT Initial Federal Legislation Enacted	2005
	2005	WA Standard Adopted
	2005	NJ Standard Adopted
	2005	AZ Standard Adopted
	2005	RI Standard Adopted
	2005	OR Standard Adopted
	2005	NY Standard Adopted
1st Federal Standard Adopted (Congress)	2005
	2004	CT Standard Adopted
	2004	MD Standard Adopted
	2003	CA Standard Effective
	2002	CA Standard Adopted