Brian Elfert wrote:

What about the OSHA rules that are often quoted of 3 watts per sq foot for
flourescents?

I have no clue where that comes from but it doesn't apply to non
commercial applications anyway.


My proposed shop is 24x24 so I would need over 1,500 watts based on that.
That seems like a lot. A space heater is usually 1,500 watts.

Way too much.

I'd use 600 watts/40 watts/tube = 15 tubes +/-.


My thinking for my new shop is 4 rows of 8' T8 double bulb fixtures two
per row. That is 944 watts which seems like a lot! Is that too much? I
don't really want to burn a kilowatt an hour just for lighting.

Not if you are going to be an engraver, otherwise yes, IMHO.

See calculation above.