Why Your Building Is Prime for Lighting Upgrades
October 5th, 2009Facilitiesnet.com reports that Of the nation’s 2.7 million commercial buildings built before 1980, more than 2.2 million have been using the same lighting for the past three decades, the National Lighting Bureau (NLB) reports, citing data published by the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Energy Information Administration (EIA).
NLB estimates that 3 million or more commercial and other nonresidential buildings are candidates for lighting-system upgrades.
EIA divided the buildings by age: Those built before 1980 (2.73 million) and those built since (1.92 million). According to EIA data, only 455,000 (17 percent) of the older buildings reported lighting-system upgrades since 1980.
Federally mandated phase-out of older, inefficient technologies, like magnetically ballasted T12 fluorescent lighting, as well as rising energy costs are expected to drive lighting-system renovation, says Robert Colgan, Jr., NLB chair.
Federal tax incentives designed to encourage lighting-system upgrades in commercial buildings, as well as a variety of state and utility-company incentive programs are also expected to boost renovation activity.
source: FacilitiesNet
Why Aelux Is An Energy Savings Company
October 1st, 2009According to the National Association of Energy Service Companies (www.naesco.org), an Energy Service Company (or ESCO), is a business that develops, installs, and arranges financing for projects designed to improve the energy efficiency and maintenance costs for facilities over a seven to twenty year time period. ESCOs generally act as project developers for a wide range of tasks and assume the technical and performance risk associated with the project. Typically, they offer the following services:
• develop, design, and arrange financing for energy efficiency projects;
• install and maintain the energy efficient equipment involved;
• measure, monitor, and verify the project’s energy savings; and
• assume the risk that the project will save the amount of energy guaranteed.
These services are bundled into the project’s cost and are repaid through the dollar savings generated.
ESCO projects are comprehensive, which means that the ESCO employs a wide array of cost-effective measures to achieve energy savings. These measures often include the following: high efficiency lighting, high efficiency heating and air conditioning, efficient motors and variable speed drives, and centralized energy management systems.
What sets ESCOs apart from other firms that offer energy efficiency is the concept of performance-based contracting. When an ESCO undertakes a project, the company’s compensation, and often the project’s financing, are directly linked to the amount of energy that is actually saved.
Most performance-based energy efficiency projects include the maintenance of all or some portion of the new high-energy equipment over the life of the contract. The cost of this ongoing maintenance is folded into the overall cost of the project. Therefore, during the life of the contract, the customer receives the benefit of reduced maintenance costs, in addition to reduced energy costs.
Included in the ancillary services provided in a typical performance-based energy efficiency contract are the removal and disposal of hazardous materials from the customer’s facility. When, for example, existing fluorescent lighting equipment, ballasts that contain PCBs, and fluorescent light tubes that contain traces of mercury are replaced, the old equipment must be disposed of as hazardous waste.
In sum, Aelux is an ESCO because we prefer the business of longterm energy conservation partnerships over that of the come and go lighting installer. More information about our commitment is available at the Lighting Retrofit Guidelines page.
The Second Color in Henry Ford’s Manufacturing Process — GREEN!
September 30th, 2009Henry Ford (yes … that Ford) said over 80 years ago in his book “Today and Tomorrow” (1926) that “…we will not so lightly waste material simply because we can reclaim it— for salvage involves labour. The ideal is to have nothing to salvage.”
If you haven’t updated your lighting recently, you are wasting material – namely dollars. You can calculate how much with our energy savings calculator.
Saving Energy Actually Increases Sales
September 22nd, 2009According to Context Marketing and Noesis Research’s recent study, “Brand Virtue as a Competitive Asset,” three out of four consumers report they are willing to pay more for brands they see as behaving responsibly. Of those willing to pay more, around 40 percent said they would pay as much as 10 percent more, and another 30 percent say they are willing to pay a premium higher than 10 percent. Bob Kenney, Context Marketing principal commented “Today`s consumers increasingly expect brands and companies to help change the world, even if only in small ways.”
One of the easiest and most cost-effective routes to social responsibility is updating out-of-date lighting systems. According to the Energy Cost Savings Council, energy–efficient lighting projects pay for themselves in just 2.2 years and generate an average 45% return on investment. Yet, 80% of existing commercial buildings operate lighting systems installed before 1986. And now it’s been documented that sales will increase, too.
Interested in increasing sales by updating out-of-date lighting, read our lighting retrofit guidelines.
Also, a complete copy of the study, “Brand Virtue as a Competitive Asset,” is available at www.contextmarketing.com.
Saving Energy Should NOT Be A Secret
September 21st, 2009Facilitiesnet.com reports that many companies, schools and developers literally greet occupants with energy savings statistics. In-lobby dashboards hooked to building metering systems show real-time energy and carbon emissions data. The dashboards also show energy saved by particular energy efficiency technologies like a lighting upgrade. The information is just as simple to include on website for remote users (customers, shareholders, press, etc ) to see what exactly is going on at a building at any given time.
We all know energy savings is too important to postpone. Or keep a secret.
Aelux stays “in–the–know”
September 16th, 2009The Aelux team prides ourselves on staying up-to-date on relevant energy savings information and financing options. Today, our field services agent Steve Hinkle enlightened us as to how many solar panels it would take to power the world. Hint: Less than the surface of Spain.
More info at Gizmodo.
Landmark European Lighting Legislation
August 27th, 2009EU phasing out traditional light bulbs
According to Businessgreen.com, to accomplish reducing CO2 emissions by one million tonnes a year by 2020, the recently passed Eco Design of Energy - using Products Directive restricts the manufacture and import of frosted incandescent light bulbs over the next three years before imposing a full ban in 2012. The legislation bans 100W light bulbs beginning September 1 and lower wattage bulbs one by one over the next three years.
Environment minister Dan Norris welcomed the introduction of the ban, predicting that it will help to accelerate the UK’s efforts to phase out inefficient light bulbs.
“We are glad the EU has put this measure in place to stop the waste of energy and money from old-fashioned, high-energy bulbs,” he said. “The UK has had a successful voluntary initiative in place for a few years, and now the rest of the EU will follow suit on a mandatory basis.”
Under a voluntary initiative, retailers in the UK have already begun to remove 150W and 100W bulbs from shelves and plan to remove all old-fashioned bulbs by 2011, a year ahead of the EU schedule. The government cites strong environmental and economic reasons for switching to more efficient bulbs including that traditional light bulbs waste 95 per cent of their energy as heat and that each CFL delivers annual energy bill savings of between £3 and £6 per lamp ($4.42 and$8.85).
What would be the reaction to similar legislation on this side of the pond?
A Penny Saved is TWENTY Earned
August 26th, 2009According to Energy Star for Healthcare, every dollar a non-profit health care organization saves on energy has the equivalent impact on the bottom line as increasing revenue by $20. For-profit hospitals can boost earnings per share by a penny if they reduce energy costs by 5 percent. Yet, the U.S. Department of Energy reports that 80% of existing commercial buildings operate lighting systems installed before 1986. Our Energy Savings Calculator will show you how much money you will save by replacing outdated lighting.
Schools Find Energy Savings in Lighting Retrofits
August 25th, 2009Environmentalleader.com reported today that educational facilities from colleges to grade schools are finding that they can achieve significant cost savings as well as reduce their carbon footprint [with] lighting retrofits (Source).
As an example, Olympic College in Washington state expects its power consumption to drop by more than 813,000 kilowatt hours per year, while reducing the school’s carbon emissions by 544 tons after it completes its lighting upgrade and retrofit at all three of its campuses. The school expects to offset more than half of the cost of the project through a $226,000 rebate from Puget Sound Energy (Aelux’s turnkey lighting solutions include managing rebate applications in all states where available. Any Aelux team member can assist you in identifying the rebates and financial incentives for which you qualify.) In addition, the school estimates a savings of nearly $5,000 per month in electricity costs on the three campuses.
The Olympic College project [includes] the replacement of current HID lights in parking lots with more efficient fluorescent bulbs. The school will also replace current 32-watt LED lights with smaller 28-watt bulbs, T-12 fluorescent bulbs with more efficient T-8s and use one of the newest technologies in the lighting industry, T-5 bulbs.
Taking energy-efficiency optimization one step further, the new Prairie Point Middle School and 9th Grade Academy in Cedar Rapids, Idaho, has installed a state-of-the-art energy management system and geothermal system. The energy management system will be programmed to shut down systems after hours to decrease unnecessary energy use. The school decreased electricity consumption by nearly 6%, saving more than 2,712,243 kWh of electricity each year. This translates into an estimated $191,172 in annual energy costs, energy efficiency rebates of $380,000, and avoidance of more than 1,948 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
The first step to accomplish comparable savings is to schedule a no-cost audit with a qualified lighting retrofit partner. Qualified and experienced lighting professionals will also accomplish installations without any disruption to student schedules and learning.
How many lawmakers does it take to change a light bulb?
August 24th, 2009The Los Angeles Times reported that the Federal Government paid $671,900 to a lighting consultant to come up with a system to both reduce the energy currently used to illuminate the capital dome and to celebrate the Capitol’s “unique identity” and “enliven the visual experience” of all those who view it. (Source).
The dome’s exterior currently is lighted by 38 1,000-watt metal halide lamps that were installed 20 years ago. The consultant recommended a retrofit of 128 lighting fixtures with new bulbs ranging from 35 watts to 210 watts providing a 70% reduction in energy use. Technology advances provide for the substantial energy reductions.
While both the energy and cost savings will be substantial, the 6-figure consulting cost is equivalent to the $600 toilet seats and $400 tools that used to dominate the headlines. Regardless of the size of the operation, a qualified lighting partner will provide turnkey services including a low- or no cost audit, professional installation and project management. A qualified lighting partner also provides all post-installation rebate and warranty administration.
Again, according to the LA Times, Jeff Ventura, a spokesman for the House chief administrative officer, said the lighting project had “far less to do with saving money in the short term on our energy bill . . . but has everything to do with setting a bold energy-saving example for the rest of the country.” Overspending on energy savings is not a bold example. Updating lighting with a qualified lighting partner reduces generally reduces power costs by 50% as well as cost-effectively setting a much bolder example than spending hundreds of thousands before saving a single kilowatt.
