You CAN teach an older building new tricks; lighting upgrade and retrofit give new lease on life with 66% savings

Biflex Intimates Group, a major U.S. based supplier of womens’ lingerie and daywear apparel, has provided a range of products from everyday basics to luxury and earth–friendly fabrics to many of America’s largest retailers for over 50 years. Biflex is a very environmentally–committed company, and they chose Aelux over several other companies, because of our superior solution of energy efficient lighting and carbon reduction.

CHALLENGE

While Biflex’s headquarters is in New York, their manufacturing and warehouse facilities are located in McComb, Mississippi, in 2 large, 40+ year old buildings with a combined total of 251,240 square feet. Due to the age of the buildings, Biflex had to choose between upgrading their existing buildings or relocating to newer facilities in another area. Energy efficiency played an important role in this decision. Relocation would have resulted in the town losing a major employer and suffering considerable unemployment.

SOLUTION

After a comprehensive facilities audit, Aelux’s photometric analysts designed a lighting layout that enabled Biflex to remain in their original buildings with a dramatically improved lighting system. Aelux designed a combination of new lighting with auxiliary retrofit where possible. Old fluorescents were replaced by 2–lamp T8 fixtures and in certain areas, we were able to reduce the total number of fixtures by 50 to 75% while significantly increasing light levels. The company realized an impressive 66% annual cost savings, with a total energy reduction of 413,216 kWh and an annual decrease of 818,168 pounds of CO₂, equivalent to the removal of 68 cars from the road or the planting of 9,517 trees annually. Biflex’s decision to remain in their existing locations was aided by a grant from the Mississippi Development Authority and funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). Aelux shepherded Biflex through the bureaucratic process and our expert knowledge in this area enabled Biflex to obtain the maximum funding available. The procurement of this grant was instrumental in the company’s decision to improve its existing buildings rather than move to a new location, with the loss of 300 jobs locally. “The grant was substantial and played a big role in the decision to pull the trigger on the project and ultimately stay in this location,” said Todd Tiberi, Energy Efficiency Consultant for the project.

Aelux is proud to offer our customers not only the highest technical level of value engineering but also our extensive knowledge of energy–related financial funding, grant, rebate and tax resources. No other energy efficient lighting company can match our combination of experience, quality and service.