When it was time
to upgrade its
light ing system, Red Gold
wanted it all.
The tomato processing company
based in Orestes, Ind.,
wanted to cut its electricity bill
and save energy. However, Red
Gold had no intention of sacrificing
lighting quality. On the
contrary, the company wanted
better, more even lighting
throughout its 980,000-square foot distribution
center in Alexandria, Ind.
Before May 2007, the DC had a mix of both
metal-halide and high-pressure sodium lights.
Uneven lighting throughout the DC was causing
eye strain, which became increasingly uncomfortable
for employees. In addition, order
pickers needed evenly distributed lighting to
read labels accurately.
“We had 15 footcandles [a measurement of
lighting intensity] right under the lights, but six in other areas,” says Dallas
Conrad, project engineer at Red
Gold. The cause was lumen depreciation,
which is common
in metal-halide fixtures. “After
metal halides
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burn for about a
month, there is a significant decrease
in the amount of light output,”
he explains. “It continues to
trend down until it reaches 30%
of its original light output.”
Improving lighting quality was
only one of Red Gold’s objectives
when it started to seek suppliers for a lighting
system retrofit. Lighting accounts for 25%
to 40% of a building’s total energy consumption
and up to one-half of its monthly electric
bill, according to the National Electrical
Manufacturers Association, and Red Gold
wanted to bring that cost down. At the same
time, it wanted to save energy to support a
corporate-wide sustainability initiative. It was
a tall order.
After evaluating several lighting suppl i e r s , the company chos e
Westinghouse Lighting Solutions
(Philadelphia).
 Saving Green, Going Green
With the help of lighting contractor
4TC Corp. (Portland, Ind.), Red Gold replaced the
485-watt, metal-halide lights with
197-watt, four-tube, high-bay T5
high-output fluorescents and the
high-pressure sodium lights with
235-watt, six-tube, high-bay T5
high-output fluorescents.
The 680 new lights in the
Alexandria facility use approximately
50% less wattage than the
old lights, and that means less
energy use. Overall, “we’re using
one-third less energy in the facility,”
Conrad says. As a bonus,
Red Gold was able to take a sizeable
tax deduction permitted by
EPAct 2005. (See sidebar, “Uncle
Sam Wants You…to Save Energy,”
on page 54.)
Jay Goodman , founder
and managing director of
Westinghouse Lighting Solutions,
says the energy savings that Red
Gold experienced by replacing
metal halides with fluorescents
are not unusual. “A typical,
100,000-square foot warehouse
in N.J. with 400-watt, metal halide
lights that changes to 234-
watt, high-intensity fluorescent
fixtures will get a 50% energy savings,”
he says.
Along with reducing energy
bills, the new lighting helped
Red Gold meet its corporate sustainability
goals. “We’re reducing
our energy consumption across
the board,” says Conrad. “The
lighting project was one piece
of a larger program.” Red Gold
was recently awarded the Green
Tint award from the Indiana
Governor’s Council for its environmental
efforts. Companies
earn the Green Tint award by
cutting energy use throughout
the building envelope.
Increasing lighting efficiency
is good for both the bottom line
and the planet. “A reduction
in energy usage translates into
a reduction in energy generation,
which means a reduction in
carbon dioxide emissions,” says
Goodman. “The N.J. project, for
example, would be equivalent to
planting 95 acres of trees and taking
77 cars off the road.”
“Reducing energy waste has a positive impact on
the environment,” adds
Russ Monchein, owner
of Vanguard Industrial
Products (Cleveland), a
supplier of commercial
and industrial products
designed to save money
and create safer environments.
Vanguard Industrial
Products is a member of
the U.S. Green Building
Council. “One kilowatt of
electricity saved reduces
emissions of carbon dioxide
by 1.6 pounds, sulfur
dioxide by 5.2 grams and
nitrogen oxides by 2.8
grams,” says Monchein.
Westinghouse Lighting Solutions also enhanced
Red Gold’s green status by supplying
environmentally friendly Philips Alto fluorescent
bulbs. The low mercury content in the Altobulbs allows them to comply
with the EPA’s Toxicity
Characteristic Leaching
Procedure. That means
the EPA does not classify
them as hazardous waste,
so they can be disposed
of through conventional
means.
Best of Both Worlds
Because fluorescent
lights result in less lumen
depreciation than metal
halides, Red Gold’s lighting
retrofit achieved energy
savings without a
loss in lighting output. In
fact, it improved. Red Gold was able to achieve
its goal of a minimum of 10 footcandles in every
square foot of the facility, and the bright light
will last. “Fluorescents can burn for five years
and still maintain 95% of their original light output,” says Conrad.
“Improved light quality and quantity allows
employees to see better,” says Monchein. “This
typically results in increased productivity, reduced
eye strain, fewer accidents and mistakes
and improved employee morale.”
“We have had rave reviews from employees,”
Conrad reports. “They are very happy with how
well the facility is lit. The distribution of light is
even now, and it’s easier on their eyes.”
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Uncle Sam Wants You… to Save Energy
On Aug. 8, 2005, President Bush signed The Energy
Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005), officially allowing
owners of new or existing commercial buildings to
deduct the entire cost of a lighting upgrade in the year
the equipment is placed in service.
A tax deduction of up to $1.80 per square foot is
available to building managers who construct or retrofit
their facilities to save at least 50% of the heating,
cooling, ventilation, water heating and interior lighting
energy cost of a building that meets the American
Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning
Engineers (ASHRAE) standard 90.1-2001.
Partial deductions of $0.60 per square foot can be
taken for improvements to any one system, including
the building envelope, lighting or heating and cooling
system. The partial tax deduction applies to one
upgrade that surpasses ASHRAE standard 90.1-2001.
An interim, system-specific goal for lighting is
written directly into the legislation and is valid until the
Secretary of the Treasury issues a final rule. Under the
interim rules for lighting projects, building owners or
tenants who install a new lighting system that reduces
the lighting power density (LPD, watts per square
foot) 25% to 40% below the minimum requirements
of ASHRAE standard 90.1-2001, are eligible for a
deduction of $0.30 to $0.60 per square foot.
For warehouses, the LPD must be 50% lower than
the minimum requirements of ASHRAE Standard
90.1–2001 to be eligible for a deduction of $0.60 per
square foot.
The tax deduction applies to upgrades placed in
service between Jan. 1, 2006 and Dec. 31, 2008.
Source: Philips Electronics North America Corp., New York
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Lower Wattage, Better Light Seals the Deal
An antiquated lighting system, high energy bills
and insufficient light levels led North American Seal
and Supply, a fabricator and distributor of rubber
and plastic products in Cleveland, to contact Matt
Minard, end user lighting specialist at Hawkins
Sales (Cleveland), an electrical manufacturers’ representative.
North American Seal’s facility is split into two
areas—8,280 square feet is dedicated to production
and 11,000 square feet to warehousing. Minard
recommended 16 new, six-lamp T8 fluorescents
from TCP Inc. (Cleveland) to replace the facility’s
aging eight-foot fluorescents in the production area.
The warehousing space had 400-watt, metal-halide
fixtures. Minard replaced them with six-lamp T8
fluorescents.
North American Seal and Supply noticed immediate
energy savings after upgrading its lighting
system. It achieved a 52% energy savings in the production
area alone. And, wattage use significantly
decreased in the warehousing section. “While the metal-halide fixtures consumed about 460 watts
each, the TCP fixtures only consumed 234 watts,”
says Minard.
“In a warehouse or manufacturing facility operating
five days a week, 12 hours a day, a typical metalhalide
fixture costs about $145 per year to operate,”
says Don Gaither, linear operations manager at TCP
Inc. “The equivalent fluorescent costs $68 a year.
That’s a savings of $77 per year, per light.”
Despite the lower wattage, light levels increased.
“They were at 10 footcandles, and we bumped them
up to 25 to 26 footcandles,” Minard says.
“Fluorescents use less energy than both metal
halide and high-pressure sodium lights and also
have better color rendering,” adds Gaither. Color
rendering, the effect of a light source on the appearance
of objects, was especially important for
North American Seal and Supply’s production and
assembly operations.
“Lighting was important for accuracy and employee
comfort,” says Minard.
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