We went into a meeting at a large distribution center who was interested in reducing their energy usage. After walking through the plant, the first point of discussion was the abundance of 1000 watt metal halide lights that are very inefficient. The facilities manager immediately pointed to a pile on the corner of his desk, saying he is aware that lighting is the "low hanging fruit" and he already had three proposals from electricians to retrofit the plant. We asked the plant manager for the opportunity to conduct an investment grade engineering study of the lighting system, and agreed if we could not save more he did not have to pay anything. We immediately began the audit, placing data loggers through out the facility to monitor occupancy, light levels, hours of operation, and even daylight. We also engineered a new layout, as if we were building a new building, and not replacing the existing system. After the six week long study, we engineered a solution that used almost 1/3 less energy than the best proposal the facility manager had already received. We also increased the light levels in some areas from 5 foot candles to 30 foot candles. We see this all of the time, the "sales pitch solution" that says "if you have this light, you can replace it with this light and save energy" is effective, but rarely the best solution. The new lighting system is going to stay in place for many years and it is much less expensive to engineer a great solution from the beginning .

The Manufacturing Plant

We were doing work with a partnering company in a manufacturing plant, who had already converted retrofitted their metal halide fixtures to florescent as part of a corporate program. We discussed the lighting project, and the energy manager mentioned that they project resulted in a very noticeable savings on their utility bill. We noticed that no lighting controls had been installed, and several areas were missed during the past project. We agreed to take on the challenge to conduct a detailed engineering study at the facility, and see if we can find additional savings. We were told that the company cannot implement any projects that have a payback longer than 2.5 years. After an all encompassing study, we had substantial data showing that a new project could cut their lighting energy usage by over 50%. The project payback was an impressive 1.3 years. This once again shows the importance of conducting an engineering study before implementing a large project.