United Energy participated in a collaborative effort to replace the original High-Intensity Discharge (\u201cHID\u201d) lighting system found within a 1.1-million square-foot engine manufacturing plant in Columbus, Indiana. The driving factors that moved the engine manufacturer to initiate the lighting project were direct financial gains from the net savings of the improvements, and the synergetic effort towards accomplishing the company\u2019s global energy and greenhouse gas (\u201cGHG\u201d) reduction goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At that time, fluorescent lighting (specifically T5\nhigh-output fluorescent lighting) was the technology of choice as LED had been\nfound cost prohibitive. In fact, fluorescent lighting technology had been the\ndominant workhorse in lighting efficiency; providing energy reduction and fixture\ncontrol<\/em>, a feature that was not used in HID systems due to the time it takes\nfor an HID fixture to come back on after being turned off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Control of the lighting system by means of turning the\nfixtures \u201con\u201d as needed would prove to have the largest potential for saving\nenergy on this project. Operations within the plant only occurred on one shift\n(~8-10 hours per day) while the existing HID fixtures remained \u201con\u201d 24\/7. The\nnecessity to control these lights was obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The project was implemented and funded through a program\nthat was later named \u201cInfrastructure as a Service<\/em>\u201d or IaaS. The fluorescent\nlighting system would be procured, installed, owned, and maintained by a third\nparty with no upfront capital investment needed by the engine manufacturer. In\naddition, the engine manufacturer would reap the energy and maintenance savings\nfrom the lighting improvements with no strings attached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The installation of the fluorescent fixtures included\noccupancy control sensors on each fixture. The efficiency gains with the\nfluorescent system, coupled with the sensor controls reduced energy usage of\nthe plant lighting system by 80%, or about 10,040,000 kWh annually. The\nimprovement also resulted in a reduction in GHG emissions by 7,070 tons of CO2e\nannually, which is equivalent to removing 1,690 passenger vehicles from the road\neach year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The facility maintenance would be reduced by $60,000 in\nmaterial costs each year and free up about 870 man-hours annually. The total\nannual net savings after the program cost was $273,000 annually.\n\nThe system cost was paid for by means of a monthly\nfee from the third party to the engine manufacturer. Financially, these expenses\nwould be totally offset by the savings in electricity procurement and\nmaintenance expenses.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" United Energy participated in a collaborative effort to replace the original High-Intensity Discharge (\u201cHID\u201d) lighting system found within a 1.1-million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n