Save $60,455 per Year by Rethinking Lighting

See how Cree IG Series LED lighting not only delivered better light but also provided significant energy cost savings to Reston Hospital Center.

CI Staff

The impact that proper lighting design, better lighting and lighting control can have on energy costs is dramatic.

There is a clear opportunity there for integration firms tasked with providing technology and business solutions for their customers – but one that is often missed.

A recent example is provided by Reston Hospital Center, a surgical facility in Reston, Va. It recently used LED lighting by Cree, Inc. to replace the outdated metal halide light fixtures in its parking garage.

The new lighting solution has made a significant impact.

Here’s a look at the numbers and benefits:

Before and After

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  • The space’s original system contained more than 300 metal halide fixtures with 175 watt bulbs burning 24 hours a day, seven days a week – reaching heat levels that would often melt the globes.
  • Today, the indoor and outdoor parking facility is illuminated by 325 LED fixtures, including Cree IG Series pendant-mount LED luminaires throughout the parking garage.
  • “The material and labor costs of replacing five to 10 globes and 30 or more light bulbs a month were significant, so we were looking for an opportunity to address the issue while enhancing the visibility, safety and comfort for our patients, visitors and staff,” Chip Cooper, Reston Hospital Center project manager and master electrician.
  • Overall, Cooper attests, “We’ve got a sharper, crisper looking light.”
  • Cree LED lighting can be programmed from full brightness down to 10 percent.
  • Lights are motion controlled, with many of them shut entirely off during daylight hours unless needed, saving considerably on electricity.
  • When the IG Series picks up motion during the day, they come up to 25 percent brightness.
  • At night, they stay at 15 percent, then come up to full brightness when needed, providing “extremely nice light” on demand, Cooper says.
  • Customers like it, Cooper says. “They claim that no matter where they are, once they get within 30 feet of a light, it comes up to full brightness at night, in all areas.”
  • Reston Hospital Center anticipates an 81 percent reduction in energy consumption.
  • That would be a total of $60,455 in annual energy savings, plus the savings on maintenance.

Read Cree’s case study of the Reston Hospital Center project and watch a video here.

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