LED Retrofit Saves Mall on Outdoor Lighting
The city of Batesville, Arkansas is a sleepy little town a little less than two hours from the thriving metropolis that is Little Rock. It is a warm and friendly place and a great place to raise kids. In fact, it has been voted one of the 100 Best Small Towns in America. It is also a town that is committed to the community and the environment. The county’s recycling program won the Arkansas community development award and Batesville was selected as the state’s Volunteer Community of the Year. Now the city has made another move towards being a better place to settle: one local shopping centre has replaced old parking lot lights with bright, shiny new LED lamps in a move that will save them over $42,000 a year in energy and maintenance costs, as well as greatly reduce the carbon footprint of both the centre and the town.
Before and after comparison of the Eagle Mountain Shopping Centre parking lot with original metal halide lights and new LED replacements. The LED lights give better light and are saving the centre 65 percent on their outdoor energy use.
When the Eagle Mountain Shopping Centre decided to replace their existing metal halide parking lot lights with LED lamps, the initial estimate of $84,000 may have seemed a bit over the top, but by the time it was finished, that number was the farthest thing from the minds of the building owners as they smiled all the way to the bank.
The retrofit project was primarily to replace 81 pole-mounted metal halide lamps that illuminate the main parking lot area with new and efficient LED lamps. Those halide lamps consumed a monstrous 1080 watts of electricity and had to be scheduled with a timer to turn off and on, a necessity that caused the lights to be turned on for about 12 hours every day. The LED replacement lamps screw right into the current light fixtures and use only 375 watts, or 65 per cent less electricity than the metal halides did. In addition to the parking lot lights, the shopping centre decided to retrofit the remaining outdoor lights around the structure. This comprehensive project resulted in at least a 65 per cent decrease in the entire outdoor energy use for the shopping centre as well as a reduction in maintenance and replacement costs that will make everyone but the maintenance staff happy for years to come.
It is often said that any lighting retrofit that can pay for itself within four years should be jumped on. Eagle Mountain did way better than that. They were able to recoup their out-of-pocket costs within six months of completing the project thanks to rebates, which totaled nearly $63,000, leaving the center owners with only a $21,000 bill for the entire project. That amount was easily paid back with no more than the money they were saving on the electric bill, never mind the cost savings on maintenance they will soon begin to feel. The old parking lot lights were only expected to last about 9,000 hours, and thanks to the old system, were expected to run for about 12 hours a day. The new LED lights are rated for 50,000 hours. Paired with the shortened, 6-hour lighting day, it should be a very long time before the maintenance staff find themselves in lifts just to change a light bulb. They may just have to wait for holiday decorating season to play with these fun toys again.
To read this article, in its entirety, please view it here.
