January 25, 2018
Lighting Upgrades in Our Plants

When team members arrive to start their day at one of our plants, the
energy-efficient LED lights start turning on section by section as
they sense movement. And as people leave an area, the motion-sensitive
LED lights start dimming to save energy, and then turn off entirely
after 30 minutes.
Replacing the 360,000-square-foot
facility’s high-bay fluorescent lighting with programmable LEDs last
year reduced its energy use by about 20 percent in the first half of
2017.
“The lighting upgrade posed a significant upfront
cost, but we had a good business case: the energy savings will pay for
the upgrade in three years’ time,” said Nathan Luke, senior
environmental, safety and health (EHS) technician. “Based on the
numbers we’re getting now, it looks like we’re going to exceed that
goal.”
An added benefit is reduced waste to landfill. The
LEDs offer a long lifespan of about 12 years, compared to fluorescent
bulbs’ average lifespan of 2.7 years. Also, the LEDs can be recycled
with other electronic waste, and don’t require special handling and
disposal through a separate trash provider.
New Vidalia warehouse lighting pays us back in one year
Our company's Residential heating, ventilation and air
conditioning (HVAC) & Supply facility in Vidalia, Georgia, is in
the process of replacing fluorescent lighting fixtures with LED
fixtures. Across town, the Residential HVAC & Supply warehouse is
already reaping the benefits of new LED lighting installed earlier
this year. A new addition to the warehouse boasts 268 LEDs, and a team
recently replaced the fluorescent lighting in the existing warehouse
with 617 LEDs and occupancy sensors.
Energy efficiency
as productivity: a business decision in Curitiba
At our company's Commercial HVAC and Thermo King
manufacturing facility in Curitiba, Brazil, the team implemented
lighting upgrades last year. The facility’s older metal vapor lamps
were nearing the end of their useful life, so the team replaced them
with 364 energy-efficient LED lights. The upgrades reduced the
facility’s energy spend on lighting by 79 percent.
“Not
only are the new lights about 400 percent more energy-efficient, but
they also last five times longer than the old ones and don’t contain
any toxins,” said Maurício Jacobs, operations director for the
Curitiba plant. “They also improve our work environment by casting
better quality light, making it easier and safer for our team members
to do their jobs.”
Another benefit of the LED lights is
practicality. They can be switched on and off often without affecting
their lifespan or light emission, unlike metal vapor lamps, which take
several minutes to reach full brightness and suffer reduced
operational life when they’re switched on and off frequently.

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