HVAC manufacturer Ingersoll Rand recently undertook an extensive renovation of its North American headquarters in Davidson, N.C., a move aimed at backing up the company’s stated mission of advancing quality of life by creating comfortable and efficient environments. Ingersoll Rand makes many familiar brands including Trane and American Standard heating and cooling systems, Thermo King refrigeration units for trailers, Ingersoll Rand compressed air systems and tools, and Club Car golf carts.
Transforming the nearly 53,000 square feet of interior space housing 215 employees in Ingersoll Rand’s Building D , for example, included installation of more energy-efficient lighting, a building automation system with energy-saving control strategies, and Energy Star equipment and appliances. Part of the solution included GE Lighting’s Lumination LED luminaires.
Building D includes offices and open floor work stations with access to numerous additional areas, including conference rooms of various sizes, copy/print rooms and break rooms. The updates to the space and the considerable work that went into it had efficiency in mind from the start—beginning with a full audit of the facility’s energy use, including lighting and HVAC systems. For example, 49 truckloads of building waste and materials were recycled; 80 percent of old furniture was repurposed and refurbished; and more than half of the demolition and packing debris was diverted from landfills.
The new lighting system includes GE’s Lumination ET Series recessed troffers for ambient lighting in common areas, offices, shared work spaces and hallways. The large conference room has Lumination BL Series LED Luminaires, with long, narrow bands of light that are seamlessly integrated within the ceiling. The LED lighting further enhances energy efficiency by incorporating automatic controls.
Before LED lighting fixtures were installed, the foot-candle reading averaged 40 fc. It now is between 43 and 44 with better uniformity. Overall, the LED lighting has reduced light power density, or watts per square foot, by more than 36 percent over the ASHRAE baseline. As LED lighting produces less heat than traditional light sources, the AC load can be reduced by 0.32 watts with every watt saved in a lighting system. Providing additional energy reduction for Building D, the new lighting has lessened HVAC cooling loads and improved HVAC efficiency by an additional 3 percent.