Fairbanks Energy Services, a design/build energy efficiency firm and developer of commercial and industrial (C&I) projects, recently announced the completion of an interior LED lighting retrofit project at one of WernerCo’s job-site equipment manufacturing facilities, located in Illinois. The project has lowered the international manufacturer’s power usage at this site, totaling an estimated $156,000 in annual savings.
The company designed this upgrade with three goals in mind:
- Improve sustainability, one of WernerCo’s core corporate values.
- Reduce energy use and solve light level issues to improve safety onsite.
- Lower annual operational expenditure on energy for the 24/7 facility.
Partnering with Crescent Electrical Supply, East Dubuque, Ill., the design company faced low light levels, aging building infrastructure, and some existing lighting issues while designing a turnkey project. Additionally, it planned to achieve a payback period of under two years to improve the Midwestern facility’s efficiency.
Installed across the 500,000-sq-ft property, the LED lighting solutions are estimated to lower annual energy use by 1,473,000kWh. Of the 1,750 lights installed, more than 900 were high-bay fixtures, set to a variety of lumen outputs based on their ceiling heights and work areas. Additionally, this project increased light levels in the production area by 60%, while decreasing energy use from lighting by 60% and resulting in a 1.6-yr payback.
“We are excited to see the visual and economic results of this sustainability project already making a difference,” says Lisa Urbina, maintenance lead at WernerCo. “With 24/7 production at this site, we needed specific light levels to create a safe and productive working environment. The Fairbanks Energy team designed the right LED lighting project that delivered on the requirements from both finance and operations teams.”