Van Meter Helps Hospital Convert Parking Garage for Better Light, Lower Cost

The parking garage attached to St. Luke's medical facility sees a steady stream of traffic, with 19,000 admissions, more than 55,000 emergency visitors, 2,600 births and more than 23,000 surgeries in 2012. When plant operations manager Rick Monthie began to explore options for a retrofit of the parking garage’s lighting system, he said, “The ultimate goal was to provide even, safe, consistent light levels for our parking garage patrons, which was not present with existing fixtures.” He also looked for improvements in energy and maintenance costs and support for the hospital’s green initiatives.

The solution presented by Pat Naughton from ESCO and Van Meter Inc. lighting expert Bob Workman, was to change the system to LED lighting, a lensed fixture with exceptional light spread, critical shielding and direction, and reductions in both cost and energy usage.

During the three-month retrofit project, approximately 500 lights and pole lamps in and around two parking garages were replaced with new LED technology, with Kenall TekDek 50-watt fixtures on the ramps, on the west entry and in the hospital's new ambulance garage, and Hubbell-Spaulding Cimarron LED fixtures on the pole lights.

The result was that the garage space was noticeably brightened and even the ceiling areas are now visible, and energy costs were cut significantly. “We estimate the savings afforded by the new lighting will amount to nearly $14,500 per garage,” Monthie said. “Over all, that cuts our electric bill for the parking garages nearly in half.”