Iowa Cold Storage, a Midwest-based provider of temperature-controlled warehousing, logistics, and transportation for food products, is saving more than $30,000 per year in total lighting costs following a lighting retrofit.
SmartWatt Energy’s Chicago office performed a construction-grade energy audit of the facility, and then created an action plan to replace 328 metal halide lighting fixtures with energy efficient LED lighting in the company’s 200,000-square-foot facility in Altoona, Iowa. LED fixtures were chosen for their superior performance in cold storage facilities, SmartWatt says.
The new energy-efficient lighting installed by SmartWatt Energy will reduce lighting-related energy consumption by 71 percent. It has led to the equivalent reduction of 577,889 pounds of carbon dioxide from the environment. According to EPA estimates, this project will have the same environmental effect as planting 85 acres of trees or removing 55 vehicles from the road each year, SmartWatt says.
The company carried out a retrofit for aerospace and gas turbine component manufacturer TECT Power, it was announced in March last year. The project, which used an incentive from National Grid’s Large Business Energy Reduction Program, cuts the company’s annual lighting bill by 69 percent, and will pay for itself in 15 months, TECT said.
SmartWatt specializes in cold storage lighting and has also carried out retrofits for Americold Realty, United States Cold Storage, Wegmans, Naumes Fruit Gifts and beverage company Mayer Brothers.
In February, solid-state manufacturer Albeo Technologies announced that its revenue had increased 50 percent from 2010 to 2011, with cold storage facilities being one of the strongest markets. The company’s sales for retrofit and renovation grew 300 percent over that time period. During 2011 Albeo shipped 26,675 fixtures.
Albeo said some of other key markets were Fortune 500 data centers, parking structures, schools and large manufacturing facilities. The company says its motion sensors and other power saving controls help facilities reduce lighting energy use up to 95 percent.