American Energy Solutions has completed a sustainability project at the Johns Manville plant in Richmond, Ind., which allowed the Berkshire Hathaway company to cut its yearly energy consumption in lighting by about 80 percent – or 2.7 million kWh.
It included a lighting retrofit in four key areas of the facility – the production and manufacturing space, warehouse, office area, and building exterior.
American Energy Solutions replaced all outdated systems with high-efficiency fluorescent fixtures, many of which are now equipped with individual sensing controls to turn lights off when spaces are unoccupied.
In addition to the annual savings and reduction in consumption, the new lighting system qualifies Johns Manville for Federal tax incentives through the Energy Policy Act and a $68,554 rebate from the Indiana Municipal Power Agency – the largest rebate presented to date by the agency for implementing an energy savings project and reducing consumption.
As part of the retrofit, all high-bay fixtures were replaced with 4-lamp T5HO linear fluorescent lights equipped with in-line quick connect devices that allow for ease of maintenance in the future. All of the systems, excluding those located in areas critical to production and manufacturing, were equipped with individual occupancy sensing controls to turn the fixtures off when the space is not occupied.
In areas of abundant natural lighting, a combination of ambient and occupancy sensor controls was applied to turn primary fixtures off when natural light is present or no occupancy is detected, while companion lamps remain lit.
In the warehouse and office area, all T-12 lamp and ballast systems were replaced or converted to T-8 lamps and electronic ballasts. Wall switch-mounted occupancy controls were also installed in select private offices, and incandescent exit signs were replaced with new LED signs.
