North Central College in Naperville, Ill., has completed a $200,000 lighting retrofit in its residence hall/recreation center and activities center. The college replaced metal halide, fluorescent and incandescent lighting fixtures in these facilities with LED lighting. The new fixtures will reduce annual energy consumption by an estimated 448,271 kWh and save the college an estimated $35,000 per year.
The LED fixtures are computer controlled and include occupancy sensors and dimming features. They are cooler and do not generate the consistent humming sound that the previous halogen lighting generated.
The projects are supported by a $67,989 grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation's Energy Efficiency Lighting Upgrade Program.
With the latest projects, North Central College has invested nearly $250,000 of its endowment to replace old lighting with energy-efficient LED technology. Other areas in which old fixtures had already been replaced with LED lighting include the pool and basketball arena in Merner Field House.
