BLDG Electric was recently contracted to update the lighting system at St. Martin Elementary school. The project scope included a complete design of the lighting and lighting control system, providing a specification for the lights, and supplying and installing the products.
LED Lighting Upgrade Details
After initial site meetings, BLDG Electric put together the proposal to supply and install dimmable LED fixtures in all the classrooms in the school. In addition to this, we were to modify existing switching to make it more user-friendly and consolidate multiple switches into single points. We provided lighting calculations illustrating delivered lighting levels at desk heights as well as proposed lighting layouts in the new ceiling grid. Upon approval from the school board, the project proceeded to the construction phase.
The project involved removing over 250 existing T12 Fluorescent fixtures and replacing them with Lithonia LED flat panel lights. We were able to reduce the number of fixtures installed due to the fact that the LED fixtures produce more lumens at a fraction of the power consumption. In total, 190 new LED fixtures were installed in the ceiling grid. All fixtures have 0-10VDC dimming to allow the teachers to better control the lighting levels throughout the day.
Energy Efficiency Results from the LED Upgrade
The LED retrofit reduced the school’s lighting load by over 6 times! This upgrade also significantly reduces future maintenance and replacement costs as the school will no longer have to replace bulbs/ballasts as they burn out throughout the space. Overall, over 400 amps of fluorescent lighting were removed from the school compared with a mere 63 amps of LED lighting was installed. This will save the school roughly 45kWh for every hour the school is occupied. This entire retrofit will have a 100% ROI within 2 years of use due to the power savings alone!
BLDG Electric was the ideal contractor for this project as our wide range of skills allowed us to provide a complete turnkey project to the client. As this project was extremely tight on timelines, no consultant was available to do the design of the project. BLDG Electric’s knowledgeable office and project management team was able to include the design and specification in our scope of work, allowing the project to be completed on time in an extremely cost-effective manner.
Learn more about our Energy Efficient Smart Lighting services here, or contact us directly if you are interested in upgrading your commercial or residential space with smart LED lighting and automated controls.
