Energy Efficient Lighting Retrofits

Reagan Memorial Park Relighting Project

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:10:00 -0600

In a quiet neighborhood in Dixon, Illinois, people from around the world line up to tour the childhood home of Ronald Reagan. Now known as the “Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home & Visitors Center,” the property features the home where Reagan lived with his family as well as a garage, a gift shop and welcome center, and a park.

With its beautiful canopy of trees and four sidewalk paths leading up to a large bronze statue of the former President, the Reagan Memorial Park is a perfect place for people to sit and reflect.

Though tours of the home are only available during the day, the park is open to visitors 24 hours a day year round. For that reason, lighting for the park and statue must operate from dusk until dawn 365 days a year or around 4,000 hours annually. Unfortunately, the park’s lighting had failed to offer adequate lighting for many years. Then, Arne Venteris and Precision-Paragon [P2] got involved.

“I’m a big Ronald Reagan fan so when the park called me, I felt it would be an honor to help them out,” says Arne Venteris, owner of Avent Energy, a company that helps facility owners reduce energy consumption.

Venteris drove out to the park to meet with Ken Buccola who heads up the property’s volunteer maintenance team.

“Ken showed me around the park – it was wonderful, but the lighting was in bad shape. All of their metal halide fixtures were either in ill repair or beyond repair, and they were constantly experiencing outages,” Venteris says.

After visiting the park, Venteris and Buccola called Randy Breske of Precision-Paragon [P2] to discuss possible solutions to the problem. Initially, they considered repairing the broken metal halide fixtures or installing a brand new metal halide system, but that solution was soon tossed aside.

“The park’s existing lighting was primarily provided by recessed fixtures; they were experiencing degradation due to freezing ground, snow and rain. We could have replaced the existing metal halide system with similar technologies and systems, but knew it would only be a matter of time before the same situations and degraded conditions would develop,” says Breske.

Soon, Venteris and Breske came up with another solution: LED.

Using [P2]’s LED spot optic fixtures, the Reagan Memorial Park maintenance team installed two fixtures aimed at the statue, two aimed at the park’s American and Illinois state flags, and six highlighting the canopy of trees surrounding the pathways and statue. Unlike the old fixtures, the new ones are all above ground, eliminating the potential for weather damage and outages.

The new lighting has been a big improvement for the non-profit as well as for its neighbors.

“The lights brighten up the whole neighborhood. The way they bounce off the trees creates this wonderful glow over the entire property and really makes the park look amazing at night,” says Brandi Langner, Executive Director at the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home & Visitors Center.

The lighting also provides extra security, Langner adds.

“With the new lighting, the property’s a lot less prone to vandalism. Our neighbors can see what’s happening in the park at any point during the night and that makes them feel safer too,” she says.

In addition to providing better light output and security, [P2]‘s LED fixtures have also helped the non-profit save energy and reduce maintenance costs.

“The new fixtures offer energy savings of 4,240 kilowatt hours and a cost savings of $500 per year. Plus, they last longer – the park won’t have to replace their LED fixtures for a very long time,” says Breske.

The success of the Reagan Memorial Park relighting project is something Breske hopes facility owners and operators will take into account when considering a retrofit or relighting project.

“Reagan Memorial Park shows that any facility can benefit from a lighting upgrade. No project is too small –we replaced 15 metal halides with 10 LED fixtures and the difference in lighting quality and savings is tremendous. Bigger facilities have the opportunity to save even more.”

Saving 2.7 Million kWh for Menlo Business Park

Fri, 11 May 2012 10:22:00 -0600

Precision Paragon is proud to be part of the Menlo Business Park Energy Efficiency project, which is projected to save over 2.7 million kilowatt hours annually. The project is the result of a partnership between Menlo Business Park, Tarlton Properties, PG&E, Progressive Lighting & Energy Solutions and commercial lighting manufactuer Precision Paragon.

Menlo Business Park’s energy efficiency project is a high-tech Integrated Demand Side Management and advanced lighting retrofit. The project is calculated to save Menlo Business Park and it’s tenants over 2.7 million kilowatt hours annually. The energy saved could supply 366 homes and avoid the emissions of 192 cars on the road per year.

U.S. Businesses Save $68 Million in Electricity Costs for Lighting

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:58:00 -0600

To all those that flipped the switch on a Precision Paragon lighting fixture in 2011, pat yourselves on the back. Here are the energy savings and environmental benefits of those products.

In the first year of their operation, [P2] energy efficient commercial lighting fixtures shipped in 2011 will:

Save U.S. businesses $68-million in electricity costs for lighting
Reduce energy consumption by more than 681-million kWh
Reduce CO2 emissions by 934-million pounds

And that's just last year's products. Since [P2] was founded in 1992, the cumulative impact of our products have:

Saved U.S. businesses over $2.3-billion in lighting electricity costs
Reduced energy consumption by more than 23 billion kWh
Reduced CO2 output by 31-billion pounds

The environmental impact of that amount of CO2 reduction is equivalent to:Over 4-Million passenger cars not driven for one year

Over 4-Million passenger cars not driven for one year
Over 2-Billion gallons of gasoline not burned
Over 52-Million barrels of oil not burned
Over 180,000 acres of forest preserved from deforestation
Over 114,111 railcars of coal burned
Over 7-Million tons of waste recycled instead of landfilled

If your business hasn't thought about an energy efficient retrofit yet, use this simple lighting retrofit calcualtor to quickly quantify your cost and energy savings. You'll be glad you did!

[P2] Products Save $68-million and Reduce CO2 Output By 900-million Pounds

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:28:00 -0600

Precision Paragon products shipped in 2011 will save U.S. facilities over $68-million a year through estimated energy savings of over 681-million kWh. Enough energy to power more than 24,000 U.S. homes for a year! Those energy savings come with significant environmental benefits, including an estimated 934-million pound reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, roughly equivalent to taking 144,308 cars off the road for a year.

"Most of the companies who use our fixtures are motivated by the cost savings," explains Joe Martin, vice president and general manager. "But many also appreciate that an energy efficient lighting retrofit delivers quantifiable environmental benefits along with its cost savings."

While environmentally friendly business practices are often viewed as an added cost for businesses, energy efficient lighting is one area where cost savings and environmental benefits are an inseparable combination.

Looking at the company’s history as a whole, the cumulative impact of [P2]'s energy savings is staggering. The company estimates its products have saved 23 billion kWh of electricity since 1992. In terms of greenhouse gas reductions, that's equivalent to preserving over 183,000 acres of forest from destruction.

"We’re not often seen as an environmentally motivated company," explains Martin, "but if you look at the numbers, our products have a tremendous positive environmental impact."

Using today's energy costs, [P2] products put in service since 1992 have saved U.S. businesses over $2.3-billion. Or - to put it another way - conserved enough energy to power over 800,000 U.S. homes for a year.

"We're proud of what our products do," said Martin. "Proud that they help businesses save money and proud that they have such a positive effect on our planet."

Data Sources:

Greenhouse gas equivalents listed in this article are calculated using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's guidelines

Cost savings listed in this article are calculated using the average retail price in the commercial sector for November of 2011 listed in the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Electric Power Monthly for January 2012

Average annual household electricity consumption is calculated from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's 2005 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (PDF).

Lighting Schools in Southern Sudan

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:28:00 -0600

When you think of southern Sudan you probably don't think about energy efficient lighting. However, thanks to a project started by four engineering students from the University of San Diego, a new school in Theou, will be lit with efficient lighting fixtures from Precision Paragon. The Engineering a Brighter Sudan project’s goal is to bring electricity to a primary school in the village of Theou, Sudan. The project will include solar power generation, battery storage, a public charging station and lighting in the primary school.

Precision Paragon offered our expertise by designing the lighting system for all the school’s classrooms as well as its sports field and donated the lighting fixtures. “Energy-efficient lights are an important piece of the project because they affect the overall size of the system and the cost of the project,” said Emmett Perl, one of the students leading the project.

All of the lighting materials are shipping out this week and will be on their way to Sudan later this month. The system will be installed when The Engineering A Brighter Sudan team returns to Sudan next summer. According to Lou Preston, [P2]’s National Marketing Director, the school should be up and fully functional by the fall.

P2 Joins Northwest Trade Ally Network

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:06:00 -0600

Precision Paragon is now a proud member of the Northwest Trade Ally Network. “The Northwest Trade Ally Network makes us aware of all the utility incentives available to our customers. Now, before we submit a proposal, the network will review it and make suggestions to help us increase savings for our customers,” says Forrest Hillyer, [P2]’s Northwest Regional Sales Manager.

The Northwest Trade Ally Network keeps its members informed about regional utility incentive programs – the network partners with over 80 utility companies to offer incentives on energy-efficient lighting projects. The network also provides the latest news on energy-efficient lighting technologies and offers training workshops in different Northwestern cities each month.

“We act as a resource for contractors, distributors and manufacturers, helping them facilitate lighting projects and get as much savings as possible for their customers,” says Andy Gerde, a Northwest Trade Ally Network representative.

To ensure all trade allies are reliable, qualified partners, the Northwest Trade Ally Network checks references for each company applying to become a trade ally. Companies must provide at least three energy efficiency lighting projects where substantial energy savings has been achieved.

Parking Garage Lighting Retrofit (Case Study)

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:10:00 -0600

It’s not unusual for us to meet people who are amazed that our fixtures can produce powerful light and save energy at the same time.

Take Mark Gonzales, Chief Engineer for Lakeside Towers Condo Association in Chicago, IL. He was looking to replace the lighting in Lakeside Towers’ parking garage with more energy-efficient fixtures. We first met Mark after he called our partners at Midwest Industrial Lighting for help. Midwest Industrial Lighting Technician Kevin Noonan suggested a retrofit using our VTG 2 lamp F32T8 fixtures with an enhanced aluminum reflector.

Facility Name	Lakeside Towers Parking Garage
Partner	Midwest Industrial Lighting
Annual Estimated Energy Savings	126,529 kWh
Annual Estimated Cost Savings	$7,592
Rebates Received	$4,333
Years to Simple Payback	1.2

Mark was skeptical – he didn’t think the [P2] fixtures would be able to produce as much light as the garage’s current ones – 175 watt metal halide lamps in surface mount fixtures. But, Kevin was recommending it so Mark decided to take his advice. “I bought a sample, installed it and fell in love with it,” Mark said.

Before the retrofit, the garage lighting fixtures, including ballasts, were pulling about 214 watts of energy per fixture. Midwest Industrial Lighting replaced each of the metal halide fixtures with our F32T8/850 full spectrum bulbs along with the enhanced aluminum reflector. To Mark’s surprise (and delight), the [P2] fixtures produced more light than the old ones and only used 57 watts per fixture.

Once the relighting project was complete, Lakeside Towers began reaping the benefits right away. As an incentive to perform retrofits, ComEd, Lakeside Towers’ electric company, was offering 35 cents per watts reduced. Because Lakeside Towers’ reduced their watts by almost 160 watts per fixture, they received a rebate of over $4,300.

But, the savings won’t end at rebates. The annual energy savings from the new fixtures is predicted to be over $7,500. That means Lakeside Towers will recoup its initial investment in the project in just a year and two months. And, since [P2] fixtures don’t require as much maintenance, the condo association will save over $1,500 in labor costs during the first three years.

Thanks to Kevin and Midwest Industrial Lighting for doing such an impressive retrofit. With the new [P2] fixtures, Lakeside Towers residents will enjoy great lighting and great savings for years to come.

[P2] Gets a Lumina Award

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 06:27:00 -0600

[P2] has been honored with a 2011 Lumina award from NALMCO, the first Lumina award in NALMCO's 58-year history to go to a company instead of an individual. We're thrilled.

The NALMCO board of directors let us know that we'd been chosen for the award because of all we've done to promote the organization over the last year.

We're completely honored. But, the truth is, we promote NALMCO because we truly believe in the benefits of NALMCO for both lighting professionals and end-users.

For lighting professionals focused on retrofits, relighting and lighting maintenance NALMCO is the professional organization to belong to. It's a great source for information, industry news and educational materials. Plus they offer some of the most respected certifications in the business.

For building owners and occupiers, working with NALMCO members and certification holders is a shortcut to a successful lighting planned-maintenance program or upgrade project.

To the NALMCO board who chose us for this award, we'd like to say thank you. We are deeply honored. And, to all our fellow NALMCO members who make the organization what it is, thank you so very much.

P2 Turns on the Lights at The Ice Center At The Promenade

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 08:30:00 -0600

We talk a lot about energy-efficient retrofits of warehouses and manufacturing plants, stores and parking garages. But, those are far from the only facilities that can benefit from an energy-efficient lighting retrofit. Case in point, the Ice Center At The Promenade in Westminster, Colorado. Thanks to a retrofit by our partner Colorado Lighting that used our energy efficient light fixtures, the Ice Center is looking at saving close to $30,000 a year in energy costs. Annual Estimated Energy Savings: 310,440 kWh Annual Estimated Cost Savings: $29,408 Rebates Received: $21,226 Years to Simple Payback: 1.5 If you're not familiar with the Ice Center, you should know that it's far from your normal neighborhood ice rink. The Ice Center houses three sheets of ice in a single facility and hosts everything from figure-skating lessons all the way through NHL practice-sessions. Plus, it's nestled up right next to some world class eating and shopping establishments. It is, in short, the facility that would-be Wayne Gretzkys and Michelle Kwans the world over dream of. So, when Colorado Lighting came to us with the opportunity to provide fixtures for an energy-efficient lighting retrofit of the Ice Center, we were thrilled. Before the relighting project, the Ice Center's rinks were lit with metal halide lamps that used over 1,000 watts per fixture. Working closely with our partners at Colorado Lighting, we decided that the best fixture for the job was our HBT high-bay in a mixture of 10 and 12 lamp T5HO configurations. The HBT is designed precisely to replace 1,000 watt metal halide fixtures with a relatively small 4' long energy-efficient fluorescent fixture. This allowed us to match the light-output of the rinks' existing fixtures while consuming about 35% - 45% less electricity per fixture. Colorado Lighting also installed bi-level switching controls, which let the light output of each fixture to be adjusted by switching on either some or all of the lamps in that fixture. Colorado Lighting estimates that this feature alone will save the Ice Center more than $10,000 per year. With Colorado Lighting's technicians performing the retrofit, the entire project went smoothly. This means that today, the Ice Center is on its way to saving $30,000 a year in energy costs while its skaters enjoy aesthetically pleasing lighting, with light-levels that can be adjusted to their needs. Thanks in part to the over $20,000 in rebates that Colorado Lighting secured for the project, the Ice Center will have made back its initial investment in the project in just one and a half years. After that, we're sure they'll find a use for the extra nearly $30,000 they'll have in their budget every year. We'd like to thank the Ice Center for taking on the project, and Colorado Lighting for being, as always, an excellent partner. Check out the lighting gallery for before, after and installation photos from the project. If you have a facility that you think could benefit from an energy-efficient lighting retrofit, give our Service Hub a call at 714-386-5550. They'll be happy to put you in touch with one of our partners who can help you slash your energy bills for years to come.

Certified Lighting Management Consultants

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:39:00 -0600

In the lighting industry, we talk a lot about certifications. That's because being certified lets people know you're a lighting professional with the requisite knowledge, skills and experience to provide a comprehensive lighting retrofit solution. A great way to get certified is through NALMCO. Each NALMCO certification tests you on specific lighting knowledge and requires you to have real-world lighting experience and exemplary ethical conduct. We're proud to have NALMCO Certified Lighting Management Consultants (CLMCs®) and Certified Sustainable Lighting Consultants (CSLCs) on staff. And, in October, we plan to add more. At the NALMCO convention coming up Oct. 16-19 in Orlando, [P2] employees will join other NALMCO members in taking their NALMCO certification exams for the first time. That means our customers will have access to more certified lighting professionals than ever before. Join us at the NALMCO convention and take the CLMC® or CSLC certification exam. Register before Sept. 30 and NALMCO will rent a limo for you and your fellow test takers. The limo will take you anywhere in Orlando Sunday night after the test. Plus, you'll be entered to win the grand prize: a Rosen Centre luxury VIP suite to enjoy while you're at the convention. There's no better time to become a certified lighting professional than right now. Hope to see you in Orlando!

A Super-Efficient 60 Watt Bulb For Your Home

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 11:39:00 -0600

The US Department of Energy announced that a new LED based bulb from Phillips is the first bulb to win an L-Prize. The L-Prize is designed to "spur lighting manufacturers to develop high-quality, high-efficiency solid-state lighting products to replace the common light bulb."

Of course, this is a bulb that [P2] will never sell, since it's designed for home-use. Plus, it won't actually be on the market until sometime in 2012. Nevertheless, there are a couple reasons we're excited about it.

First, we're excited because the technological innovations in this bulb will likely be applicable to commercial and industrial LED-lighting. The technology in the prize-winning bulb gives it some impressive specifications. It produces 900 lumens from just 10 watts of electricity, for an efficiency of 90 lumens/watt, which is drastically better than the incandescent bulbs it's designed to replace, and better than anything comparable on the market today.

The second reason we're excited about this bulb is that the L-Prize testing process does a very good job of illustrating some of the real-world considerations in selecting a "good" light source that go beyond efficiency, qualities like aesthetics, durability and more.

Ordered, Engineered & Manufactured In America

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:03:00 -0600

In a time when American companies outsource the manufacturing of everything from iPods to jet engines, we get some surprised reactions when our customers learn that every [P2] fixture is made at one of our three factories in California, Wisconsin or Florida.

Why haven't we followed the outsourcing trend? Because manufacturing our fixtures in our own American factories is an essential part of our business model.

At the core of that business model are our integrated facilities. [P2] factories aren't just factories, they're integrated sales, support, engineering and manufacturing facilities. Having these integrated facilities spread across the country gives us four key competitive
advantages.

#1 - Customization
Most commercial lighting manufacturers have a stockpile of fixtures sitting in a warehouse. It's the job of their sales team to go out and convince customers that the fixtures sitting in the warehouse are the right fixtures for their next lighting project. We do things differently.

First, we don't have warehouses. That means our sales team isn't out trying to sell a backlog of fixtures, they're out trying to help our customers find the best solution to any lighting challenge.

Once they've found that solution, they come back to our factory, sit down with an engineer and figure out how to get that solution built. Then, they take the schematics out to the factory floor and get it into production. Before long, we've created a lighting solution that's customized for the exact needs of our customers.

That level of customization lets us offer more efficient, better and more cost effective lighting systems for any given lighting challenge.

#2 - Speed
You might think that all this customization would take a long time, but we've designed our production processes to be extremely nimble. In fact, we can generally have an entire custom order specified, engineered, produced and delivered to the job site in less time than it takes our larger competitors to get back an accurate quote.

In an industry with standard turnaround times of 8-12 weeks, we deliver most of our customized orders in two weeks or less.

#3 - Support
When a customer calls the [P2] Service Hub with a question about their order, we don't have to call a factory in China to find out what's happening. Instead, the person who picks up the phone can just walk from their desk to the factory floor and find out what's
going on.

This lets our customers get direct, fast answers to their questions, and lets our team collaborate easily to find those answers.

At our integrated facilities, it's not unusual to find a member of our Service Hub, an engineer and a factory worker sitting at the same table working together on a solution for one of our customers. That's something that just wouldn't be possible if our engineering facilities were on one continent, and our factories were on another.

#4 - Cost Savings
This is perhaps the most surprising benefit of keeping our commercial lighting fixtures "American Made. "Many companies outsource their manufacturing specifically because of the cost savings, but we've had a different experience.

It's true, we pay our factory workers in Yorba Linda, Hudson and Gainesville more than we'd have to pay factory workers in Taipei or Shanghai, but the value of keeping our manufacturing domestic more than makes up for that difference.

The most obvious savings are in shipping. Not only do we avoid the costs of shipping our finished products across the Atlantic or Pacific - we can even schedule production of a specific order in the [P2] factory closest to that project's job site to save our customers even more money on shipping and delivery costs.

Our domestic manufacturing also lets us deliver the customization options and quality that give [P2] customers even more value for their money.

More Than A Sticker
At [P2], "Made in America" isn't just a sticker that we put on our fixtures, it's the core of our business model that lets us offer customized, cost-effective lighting systems with some of the best support and fastest turnaround times in the industry.

Is LED Right for My Retrofit? 8 Steps to Finding the Right Lighting Technology

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 12:37:00 -0600

Like we’ve said before, at [P2], we love LED lighting. But, we also know that LED isn’t always the best option for every energy efficient lighting project.

So, when you’re deciding between LED, fluorescent, incandescent or HID for your next lighting retrofit project, how do you pick the right technology?

Our marketing director, Lou Preston, put it best. “We’ve been seeing quite a few projects being driven by technology, and that’s really the tail wagging the dog.”

What Lou’s saying is, don’t pick a lighting technology, then try to shoehorn it into your project. Instead, define what your project’s goals are, then pick the technology that best fits those goals.

So, without further ado, here are our 8-steps to finding the right energy efficient lighting technology.

Define Your Project’s Goals: Why are you taking on a lighting project? Are you trying to slash your energy bills, go green, improve aesthetics, or simply taking advantage of utility incentives? Defining your objectives up-front is the best thing you can do to make sure your project doesn’t get sidetracked.
Get Help: Not an energy efficient lighting expert? Find one! [P2]’s service hub offers access to well-qualified energy efficient lighting experts who can help you find the right lighting technology for your next project. Give them a call at (714) 386-5550, or send an email to info@p-2.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Evaluate Viable Technologies: With most projects, there’s likely more than one lighting technology that will meet your project objectives. Define what these are.
Pick Your Fixtures: Pick the specific fixtures from each technology that meet your project’s goals. There’s a world of difference between talking about “a fixture” and “this specific fixture from this manufacturer in this application.” Gather as much information about each fixture as you can.
Do a side-by-side comparison: Compare the features of each fixture you selected, including financial (fixture cost, energy consumption, replacement and maintenance intervals), performance (optics, lumen depreciation, automation options, warmup times) and aesthetics.
Prioritize, based on your project’s goals: Now that you know how your options stack up against each other, decide which features are the most important to you. Are initial costs, or long-term energy savings more important to your project? How about customizable optics, or long-term maintenance free operation? Every technology has its advantages and disadvantages, so you’ll need to select the features that fit the most closely with your project’s goals.
Watch out for “showstoppers”: Sometimes, you run into a feature that takes a technology out of the running for your project. For example, if you’re putting fixtures in a difficult to access location, having to replace a bulb every two months would be a “showstopper,” even if that option showed the greatest energy savings.
Pick the Best: The best technology for your project is the one that comes the closest to meeting your goals. And of course, you don’t have to settle with just one. [P2] customers often use a mix of lighting technologies in a single retrofit.

After following these steps, you can be confident that you haven’t just picked a lighting technology because it’s been in the news lately, or because you saw it on the front of a lighting catalog. You’ll have picked the technology that’s right for your lighting project.

Beyond Greenwashing

Fri, 20 May 2011 08:54:00 -0600

When businesses temporarily turn their logos green and make vague, high-handed statements about sustainability, this is an act of pseudo-environmentalism known as greenwashing. The act of - as Wikipedia so aptly puts it - using "green PR or green marketing in order to promote a misleading perception that a company's policies or products are environmentally friendly."

Greenwashing is, in short, dishonest. Further, a recent survey suggests that the potential loss in customer trust that results from a greenwashing campaign could outweigh any perceived gains. Of course that survey just supports what we all intuitively know, that being dishonest with your customers is no way to do business.

So, if your business is interested in going green this year, we recommend doing more than just changing your logo. And if you're looking to make real, cost-effective improvements in your company's environmental impact, energy efficient lighting retrofits are a great place to start.

Since we opened our doors in 1992, the energy efficient lighting products we manufacture have saved more than 12 billion kWh of electricity. In terms of CO2 emission reductions, that's the equivalent of taking 2.5 million cars off the road for a year.

If you want to see the potential environmental impact that an energy efficient lighting retrofit could have on your facility, our lighting retrofit calculator is a great place to start. If you plug in your facility's size and hours of operation - it'll give you an idea of the environmental benefits you can expect from an energy efficient lighting retrofit. Plus, with a lighting retrofit, your bottom line will see big savings too.

So, perhaps it's time to forget about greenwashing and make changes that actually do something good for the planet, and something good for the future of your business.

Energy Efficiency - The Big Picture

Wed, 04 May 2011 11:42:00 -0600

At [P2], our company is dedicated to helping our customers cut their energy costs. It's what we do - and we like to think that we do it well. But it would be fair to say that sometimes, our focus can be a bit narrow. That's why it's good to step back and take a look at the bigger picture.

When the United States Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke, gave a speech at the APEC Conference on Green Buildings and Green Growth last month, that seemed to be exactly what he had in mind.

"Energy may be the defining challenge of our time," said Locke. "The one issue, more than any other, that will shape the fate of our planet, our economies and our nations."

If that's not big picture, I don't know what is. But, Secretary Locke didn't stop there.

"One of the most promising areas, especially in the near term," he continued, "is energy efficiency. Efficiency is the "low hanging fruit" of the world's energy challenge."

When we wake up in the mornings, most of us at [P2] don't think that we're going to work combating the global energy crisis, but Secretary Locke has a good point. There is a looming energy crisis both in our country and around the world - and energy efficiency is one of the most practical ways to meet that challenge.

Meeting that challenge will take a specialized kind of knowledge, which is one of the reasons that we're thrilled to announce that three of our employees at [P2] have received a brand new lighting sustainability certification.

NALMCO introduced the Certified Sustainability Lighting Consultant (CSLC) designation late last year. It's the first sustainability certification for lighting professionals. To get the certification, lighting professionals must be able to design and implement systems that demonstrate sustainability in every aspect of their performance.

Lou Preston -- our National Marketing Director -- and Mark Bryan -- who runs the [P2] Service Hub -- both took the CSLC exam at NALMCO's annual convention in October, the first time it was offered. Justin Gonzalez, our Eastern Regional Sales Manager, just passed the exam on April 4th.

As of right now - we believe this means that we have more certified CSLCs on our staff than any other company in the country.

Whether it's helping our customers design truly sustainable lighting retrofits, or helping us be better equipped to meet our global energy challenges, we're confident that having these CSLCs on our staff will make us a stronger company.