University cuts energy costs with new lighting strategy

Dimming lights and changing a few thousand bulbs has reduced university carbon emissions by 1,446 tons over the last year.

Facilities management introduced their $1.8 million hallway lighting program in the A.V. Williams building last fall and has since expanded it to 20 other academic buildings, including the Computer and Space Sciences building, Van Munching Hall and Glenn Martin Hall. The effort, which involves redesigning, replacing and restructuring the lighting fixtures and panels in academic buildings across the campus, should be expanded to 20 more buildings by the end of the year.

At the program's halfway point, the hallway lighting energy consumption of the 21 buildings has been reduced by 77 percent, and $203,000 has been trimmed from the university's electrical bill, which is generally close to $25 million a year. Once the project is finished, the university expects annual savings of about $700,000.

"The program is an excellent initiative that is helping reduce our energy consumption and is very much in line with the university's climate action plan," said Scott Lupin, the director of the Office of Sustainability.

Accounting for about 30 to 40 percent of the university's electrical costs, lighting was considered the best area to target for energy reduction, said Marlowe Leafty, who directs the project as the campus' assistant director of electrical systems. Hallway lighting was seen as easier to change and less disruptive to students and faculty then changing classroom and office lighting, Leafty said.

"We went after hallways because they are areas with 24-hour lighting and also because they're places where it is easy to do changes and to see immediate savings," Leafty said.

The program uses a variety of methods to reduce energy consumption. The lights themselves are 40 percent more energy efficient than their predecessors. There are also fewer of them — the number of fixtures for every 100 feet of hallway has been reduced from between six and 10 to around four. Lighting levels have also been reduced to industry standards set by the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America.

The end result: Lighting 100 feet of hallway only costs about $130 a year to light, Leafty said.

Once the project is completed, facilities management is planning to expand it to include classroom, offices and non-academic buildings. They also will work with the Department of Residential Facilities to expand the program to dining halls and dorms.

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