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LED Lighting Retrofit in Parking Garage goes LEED Gold Chris Fernando
One of our clients recently decided to retrofit all the 150W Metal Halide lighting in their garage with far more efficient, LED Lighting. The fixtures that were in the garage previously were using over 91.4kW, after the retrofit the load on the garage dropped down to just 25.4kW. This allowed a savings of $4752.00/month in electricity and with the Government providing $26,400 for the retrofit ($400/kW saved as per OPA guidelines - client was in the 416 area code) the ROI period was just over 2 years. This retrofit also allowed the client to go from LEED Silver to LEED Gold, something they had been trying to achieve for quite some time.

There are numerous applications that can provide similar ROIs and some, where the situation becomes far better, dropping under the 1 yr mark.

ORIGINAL POST
Posted At: 2010-01-26 09:32:08

Richard Franks
I have been looking at LED lights to retrofit my property in Mississauga but I haven't seen anything with an ROI under 5yrs, which just doesn't seem too appealing. Where can I find more information on the products your clients used?
 
Posted At: 2010-01-27 13:11:05

LED lighting Leo
Anyone contemplating a lihting retrofit would be advised to consult with an independent qualified energy advisor. The proposed LED retrofit has to be engineered to provide an adequate light level and distribution comparable to what is there now.

In the case here, 150 W MH fixtures sounds like it was overengineered to start with so savings claimed would probably not be typical. I would have expected a comparable LED system to draw about 50 kW, not 25 kW.

The big advantage of LED technology is the life expectancy - most people don't factor this in because they can't quantify the maintenance savings - what are your maintenance costs now? - i.e., replacement bulbs + labour to install them?
 
Posted At: 2010-03-04 12:55:09

Chris
I agree with Leo to a point, if you have no idea about energy and conservation then, yes, contact and engineer or energy advisor. However, if you can do simple arithmetic all that is needed is to ask the right questions and to make sure that you are dealing with quality products. By doing this you can be assured that claims about the products are true and base your calculations on the specs. Also, any good product will be designed to work within certain parameters to maintain appropriate light level. For example, the product used above is designed to provide light levels that meet or exceed the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) guidlines in a garage with lights spaced at 20'-24' and mounted at a height of 8'10'. The savings for this case are spot on as well, around here (Greater Toronto Area), the standard for most garages is 150W MH, if not 175W and yes, when you consider the LED fixture wattage being 41.5W and the garage having approx 600 lights, the total draw is 25kW. With good LED products energy can be cult by %50-%70.

Maintenance plays a huge part as well, the LED fixture mentioned has a life of 80,000hrs to L70 (70% as bright as it was initially) and when you factor in our cold weather and dimming capabilities (fixture runs at 15W when dimmed and still gives 50% light output) that life expectancy goes up to well over 100,000hrs; that's a lot of bulb and ballast changes that will not need to happen.

LEDs are a great technology but in a market full of exaggerated claims and false promises, it is very much a case of buyer beware. If homework is done, everyone wins.

Leo, out of curiousity, what do you do?
 
Posted At: 2010-05-12 19:05:34

Tony Perugini
LED is surely an alternative worth looking at, for anyone interested in going that route, ensure that the manufacturer can provide LM-79 and LM-80 test reports as well as ensure the lamps have UL ratings. The test reports help substatiate the rated life time hours. Most projects we have been completeing show about a 2 year ROI, with rebate and incentive programs it may drop to about 1.7 years. Direct replacement lamps definatley would reduce the ROI as there would be no installation or re-trofit costs. Luminous efficacy should be noted as well as CRI index.
 
Posted At: 2010-07-25 12:17:25