Cold warehouse operators say LED lighting makes dollars and sense.
Watt’s up? Having heard so much about light emitting diode (LED) industrial lighting, Refrigerated & Frozen Foods was interested to learn if cold storage warehouse operators indeed found cold, hard cash returns in this new technology.
The answer is “yes,” say executives at the Tippmann Group / Interstate Warehousing, Ft. Wayne, Ind.; and United States Cold Storage, (USCS), Voorhees, N.J.
Mike Lynch, USCS vice president of engineering, says his company already has spent about $2.7 million to retrofit and install LED lighting at nine warehouses.
“During the past 24 months, we have tested numerous LED fixtures from a variety of manufacturers,” says Lynch. “The energy savings – coupled with available utility incentives – made 2011 an opportune time to make this investment. In fact, USCS plans to make additional investments in 2012 thanks to the continued availability of utility incentives and the continued reduction in LED costs. Meanwhile power costs continue to increase.”
Lynch notes that LED lighting has other advantages beyond power savings. It requires less wattage – resulting in less heat emitted into the freezer. He says LED’s provide infinite dimming capabilities (0 to 100 percent) and they can turn on instantly at temperatures as low as -20˚F.
Lynch says USCS selected its first nine retrofit locations based upon the best projected internal rates of return. To evaluate the best options, he says USCS engineers consider a warehouse’s hours of operation, utility costs and available utility incentives. USCS expects to convert another four to seven warehouses to LED lighting in 2012.
One USCS project involved new lighting in the company’s 88,000-square-foot warehouse expansion in Hazleton, Pa. In that instance, USCS partnered with Groom Energy Solutions, a Salem, Mass., energy efficiency consulting firm and a Digital Lumens (technology) reseller. Groom and USCS say the new lighting system costs 3.5 cents per square foot per year to operate, compared to 46 cents per square foot for traditional alternatives. Digital Lumens also says that with its low kWh consumption, the LED generates 93 percent less CO2 than traditional systems. The partners say USCS could expect a return on investment within 14.6 months.
Once USCS awards a lighting retrofit project to a supplier, it takes approximately 30 to 45 days to procure and mobilize and another 30 to 45 days to install (depending on size), says Lynch. Post measurement and verification periods typically range from six months to a year.
He concludes, “We don’t yet have a full year’s worth of operational results from these projects but the initial data shows LED lights appear to be providing the level of savings we anticipated.”
When Interstate Warehousing expanded its Franklin, Ind., facility in 2010, it installed LED lighting (also involving Groom Energy and Digital Lumens) in the addition.
“We made this decision after extensive research into the efficiency, cost and payback,” says Steve Tippmann, an executive vice president for both Tippmann and Interstate Warehousing. “Many power companies also are offering significant incentives for people to use more of this technology. The end result is a win-win situation for everybody. We’re using significantly less energy and our utility bills have dropped dramatically.”
Tippmann says Interstate Warehousing will install LED lighting in each of its seven facilities – while it removes older technologies. In fact, the company already has estimated its retrofit costs and paybacks (see chart, above).
Interstate Warehousing forecasts an investment payback in as little as one and a half to two years – especially at locations where its energy costs are high (such as in Joliet, Ill., near Chicago).
“Facilities that operate on a 24/7 schedule can realize even faster paybacks because they don’t have the opportunity to completely turn off their old, metal halide lights,” notes Tippmann. “In our Franklin facility, we’re tracking the specific usage of the new lights and we are finding that – even when the warehouse is busier than normal – the LED lights are only turned ‘on’ between 5 and 15 percent of the time.”
Make the call
Before you begin a lighting project, contact your local utility – either directly or through your energy efficiency consultant. You’ll want to learn about applicable rebates and incentive programs. You may find a variety of opportunities for simple lighting upgrades as well as larger incentives for integrating controls. If your kWh savings are significant enough, you may be eligible for additional project rebates. You should know, however, that it’s key to contact utilities before a project starts. Many utilities will not provide incentives if they come in midway through a project.
Field Reports
Millard and Groom Energy announced in December that they completed a LED lighting retrofit at Millard's public refrigerated warehouse in Allentown, Pa. Covering more than 629,000 square feet and using nearly 800 LED high bay fixtures, officials say the project is one of the nation’s largest LED deployments. Millard said it expects the project (1) to cut 3.5 million kilowatt hours in lighting and cooling system operation and (2) eliminate more than 1,700 tons of related CO2. Millard, Omaha, Neb., is one of North America’s largest public refrigerated warehouse and distribution service providers with 36 regional facilities.
Cold storage and distribution services giant Americold, Atlanta, selected SmartWatt Energy for a LED lighting retrofit at Americold’s cold storage facility in Russellville, Ark. The August 2011 project was the seventh such collaboration for the two companies. Officials said they expected the effort to generate higher quality lighting while reducing overall lighting-related energy consumption by 690,000 kWh – equivalent to removing more than 95 cars from Arkansas roadways. Americold owns and operates more than 182 temperature-controlled warehouses in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, China, Argentina, and Canada.
LED lighting: Be an informed buyer.
Suppliers say several organizations promote energy-efficient lighting and hold manufacturers to consistently high standards. These groups include utility representatives, lighting academics, industry experts, U.S. Department of Energy representatives and other interested parties. These groups form a common framework to educate customers and review vendor claims.
Whether you’re considering plain LEDs or intelligent LED lighting systems, be sure the any product meets the following criteria:
• Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Listing – Any LED product should be UL listed for the entire fixture – not just the power supply. Don’t hesitate to ask for proof.
• DesignLights Consortium (DLC) Qualified Products List – The Energy Star™ program rates many products including residential LEDs. When it came to industrial high-bay LEDs, Energy Star partnered with the DesignLights Consortium (www.designlights.org) to develop a rigorous set of evaluation criteria. When products meet the critieria, they are added to the DesignLights Consortium’s Qualified Products List (QPL), which is used by numerous utilities nationwide as primary eligibility for project rebates.
The DLC certification process requires lighting manufacturers to provide documentation, including the product’s rated and measured data for various properties including photometric, electrical and lumen depreciation. Required data comes from the LM-79, LM-80 test files, as well as full IES files and UL 1598 certification. (Note: vendors should be willing to share this data with you, as well.)
The DLC represents a collaboration of utility and state energy efficiency programs from across North America, NEEP (Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships), the Lighting Research Center, and regional energy efficiency organizations. By providing a rigorous set of evaluation criteria for prospective vendors, DLC promotes high-quality, energy-efficient lighting standards in all commercial lighting market sectors.
• Lighting Facts –This Department of Energy initiative ensures consistent product labeling. Lighting Facts is a program designed to teach customers about this new technology because solid state (LED) lighting is measured in light output levels rather than wattage.
