August/September 2008
The Business of Green
C O N T E N T S
ED Corner: Chapter Progress and Five Year Anniversary Celebration
LEED 2009: Regional Credits
The Business of Green: Take Control of Your Lighting Costs
Materials & Resources: What You Need to Know About Environmentally Friendly Paint
Water Efficiency :Reduce Potable Water Through Grey Water Systems
Walking the Talk: FSC Certification for Chapter LEED Study Guide
Regional Update: Metro Denver Branch Leadership
VISION
Promote responsibility for Colorado's environmental legacy.
MISSION
Advance and promote sustainable planning, design, construction and operation of the built environment through education, improving industry guidelines, policy advocacy, and information and resource sharing.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Tom Hootman, President
RNL Design
Dana Kose, Vice Chair
M.A. Mortenson
Megan Christensen, Secretary
Bovis Lend Lease
Jim Bradburn, Treasurer
RMH Group
Mike Lowell, Advocacy Chair
US GSA
Bobby Molinari, Membership Chair Hyatt Select
Josh Radoff, Director At Large
YRG Consultants
Sue McFaddin, Director At Large Seven Generations
Ted Caulkins , Education Chair
Silvertip Integrated Engineering
Daniele Loffreda, Communications Chair
Plateau Enviro Associates
Conor Merrigan, EGB Chair
C2 Sustainable Development Consultants
Deb Kleinman
Executive Director
Colorado Building Green is the official newsletter of the U.S. Green Building Council – Colorado Chapter, and is published bi-monthly. If you are interested in submiting a story, ideas or other information for publication, please contact the editor at dgloffreda@msn.com
Take Control of Lighting Costs
Enjoy the benefits of better lighting while reducing energy costs
By Erin Mathe, Xcel Energy
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For most businesses, lighting is a main component of energy costs, accounting for up to 44 percent of monthly energy bills. Every step to lowering lighting use, from installing energy-efficient lighting to limiting lighting use to where and when needed, can signficantly lower energy bills and earn substantial rebates
The benefits of better lighting include higher levels of employee productivity and a more attractive building for tenants and customers. In addition, you can:
- Reduce lighting replacement and maintenance because new lamps and ballasts have a longer rated life.
- Reduce cooling load, as updated electronic ballasts produce less heat than standard ballasts
- Save money by installing fewer fixtures, because more efficient lamps can yield the same or improved lighting levels.
- Use lights only when and where needed by installing automatic controls.
American Furniture Warehouse Increases Lighting Levels While Saving Energy and Money
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| Image courtesy of American Furniture Warehous |
In the fall of 2005, American Furniture Warehouse started building their Firestone, Colorado location. Though they had used metal-halide lighting products in past warehouse and showroom construction projects, Randy Venhaus, Project Manager and Director of Real Estate, spearheaded an effort to try fluorescent lighting at the Firestone location
Due to the success of the new fluorescent lighting at Firestone, the AFW team decided to look at retrofitting their Thornton, Colorado superstore and warehouse. Plans for this location began in the spring of 2007.
With the help of Bill Conrad, Key Account Manager at Xcel Energy, Randy and his team estimated the benefits of retrofittting their high-bay metal halides with fluorescent T5s in the Thornton warehouse. The rebates offered in the Lighting Efficiency program by ConservationWise from Xcel EnergySM played an important role in the decision to move ahead. “When we started looking at the Xcel Energy rebates as well as the federal credits offered on lighting projects like this, it became clear to us that we could really increase lighting levels and reduce our lighting bills quite a bit,” said Randy.
The Results
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| Image courtesy of American Furniture Warehouse |
Retrofits in Thornton took approximately 3-5 weeks to complete and the results wer positive and dramatic: AFW effectively doubled the lighting levels and saw their energy bills reduced significantly. Though the company spent approximately $$164,000 on the project, the Xcel Energy rebate of $50,350, the federal energy credit, the estimated annual energy savings of 178 kilowatts and 892,000 kilowatt-hours plus the projected annual cost savings of $55,400 more than made the project worthwhile for AFW.
| "The savings both in money and energy are considerable for us," noted Randy. "We're excited to see how the increased lighting levels affect safety and productivy in Thorton" - Randy Venhaus |
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