Looking for a virtually untapped market for energy-efficient lighting?
How about parking garages?
According to Geoffrey Friel, a technical sales specialist for Richard N Best
Associates, America is home to parking garages that are wasting nearly $800
million in electricity charges each year thanks to outmoded inefficient
lighting systems.
The Levittown, PA company specializes in facilities security services and is
marketing the Limelight wireless fluorescent lighting system developed by TwistHDM
for garage retrofits. The “HDM” in the TwistHDM company name stands for High
Density Mesh wireless network which describes the Limelight unit that includes
(3) high-output T8 lamps with dual rapid start ballasts, motion sensing and
radio transmitters on every fixture (www.TwistHDM.com).
TwistHDM executive, Lee Eilers, indicated that the Grand Rapids, MI company
introduced the Limelight system in late 2008 and now is experiencing increasing
market traction with strong response from municipalities and universities. “Being
a new technology, it took us a while to prove the energy savings could generate
a typical payback of from 3 to 4 years,” said Eilers. “We now have thirteen
completed installations including projects for Ohio State University, the city
of Dearborn, MI, and numerous other colleges, municipalities and condo developments,
and seven pending projects.”
Since most parking garage structures have their lights blazing 24/7/365, the
Limelight system provides an ideal dimming solution that reacts by triggering
lighting area-by-area and level-by-level as a pedestrian walks to their parked
vehicle or drives in or out of the building.
According to TwistHDM’s Eilers, the typical payback period for the installed
Limelight garage lighting retrofits projects is under 4 years, and the benefits
go far beyond the energy savings and reduced electric utilities bill. Eilers
points out that older garage structures are poorly lighted, and pose security
hazards for building users.
One recent Beta test site using a Limelight installation to replace existing
175W Metal Halide lighting over a 7-day period projected an annual savings of
nearly $15,000 on the garage’s electrical overhead costs by reducing electricity
by 42.5%. The system is web-based which allows email or text warnings when lamps
fail which eliminates maintenance inspections; projected ROI is slightly over
4 years.
New solutions like the Limelight wireless mesh network system offer distributors
potentially advantageous ways to differentiate themselves from competitors.
Every town, village, city, county and campus is the likely home of multiple
garages that continue to consume electrical round the clock. For the distributor
smart enough to propose a cost-saving, labor-saving green lighting solution,
these garages could spell new business!