Archive for the ‘Places Rocking LED Lights’ Category

California city once known as a getaway for Hollywood stars turns focus to sustainability

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Most people who visit Indian Wells, California, are probably drawn in by the four world class resorts, the spas and the lush golf courses. The resort community in the southern California desert became a retreat for celebrities after Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz opened the Indian Wells Hotel in 1958. Since then, city officials have worked to make Indian Wells a premiere destination in the Coachella Valley.

Indian Wells 009

These days, city officials are keen on sustainability, and energy-use reduction has become a key goal for the city. I had the “tough” job of visiting Indian Wells last month for an LED City® Council meeting, and while I was there I had the city’s management analyst Susan Weisbart give me a tour of some of the city’s LED lighting installations.

Indian Wells was the first California city to become an LED City. The LED City program helps municipalities speed up the adoption of energy-saving LED lights by connecting them with information they need to make informed decisions about installing LED lights.

One of the first LED lighting installations in Indian Wells involved swapping out incandescent lights that lit the outside of city hall and other municipal buildings with 12 Watt Cree LR6™ recessed lights. It’s a change that city officials say saves nearly $7,000 a year in energy costs. That’s not counting the maintenance savings of not having to replace burned out bulbs, since the LED lights they installed are designed to last 50,000 hours – or 17 years if they’re on 8 hours a day!

The city also has plans to replace the 50 Watt halogen lights illuminating the signature palm trees lining city streets with 11 Watt LED lights. Get this: The city estimates it can save $10,095 in energy costs per year once the project is complete!

Watch my LED tour and interview with Susan to see what Indian Wells is doing to save energy and money:

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in LED Cities, Places Rocking LED Lights, Videos | 1 Comment »

Orlando resort converts hundreds of fixtures to LED lights, projects to save $131,000 in first year

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

One of the biggest perks of LED lighting is how much energy it saves. We’re living in a world where it’s crucial to conserve resources. And a perk of saving energy is that it typically translates into fewer dollars on utility bills.

But it’s one thing to say you’ll conserve energy and reduce utility bills when you use LED lighting, and it’s another thing to actually experience the savings. So when I heard how much energy and money a large Orlando resort is saving by using LED lights, I had to share the details with you.

The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort is one of the largest resorts in Orlando, Florida, and it recently underwent a multi-million dollar renovation that included replacing traditional, antiquated lighting fixtures in its 54 hallways, as well as its freshly refurbished 10,000-square-foot lobby.

4186305688_fdb08aeb1b_bAdd New

The amount of energy and money the resort is saving with its new LED lights is remarkable.

According to Regency Lighting, replacing the resort’s hallway lighting with Cree LR6™ recessed downlights is projected to have a cumulative savings of approximately $131,659 in the first year, with a return on investment of about nine months. These savings include projected energy, labor and cooling expenses, as well as the cost of the new LED lights. By the fourth year of the LED lighting installation, this resort is expected to save more than half a million dollars!

LED lights make good sense for the resort’s lobbies and hallways because they’re lit 24-hours a day, seven days a week. The resort replaced halogen lighting fixtures located between each hotel room with 636 Cree LR6 LED lights. Those lights only consume 10.5 watts of power, an impressive 90-percent energy savings over the two 50-watt halogen bulbs they replaced! But they didn’t stop there.

4186301986_5ec7d9d2f1_b

In the hotel’s lobby – which features live bamboo, animal statues and an indoor garden – halogen lights were replaced with Cree LRP-38™ LED bulbs, saving more than 80 percent on energy consumption alone.

So the next time you’re staying at a hotel look up at the lights in the lobby and hallways. If they’re not LED lights, tell the manager the hotel needs to join the LED lighting revolution. After all, one of the key parts of a revolution is rallying others to join the movement.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Places Rocking LED Lights, Revolution | 2 Comments »

North Carolina’s first green McDonald’s uses LED Lights (and cotton, bamboo, recycled glass and more)

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Take a quick look at one McDonald’s in Cary, NC, and you might not guess that it’s different than every other McDonald’s in North Carolina. But step inside and you’ll see why this McDonald’s in the Saltbox Village shopping center is making history.

The restaurant is the first green McDonald’s in the state, on track to receive its LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council later this month. (Take a look at the 25+ year-old McDonald’s v. the new one. Approximately 99 percent of the debris generated by the demolition process was diverted from landfills by either being reused or recycled).

CaryMcDonaldsOldNewCaryMcdonalds

I recently visited the restaurant to chat with franchise owner Ric Richards about why he chose LED lights to light up 97 percent of the store. Turns out the LED lights in his store consume 78 percent less electricity compared to a standard lighting package at other McDonald’s restaurants.

The restaurant was designed to take advantage of natural light and uses a fully automated, intelligent lighting-control system that combines light from Cree LED lighting and daylighting from Solatube skylights. There’s even a photo sensor to maintain the proper light levels on work surfaces. So, if it’s rainy and overcast outside, the LED light levels are increased to compensate. And since the system is automated, it’s not up to an employee to notice the changing light levels and fool around with the switches. How cool is that?!

Of course, there are many other neat steps taken to use green technologies, and there’s even a touchscreen video kiosk at the front of the store that shows off some of technologies. Here’s a video featuring some of the neat building materials used in construction and my interview with Ric about the energy-efficient LED lights:

Stay tuned, we’ll be updating you soon on the official LEED certification of Ric’s franchise.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in LED Businesses, Places Rocking LED Lights, Videos | No Comments »

Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum installs LED Lights

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

A new exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum is a dream for space exploration fans.  The new “Moving Beyond Earth” exhibit features a 12-foot tall space shuttle model, parts of the Hubble Space Telescope and a model of the Ares launch vehicle. But there’s something even more exciting at the exhibit for LED lighting fans like me – LED lights are replacing the 30-year-old mercury vapor work lights!

Cree’s LR24 recessed LED lights are lighting up the gallery for about eight hours each day so museum staff can clean the gallery and take care of other maintenance when the exhibit isn’t open.

smithsonianLR24

The work lights will be on for about eight hours a day. And since the museum’s new LED lights are designed to last 50,000 hours, they could last 17 years if the lights are on eight hours a day, seven days a week!

You can read all about the installation and some more details about the benefits of having the LED lights at the Smithsonian here.

So if you go to the exhibit, look up at the 20-foot high ceilings and take note of those square lights (they’ll likely be turned off, unless you get a job working at the Smithsonian after hours) and smile to yourself because now you know yet another place that has joined the LED Lighting Revolution.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Places Rocking LED Lights, Revolution | No Comments »