Conservation and Choice Make Lighting Upgrades Easy

Lighting Upgrades

Great performance along with guaranteed energy conservation made Cree the obvious choice when it came to replacing 2,553 lights at Toledo Public School facilities.

The Toledo Public Schools (TPS) Maintenance and Operations Department supports 42 schools in Toledo, Ohio. As the director of Maintenance and Operations, Quintin Reynolds is responsible for finding new ways to save energy. Reynolds along with key staff member, Ron Miller, and TPS’s energy consultant, Palmer Conservation Consulting, worked to save energy by replacing 2,553 outdoor metal halide and high-pressure sodium lights with Cree LED luminaires.

In addition, TPS wanted to turn the opportunity into a teachable moment for students by building an interactive energy dashboard providing real time energy usage data.

The Maintenance and Operations Department with Palmer Conservation Consulting chose Cree LED lights because of the product longevity, low maintenance and the 10-year limited warranty.

“Cree had a 10-year warranty when everyone else offered seven years or less,” says Miller. “The lighting quality is there and the fixtures are good quality — well built.”

“TPS likes the performance, price point, and how it looks compared to other lights on the market,” says Miller. “In addition, the lighting enhanced the look of the schools. Cree luminaires come in many colors so we could choose colors to complement the architecture of each school.”

During the lighting project, outdoor lighting at 42 schools was upgraded in a one-to-one replacement with Cree LED lights. Using existing poles, OSQ Series luminaires replaced flood and area lights in the parking lot, CPY Series replaced canopy lights at the school entrances, Cree EdgeTM Series replaced walkway lights, and XSP Series Wall Packs replaced existing accent lighting.

The crisp, white light of Cree’s luminaries create a safe atmosphere for students, administrators and visitors. As important, the Cree luminaires are backed by Cree’s 10-year industry-leading limited warranty, providing investment protection.

www.cree.com/lighting

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Philadelphia Middle School Facility Earns LEED Gold Certification

    The Alternative Middle Years (AMY) at James Martin Middle School in Philadelphia, Penn., recently received a LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, according to a news release. The School District of Pennsylvania partnered with KSS Architects on the project.

  • Fargo, N.D., Starts Construction on Consolidated Elementary School

    Fargo Public Schools in Fargo, N.D., recently announced the beginning of construction on a new elementary school, according to a news release. The district partnered with ICON Architectural Group and Kraus-Anderson Construction on the new Horace Mann Elementary School.

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.

  • Health & Science Building

    Health & Science Building

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The College of Western Idaho's Health & Science Building has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.