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

  • Different Starting Points, Same End Goal

    Higher education campuses can enhance student experience by implementing mobile credentials to streamline building access, on-campus payments, and access to other amenities. This enables students to connect to their campuses through the technology they use most: their mobile devices.

  • UNT Dallas Holds Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for $100M STEM Building

    The University of North Texas at Dallas in Dallas, Texas, recently celebrated the opening of its new, $100-million STEM Building, according to local news. The ceremony on Dec. 2 preceded the first day of classes in the facility on Jan. 12, 2026.

  • classroom with crystal ball on top of a desk

    Call for Opinions: Spaces4Learning 2026 Predictions for Educational Facilities

    As 2025 winds to a close, the Spaces4Learning staff is asking its readers—school administrators, architects, engineers, facilities managers, builders, superintendents, designers, vendors, and more—to send us their predictions for educational facilities in 2026.

  • University of Kentucky Receives $150M Gift Toward New Arts District

    The University of Kentucky’s Board of Trustees recently received a $150-million gift from The Bill Gatton Foundation, according to a university news release, to build a new arts district on the campus in Lexington, Ky. The new district will feature a new College of Fine Arts building and a multi-hundred-seat theater, among other amenities.

Digital Edition