Add as a preferred source on Google

Lighting Solution Leads to Big Savings

  • 06/01/16
SDCCD

Choosing Cree for a lighting upgrade saved SDCCD money, which freed up financial room for other needs and projects.

With the passing of California’s Clean Energy Jobs Act (Proposition 39), Chris Manis, vice chancellor of Facilities Management for the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD), saw a golden opportunity to finance facility upgrades across his campus system. A state program providing funding for improving energy efficiency, Prop 39 makes available up to $550 million annually to eligible educational agencies to pay for energy projects with a strong return on investment.

As the second-largest community college district in the state, SDCCD continues to grow rapidly, tripling their footprint in less than 10 years while at the same time maintaining their commitment to sustainability.

It quickly became apparent that lighting projects were the preferred funding recipients. As Manis explains: “If I save 20 percent on my electric bill, then those dollars became available for other projects. We call lighting the low-hanging fruit because it has one of the largest savings potentials, especially when upgrading older facilities that still have incandescent or older fluorescent fixtures.” Once funding was secured, SDCCD worked with several partners to find a lighting solution that would have the largest ROI while meeting socially responsible investment goals. One name rose to the top — Cree.

As far as light quality, Mark Doubleday, senior planner, Energy Systems & Facilities Maintenance for SDCCD, states, “With fluorescent, you are constantly getting pounded with flicker. Because the Cree lights are so much more consistent and there’s no flicker, the lights look brighter so we’ve had to make adjustments. We’re using daylight sensing and we’re dimmed below factor y measurements, so we’re getting additional estimated 25-30 percent savings at minimum as well as extending fixture life.”

www.cree.com/lighting

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • ed tech conference calendar

    Upcoming Awards, Events & Webinars

  • sapling sprouting from a cracked stone

    Lessons in Resilience: Disaster Recovery in Our Schools

    Facility managers play a pivotal role in how well a school weathers and recovers from a crisis. Whether it's a hurricane, a flood, a tornado, or a man-made event, preparation determines resilience.

  • How One School Reimagined Learning Spaces—and What Others Can Learn

    When Collegedale Academy, a PreK–8 school outside Chattanooga, Tenn., needed a new elementary building, we faced the choice that many school leaders eventually confront: repair an aging facility or reimagine what learning spaces could be. Our historic elementary school held decades of memories for families, including some who had once walked its halls as children themselves. But years of wear and the need for costly repairs made it clear that investing in the old building would only patch the problems rather than solve them.

  • University of West Florida Opens New Laboratory Facility

    The University of West Florida recently announced that renovation work is complete on a new lab building for its campus in Pensacola, Fla., according to university news. Building 80 will serve as the home to the university’s civil engineering program and the Tyler Chase Norwood Construction Management Program.

Digital Edition