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Lighting retrofits at Kuehne + Nagel benefit employees and the bottom line
February 1, 2012 - Kuehne + Nagel, the manager of multiple operations spanning over 2.6 million sf in the Pearson, Ont., area, is always seeking opportunities to save on operating costs. In late 2009, Kuehne + Nagel took a hard look at its utility expenditures and realized there was room for improvement.
February 1, 2012 By Alyssa Dalton
“[Our] outdated 400 W high pressure sodium lighting fixtures, which still existed in a number of [our] facilities, produced adequate amounts of light, but used a lot of energy; it was time to look for something more efficient,” said the company.
In 2010, three Kuehne + Nagel facilities totalling 1.1 million sf. was approved by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA)’s Electricity Retrofit Incentive Program (ERIP). The program provides financial incentives to businesses and homeowners who choose energy efficient lighting fixtures when completing a retrofit. For example, ERIP offers this incentive for custom or engineered lighting retrofits: the greater of either $400/kW of demand savings or $0.05/kWh of first year electricity savings. Having received ERIP approval, Kuehne + Nagel looked at other facilities where retrofits had been successfully installed and put out a call for competitive bids.
“[We] sought to choose high quality lighting fixtures that both [we] and [the] landlords would find acceptable,” it explained.
Kuehne + Nagel selected T5 lighting fixtures manufactured by Cooper Lighting, purchased through Wesco, and contracted Phazer Electric to complete the installation. Then, a Hydro One Brampton Networks Inc. a representative came to inspect the completed retrofits at all three facilities and authorize the ERIP rebates, which totalled 50% of the overall investment.
Kuehne + Nagel expects its investment in the lighting retrofit to be paid back within about a year from when the installation was completed. In addition, it expects all three facilities to see a 35-50% reduction in electricity use. The feedback from Kuehne + Nagel employees has also been positive, as the lighting more closely resembles daylight, colour rendition is improved, and eye strain has been reduced, it said.
“Our customers rely on Kuehne + Nagel to implement efficiencies that make their business function better, move faster, and benefit our collective environment,” added John Levin, president CEO.
“Our success is defined by how far we surpass those expectations and how well we use what we’ve learned. It is with this approach, and many successful green projects like this one, that we are driven to make sustainability an integral part of our daily performance,” he said.
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