Challenge

Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, just north of Austin, is as proud of its history as it is of its bright future. The first institution of higher learning in Texas, Southwestern was founded in 1840, four years before the Republic of Texas entered statehood. Today, Southwestern is the educational nucleus of a forward-thinking student body that serves as a motivating factor behind the school’s pledge to energy conservation, so much so that the administration signed the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment to significantly reduce energy usage across all operations.

In the case of lighting systems, the challenge for any organization looking to reduce energy while at the same time keeping an eye on cost is to find a solution that incurs the least amount of modifications. In Southwestern’s case, the challenge was to find a retrofit for existing “acorn style” light fixtures lining the school’s sidewalks.

Solution

The school’s specifications for the LED retrofit, in addition to maintaining the light post and globe, were to generate enough light to illuminate the sidewalks for safety reasons as well as emit directional light so as not to shine on adjacent buildings, some of which are student housing facilities.A one-to-one replacement of 19 metal halide bulbs and ballasts at a total of 210 watts each, with ActiveLED® Acorn Retrofits at 32 watts each, was undertaken at Southwestern. The existing light post and light fixture globe were spared, which helped to save costs.

Testimony

“It was a good solution that met our requirements for size, relative to our existing light fixture, as well as light output,” says Bob Mathis, Associate Vice President for Facilities and Campus Services at Southwestern. The ActiveLED Acorn Retrofit has helped Southwestern reduce energy consumption as well as operating costs, according to Mathis.

By replacing high-wattage metal halide lamps with energy efficient LED lighting, the energy load in the 19 lights has been reduced by 85 percent. The estimated cost savings is $1,704 a year. The first year return on investment is over 66 percent, and the payback period is a low 2 years.

As with all ActiveLED Lighting solutions, the Retrofit Assemblies come with the industry's only 10-year lumen lifetime warranty and color retention guarantee.