A.B. Jewell’s electricians replaced the 350 existing lights, ranging from 70 to 400 watts, with just 259 Dialight LEDs, ranging from just 33 to 212 watts. Not only were they able to reduce the total fixture count, but the change out slashed 446,576 kWh from their annual consumption while dramatically improving the brightness and quality of light in and around the facility.
“I was hesitant at first when I pulled [the Dialight fixture] out of the box,” said Mr. Curry. “I thought, ‘There is no way this is going to be bright enough.’ But, then we wired it up and those things are spectacular. The difference is like night and day.”
Because of the tremendous energy savings, the project qualified A.B. Jewell for a $32,000 rebate incentive from its energy provider, the Public Service Company of Oklahoma, covering almost 20% of the total project cost and bringing the payback period down from 8.1 years to just 6.6 years. With every fixture guaranteed to be maintenance free under Dialight’s 10-year warranty, which means every dollar saved after 6.6 years goes straight to A.B. Jewell’s bottom line for reinvestment into other equipment and process upgrades.
“It’s been a complete 180,” said Mr. Curry. “You can actually see into the equipment pits, and even the contractors that were here before the lights were switched out are so impressed. We get compliments from the guys working in the building, and morale is definitely higher.”
“We’ve been able to decrease the amount of lights in some areas of the facility, cut our maintenance costs by $6,000-7,000 per year, reduce our energy costs, and improve our light levels,” says Mr. Curry.
