Green

New Jersey District Cuts Costs with LED Lighting Upgrade

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 10/27/14

New Jersey's New Brunswick Public Schools is retrofitting all 10 of its schools with LED tube lights to reduce use of electricity and natural gas.

Comprising more than 40,000 Generation 3 LED lights from Revolution Lighting, the upgrade is one piece of a $16 million energy savings improvement program (ESIP) undertaken by the district and led by Johnson Controls. The lights provide 1,700 lumens, yet use only 15 wants of energy. They are designed for 75,000 hours of use and come with a 10-year warranty.

Other upgrades included in the ESIP include new cogeneration units, updated HVAC systems and solar panels. Altogether, the upgrades are projected "to cut the school district's energy usage by 41 percent and its natural gas usage by 25 percent," according to a news release.

Aside from reducing energy usage, the project is saving the district money through "a significant energy efficiency rebate" from the state's SmartStart Building program.

"Revolution Lighting Technologies is proud to partner with both New Brunswick Public Schools and Johnson Controls Inc. to implement this LED retrofit throughout all 10 schools," said Robert V. LaPenta, chairman and CEO at Revolution Lighting, in a prepared statement. "Proper illumination is essential for academic settings and our new LED tube lights allow students to work under much higher quality light than provided by previous fluorescent fixtures. The retrofit will also significantly reduce the school district's energy use, maintenance costs and operating expenses, while helping the district mitigate the rising costs of electricity for years to come. The substantial savings allows administrators to invest in critical academic priorities. This project is a prime example of the financial and environmental benefits our LED lighting solutions are delivering to our customers."

"This project will make our schools more energy efficient, eco-friendly and better for our students to learn and grow," said Richard Kaplan, superintendent of New Brunswick Public Schools, in a news release.