Sentry Equipment Corp.
Sentry's CEO Mike Ferrell intended to leverage the latest advancements in energy-efficient building and lighting technologies, and 100-year-old incandescent lighting technology did not fit into his vision. He stated that you would have to be "brain dead" not to choose LEDs. "When we were building, we were using a lot of new technology," Farrell remembers. "When we got down to lighting, it seemed like we were stuck using old technology."
Project Highlights
When Sentry Equipment Corp., a leading supplier of sampling components and systems, decided to build its new 60,000-square-foot facility, a major concern was energy-efficiency.
The Oconomowoc, Wis.-based building's original lighting design indicated that the company's fixtures would require about 75 kW. The company reduced its actual lighting load, however, to only about 30 kW through effective use of daylighting and high-efficiency artificial lighting, mainly LED technology.
Sentry estimates the cost for the new lighting technology — LEDs by Cree — has an approximate 1.3-year payback, starting in August 2007, when the installations were completed. Sentry also projects its annual lighting energy costs to be more than $13,000 less than estimated in the original lighting design.
Where the company installed LED lighting, it reduced energy consumption from 14.6 kW in the original plan to an actual consumption of only 3.6 kW.
The company's LED lighting also reduced overall energy consumption since they have a power factor near 90 percent, making it easier for the power company to provide the energy. Overall energy use decreased by 60.5 percent — from 75,448 total system watts with original lighting to 29,807 total system watts with new LED lighting.
Since experiencing the benefits of LED lighting, Sentry has decided that LEDs will be the first choice for all its future lighting installations.