Dairy Farmers Get Lighting Retrofit Rebate

Focus on Energy is offering a $90-per-fixture rebate to agricultural, commercial or industrial facilities that upgrade their 400-watt lighting with lighting that consume 250-watts or less per fixture. The project must cost less than $25,000 to qualify for the rebate, the Dunn County News reports.

Jeff Strassburg, a dairy farmer, replaced about 60 high-intensity discharge metal halide lights with high-intensity fluorescent lights from Orion Energy Systems. During the lighting retrofit project, Strassburg also installed other electrical equipment on the farm. Strassburg told the Dunn County News that the reduction in light-related electricity has helped offset the energy consumption of the new equipment and that his electricity bill is the same as before the retrofit project.

Orion Energy Systems guarantees customers 50 percent energy savings compared to metal halide lights and other types of high-intensity discharge lights.

In May, Commonwealth Edison and Ameren announced an $84-million, three-year effort to encourage wise use of electricity among commercial and industrial consumers of electricity in the Chicago-area.