OC Transpo Garage LED Retrofit Cuts Costs 43%

OC Transpo, the transit service provider for Ottawa and Carleton, Canada, has cut its lighting costs by 43 percent at its St. Laurent garage, following an LED retrofit by Energy Ottawa.

The project included replacing inefficient light fixtures and installing sensors that can turn off some lighting when the garage is not occupied. Energy Ottawa expects the retrofit to cut energy costs by more than $137,000 each year. Additionally, the energy-efficient lamps last more than 75 percent longer than traditional lamps, which the company says will reduce maintenance costs.

Energy Ottawa, a subsidiary of Hydro Ottawa Holding Inc., is Ottawa’s largest green power producer. It also generates renewable energy and provides commercial energy management services.

Hydro Ottawa Holding Inc. gave OC Transpo more than $90,000 in incentives to help fund the lighting improvements through the saveONenergy Retrofit program. The province-wide initiative provides partial funding to commercial customers that complete energy efficiency retrofit projects.

The St. Laurent project is the third garage lighting retrofit that Energy Ottawa has completed with OC Transpo.

New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Sacramento, Calif.’s United Stationers completed lighting retrofits in April that the companies said cut costs by 57 percent and 91 percent, respectively.

In other lighting retrofit news, horticultural lighting company LumiGrow has launched an equipment buy-back program that will credit commercial growers up to 35 percent of the original price of their lighting systems toward the purchase of new LumiGrow LED lighting.

Growers may upgrade their lighting systems anytime between 24 and 84 months following the purchase date.

LumiGrow will resell retrofit fixtures through both direct and retail channel sales, and says it will recycle any fixtures that cannot be resold. The company says its products are mercury-free and 90 percent recyclable, unlike conventional lighting fixtures.

Photo credit: OC Transpo