Global Water Resources Conserves Energy with Lighting Upgrade
Aug 6, 2019
Global Water Resources is a water resource management company that owns and operates 12 utilities providing water, wastewater and recycled water services. Conserving natural resources is a core commitment of the company, so it was a natural step for Global Water Resources to reduce the energy consumption of its Maricopa, Arizona facility with more efficient lighting.
Partnering with electrical contractor Red Mountain Lighting & Energy, Global Water Resources completed a full retrofit of the LEED Silver building using MaxLite LED Indirect/Direct Pendants, FlatMax Edge Lit Flat Panels and T5 Lamps. Apart from achieving energy and operational cost savings, the main design concern was to improve light levels throughout the facility. To accomplish these goals, Red Mountain implemented a one-to-one LED retrofit in individual offices and utility rooms, and redesigned the lighting system in the bullpen area to provide more lumens using fewer, and less obtrusive, fixtures.
“With the old lighting system, our employees had difficulty reading paperwork at their desks because of the very low light levels,” noted Ron Lakefield, engineering and construction manager for Global Water Resources, Inc. “Now they are able to review documents comfortably. In the bullpen especially, light is much brighter and uniform, and the slim design of the MaxLite pendants really opens up the space and makes the room appear much larger.”
The lighting inside individual offices consisted of 101 two-lamp volumetric troffers, each of which housed 28-watt fluorescent T5 lamps. The troffers were replaced by MaxLite 2’x4’ 40W FlatMax Edge Lit Panels, which increased light output to 4,000-plus lumens per fixture, while reducing overall energy consumption. The panels were paired with Lutron Vive dimmers to further conserve energy and customize light output to employee preferences.
In the open office bullpen, employees complained of low light levels and shadows produced by the existing two-lamp indirect/direct fluorescent pendants. By applying a combination of MaxLite LED Indirect/Direct 1’x4’ pendants and 2’x4’ round pendants, Red Mountain was able to reduce the fixture count (from 73 to 64) and increase lumens to bring much-needed functional light to work areas. The slim form factors of the pendants also contributed to a more open and airy space.
Utility wraps in the training and wellness rooms were retrofitted with MaxLite T5 lamps. The 67 existing two-lamp fixtures were converted from 28W fluorescent to the long-lasting benefits of LED via a simple ballast bypass.
Overall, Global Water Resources was able to reduce energy consumption of the Maricopa facility by 77,581 kWh, which will save the company $8,675 in electricity and maintenance costs annually.
