LED lighting has given the Port a refined look for less while slashing maintenance costs.
Arkon LED recently completed an LED retrofit for Port Tampa Bay that will save the commercial hub more than 85% on its atrium lighting costs while making the entryway more attractive and flexible.
“Initially, the contract was just a light bulb replacement, then it was extended to include the replacement of the Port’s old incandescent fixtures with color changing LEDs,” LED Sales Guy Greg Papandrew said. “The lights used to be able to change between red, white and blue—now it is all that and more. The Port atrium can be lit up all pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, all green for St. Patrick’s Day or red and green for Christmas.”
Papandrew worked closely with Port IT Coordinator Barbara Heisserer throughout the project, focusing on a solution that could save the organization thousands of dollars in maintenance costs. According to Heisserer, the theater lights formerly used to illuminate the atrium would burn out in weeks, forcing the Port to keep the area darkened most of the time. The challenge for the maintenance crew was accessing the lights around the large globe that sits in the center of the room. Positioned 60 feet in the air at the corners of the structure, the fixtures were too high for a straight, one-man lift.
“It took four 60-foot scaffold piers just to access all the lights,” Papandrew said. “The joke was: What does it take to change a light bulb at the Port? Well, $10,000, six scaffolding people and two electricians.”
Arkon LED was able to replace the incandescent lights with fewer LED fixtures while achieving greater light levels and more efficient distribution. Based on a national average power cost of $0.11 per kilowatt-hour, the Port incurred about $947 in power costs per month when all of its incandescent lights were functioning. Arkon’s LED fixtures cost the City of Tampa only $136 per month.
On top of the power and maintenance savings, Arkon was able to install wireless controls in the Port atrium, meaning each of the lights can now be individually controlled.
“It was one of those projects were I knew we could help this client,” Director of Business Development Eleni Lelekis said. “But not even I knew at the start just how much we could do for them.”
Email Info@ArkonPower.com to learn more about this or any of Arkon’s industrial LED Lighting projects.