Glit Report Moosejaw

Posted: Sunday, 16 December 2009 11:55

Oak Electric Helps Warehouse Slash Power Bills

Waterford Township-based Oak Electric Service Inc. says it helped Moosejaw Mountaineering and Backcountry Travel Inc. to reduce its warehouse lighting power use by 28 percent by replacing metal Halide lighting with T-5 fluorescent fixtures.

The move saved 11,000 kilowatt hours per month on the utility bill of the 42,0000-square-foot warehouse in Madison Heights.

The lighting in the warehouse "had become grossly inadequate and was affecting the efficiency of our operation,” saidTom Stockton, Moosejaw Mountaineering and Backcountry Travel Inc. transportation specialist. “It was time to make some improvements and we began to do a search for an electrical contractor that had specialties in energy saving lighting retrofit programs, and also was familiar with all the energy rebate programs that are now available from the utility services, local and federal governments."

Stockton said several building contractors recommended Oak Electric. He said Oak Electric owner Gary Pipia visited the warehouse "and subsequently developed and implemented a very cost-effective energy savings lighting retrofit program for us.”

Said Pipia: “The Moosejaw warehouse was a classic candidate for a lighting retrofit program that provided better light output while saving energy and costs. The facility had sixty-four 450 watt high bay metal halide fixtures … of which only one out of four was actually operating properly.”

Pipia said Moosejaw wanted greener lighting to match its other efforts -- a comprehensive cardboard and paper recycling program, the use of recycled paper in catalogs and extensive use of e-mail marketing over direct mail.

“What we first did was to prepare an energy usage-payback comparison study showing the existingh halide lighting and the recommended T-5 high bay florescent lighting fixtures," Pipia saqid. The results of the study were obvious, with the payback in energy savings alone of 1.02 years.”

The relamping program consisted of:

* Replacing the 64 existing 400-watt metal halide fixtures with new T5, 4-lamp HO lighting that produces 27 foot candles of light at 18 feet. Complete lighting in the warehouse should be 20-30 foot candles.

* Relocating fixtures where needed for best lighting distribution between racks and shelving.

* Extending circuits where needed to accommodate for new lighting plan.

* Re-using, where possible, circuits and lighting controls.

“We feel the program has been a total success,” Stockton said. concludes. “Our first utility bill since the fit was completed has shown a 28 percent or 11,000 kilowatt hours reduction in usage. In addition, the new T-5 lamp fixtures come on instantly and we don’t have that annoying lost time interval of having to wait for the metal Halide lamps to heat up. Oak Electric Services was very effective in working with DTE Energy to obtain our rebates through the comprehensive set of incentives that are available under DTE’s Your Energy Savings Program that facilitates the implementation of cost-effective improvements for Business Customers. We estimate that we were able to save approximately half the cost of what it would have been without the energy rebates.”

Moosejaw Mountaineering and Backcountry Travel was founded in 1992 by two wilderness guides. The company has retail stores and on-line sales for outdoor recreation apparel and gear for rock climbing, hiking, and camping. It currently has seven locations -- six in Michigan and one in Illinois. The first store opened in 1992 in Keego Harbor.

Oak Electric Service is an electrical contractor that provides electrical service for the industrial, commercial and residential markets in Metro Detroit and Southeast Michigan. Over the past 10 years, Oak Electric has also specialized in stand-by generator installations for industrial, commercial and residential markets as well. They are a Preferred Vendor for DTEand one of Michigan’s largest dealers for Generac power systems. In addition Oak Electric is an authorized dealer for AEE Solar Systems, Skystream, Swift and ReDriven Power Inc. wind turbines.

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