10B — February 23 - March 15, 2018 — Environmental/Green Buildings — ODM — M id A tlantic
Real Estate Journal
www.marejournal.com
E nvironmental /G reen B uildings
By George Crawford, Green Partners LL 88 and LL 134 – Suggestions for Hotels & Assisted Living Facilities upgrading to LED
I
f your building has not already upgraded to LED lighting, this article may
pay for themselves so quickly that prudent building owners will want to implement them as soon as possible. The financial benefit of LED upgrades for Hotels and As- sisted Living Facilities are especially compelling, as they are required to upgrade the entire building to LED, which includes both common areas as well as all living areas, includ- ing hotel guest rooms. This requirement does not apply to multifamily residential build- ings, where the LED upgrade requirement is limited to com- mon areas only – not the resi-
dential units. As a result, and LED upgrade project for both hotels and assisted living facili- ties is significantly larger, but interestingly, has the potential for more significant savings and faster paybacks – usually in the range of 1-2 years compared to 2-3 years for most residential buildings. This “faster” pay- back equates to a 50% or better return on investment in a LED upgrade project – far above the range of commonly expected ROIs in stocks, mutual funds or bonds. Because LED products use significantly less energy than
traditional lighting products, the result of any LED retrofit is always a major cost reduction due to the lower levels of elec- tric consumption. Our recom- mended strategy is to use the LED savings realized from the lower utility bills as the vehicle to fund your retrofit project. To better illustrate how the utility bill reduction can “fund” your retrofit, in the chart on the reverse side are some compari- sons of electric consumption levels of traditional lighting products as compared to LED products - along with their use- ful product lives.
This five year useful life war- ranty – or greater - is the key ingredient to the funding of your retrofit. Since the average payback period for the project cost of a LED retrofit ranges from 1 to 3 years, having a five warranty is your assurance that the projected savings will more than cover your project cost – with a couple of years to spare. Another benefit from a LED upgrade is less main- tenance. With the longer useful lives of LED products – mini- mum 5 years – far less building staff time will be required to change lamps that have gone out. This 5 year useful product life is especially important for hotels to virtually eliminate lamp changes in guest rooms during the warranty periods, as well as the replacement for lighting that is difficult to access. Finally, it is important to note that Hotels and Assisted Living Facilities can qualify for the Con Ed Commercial & Industrial LED lighting rebate program. To qualify, you will need to work with a Con Ed Market Partner, such as Green Partners, that is qualified to access these rebates for LED projects. To initiate your own LED retrofit project, we recommend starting with a lighting model that will give you an accurate picture of the economics. You need to be able to compare your existing lighting costs - including annual electric consumption, costs for lamp replacement products as well as maintenance time for lamp replacement - to the cost effec- tiveness of your proposed LED retrofit plan. In this plan mod- el, you must have specific LED replacement products selected to determine your installed cost, as well as your reduced annual operating expenses in- cluding the estimated Con Ed rebate to develop your payback calculations. As a Con Ed Marketing Part- ner, Green Partners has the capacity and expertise to facili- tate LED lighting project mod- els utilizing Con Ed software for a reliable estimate of your costs. Green Partners also has the capacity to provide a turn- key installation for your retrofit projects, including sourcing product as well as installation. One final word of practical advice. Make sure that you install a sample of each LED continued on page 12B
be useful in terms of de- veloping your own plan for a LED retro- fit. Local Law 88 and Local Law 134 re- qu i r e t ha t all buildings
George Crawford
- 25,000 sf or larger - upgrade to energy efficient LED light- ing. While it is still a few years until these lighting upgrades are mandated, these projects
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