Interim Furnishings

Interim Furnishings had relocated to a larger warehouse space and inherited numerous old fluorescent task lights. Of the 365 fixtures in the building, only half were working but all were drawing power. Instead of purchasing and installing more outdated and unreliable fluorescent bulbs, Interim decided to replace their entire lighting system with new energy efficient LED fixtures and install occupancy sensors throughout the building.

Trust Energy Solutions redesigned Interim’s lighting layout by producing photometric reports that simulated new light levels throughout the warehouse. “Trust Energy was able to show me what areas could and should be lit, and how much light we needed in each section,” says Warehouse Director, Barry Sjostedt.

Trust Energy also added individual motion sensors to all of Interim’s high bay fixtures, as many sections of their warehouse are only accessed periodically.

Big Savings

Although Interim Furnishings had only been in the new location for four months, their recorded energy use indicated they would consume approximately 120,800 kWh of electricity each year should they continue using the existing lights.

The redesigned lighting layout requires fewer bulbs and uses LED fixtures that consume 75% less electricity than the old fluorescent lights, saving an estimated 98,423 kWh per year. This simple upgrade will reduce Interim’s annual energy costs by more than $25,000.

In addition to financial benefits, the new lights have significantly improved the work environment for Interim’s staff. The LEDs provide higher quality light and increased light distribution, improving color-matching capabilities for the designers. The new lighting layout allows fixtures to be mounted higher, which maximizes storage space inside the warehouse and creates room for more product. Plus, the LEDs last 25 times longer than fluorescent bulbs and are virtually maintenance free, so the staff won’t have to work around burnt out bulbs.

“We’re very happy with the upgrade, it’s made a tremendous difference. Overall the employees are happy and I like that I don’t have to worry about leaving the building and seeing a light on,” says Sjostedt.

Interim’s Impact

Interim Furnishings takes their role in the community very seriously and environmental stewardship is an integral parts of their business.

“We truly want to be environmentally conscious and we’re very big into recycling. Because we’re handling delicate merchandise, we get a lot of packing materials at the warehouse and we always make sure they’re either reused or recycled,” explains Sjostedt. “We have an eight-yard dumpster, which we fill with cardboard once or twice a week, and found a unique solution for the hard-to-recycle Styrofoam; we have a local company who recycles it and makes it into styrene plastic.”

The energy savings generated by Interim’s efficiency improvements will eliminate nearly 206,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, which the same as removing 15 cars from the road. It would otherwise require 55 acres of trees to remove the same amount of carbon dioxide.