Picton Hockey Arena Improves Lighting and Reduces Energy Use by 75%

    PICTON, ON, December 24, 2014 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Goalies can see and hear the puck now; County earns $8,000 rebate

The County of Prince Edward has earned a $8,240 rebate from Hydro One for hiring Lumeneering Innovations to update the lighting above the ice surface and viewing stands in it's Picton Arena.

The lighting improvements are projected to save the County over 124,000 kWh annually.

The Picton Arena is part of the Prince Edward Community Centre located in Picton, Ontario. The arena has a single ice surface, dressing rooms, referee room, concession booth, and seating to accommodate spectators. While it's busiest during the hockey season, the arena is used other times of the year for events like the fair and shuffleboard.

The 29 year old arena was previously lit by metal halide lights that were starting to dim very inconsistently. Complaints from hockey goalies that they couldn't see the puck led Lisa Lindsay, Manager of Community Centres and Events Marketing for the County to investigate upgrade alternatives. "Read Kelly of Ontario Hydro told me about how cost-effective LED (light-emitting diode) technology has become and that Hydro One rebates were available for a limited time when upgrading to this technology," says Lisa. "Once we investigated and learned about the better, more natural light due to LED technology improvements, the huge energy savings, and the hydro rebate, the decision to proceed with the upgrade was a no-brainer. The County sought competitive bids to upgrade our lighting technology and Lumineering Innovations was the only vendor to recommend a cost-saving approach to recycle the existing fixtures with the new technology."

"It was incredible how quickly the retrofit installation was complete," notes Lisa. "It took just a couple days to install new lights above the arena ice surface and an additional lighting system for the viewing stands. The elimination of the constant hum from the older light ballasts was the very first thing we all noticed. Another significant improvement is the fact that the new lighting system operates on automatic sensors which means the lights only come on when the arena is actually in use - resulting in even more energy savings."

Government-owned as well as privately owned building owners across Ontario are working with Lumeneering Innovations and other qualified installers to take advantage of cash rebates for up to 75% of the project cost from the Save on Energy upgrade program offered by the Ontario Power Authority and local utilities, includingToronto Hydro, PowerStream, Hydro One, Horizon Utilities, Veridian, and Guelph Hydro, among others. The utility programs provide cash incentives for upgrading existing lighting systems with new high-efficiency LED lighting solutions.

"We're seeing many building owners like the County of Prince Edward significantly slash their energy use while dramatically improving the lighting system quality," noted Michael Freeman, President of Lumeneering Innovations, an Ontario Hydro qualified lighting design and installation company. "The Centre's lighting energy use decreased from 470 watts on the ice surface to 120 watts which is a 75% savings, while the lighting in the audience seating reduced over 75% from 470 watts to 75 watts. Plus, the system comes with a five-year warranty which is important to protect the County's investment. But as much as we focus on the energy savings, it's always the non-energy benefits that grab the building occupants. In this case, after we were completed, the highest praise we received from the goalies was that with the old lighting ballast hum eliminated they can now hear the puck as it slides down the ice. For us, that means we scored a win!"

For a free lighting system analysis of your building, contact:

Michael Freeman at [email protected] or 888-509-9778.

Lumeneering Innovations is an LED Lighting Company who specializes in Renewing Existing Fixtures of all types into New Led Luminaires.

When we complete a project all the lights in the facility are new, modern LED lights with no maintenance and a huge reduction in energy costs.

The new lighting is far superior in colour rendering as well making a marked environment improvement for better productivity and greater sales!

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