would turn off all of the gym’s lights after a preset period of inactivity, and turn them on automatically when they sensed a certain level of activity. “We no longer had to rely on people using the gym to remember to turn off all of the lights when they were finished,” says Kim Sherr, associate director of Projects, Project Management and Operations at the school.

The gyms are also used for a variety of other events besides sports, including presentations, ceremonies and concerts. For each of these, the Lutron control system has a pre-programmed macro that creates a lighting scene appropriate to each use. Plotts also points out that the control system can be extended to other buildings on the campus, allowing the addition of features such as lighting fixtures, ballast and sensors in them; he says they are currently investigating using the Quantum system for the school’s library lighting.

“We’re small with a small operations team,” says Plotts, who adds that control systems like these act as force multipliers, increasing the ROI not only on the new equipment but also on the human resources tasked with maintaining and operating it.

Part of a Bigger Picture

What took place in the gyms and the fitness center has to be considered in the larger context of Moravian College’s energy-savings and sustainability initiatives. These include a campus-wide recycling program and a student-faculty committee charged with finding and exploiting energy conservation opportunities, or ECOs. One of these was the replacement of incandescent lighting with 500 more efficient CFL bulbs in a residential hall.

The school is also working with the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania on how to collect and parse data from major energy systems on campus through internal audits. That’s produced significant savings through new practices, such as reducing the operation of the chillers during the summer when the school is sparsely occupied. They are also working closely with PP&L, the local electrical utility, to find other areas of energy-use reduction, such as a three-year program that offers the school financial incentives if it can predict and adhere to specific energy-load reductions over the term of the agreement.

“We already have a good and growing sustainability initiative in place,” says Plotts. “The lighting and lighting controls we added to the gyms and the fitness centers add a new level of technology to that effort.”

You might also want to read:

• How to Make the Most of Your LEDs
• 4 Lighting Maintenance Tips
• Photo Gallery: How Moravian College Saved $10K+ With Lighting Controls
• When to Make the Switch to LED Lighting
• 5 Tips for Selecting Emergency Lights

 

This article originally ran in Tech Decisions.

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