Boys & Girls Club of Dubuque

LED High Bays and LED Retrofit Kits Help the Dubuque Boys & Girls Club Free Up $8,000 Annually

“Over fifty percent of our kids’ families have annual incomes of less than $9,000,” shared the Club’s Executive Director, Brian Meyer, “so we’re serving the kids most in need and at risk and working to provide them with a safe and productive alternative to the streets.”

THE OPPORTUNITY

One issue the Club had long struggled with was its lighting. There were many lighting quality and efficiency issues. Among other concerns, the Club relied on 400 Watt metal halide technology within its two gyms, where “lamps and ballasts were routinely failing and the lighting would quickly become dim,” Meyer said. “In the gyms, the old lighting created a dingy atmosphere and the metal halide fixtures were big and obtrusive,” agreed Doug Manders, Account Manager at Crescent Electric’s Dubuque branch. “Due to lumen depreciation, they’d also lost a lot of their brightness and were varied in color depending on their age.” In other common areas of the facility, Meyer sought to update the older T8 fluorescent lamps installed within two and three-lamp troffer fixtures. Happily, shared Meyer, an energy audit by Crescent Electric Supply Company soon exposed the beneficial upgrade opportunity offered across the board by LED technology.

THE SOLUTION

With LED High Bay fixtures from Litetronics, provided an optimal solution for the gyms. Compact and simple to install, the fixtures offered a 79,000-hour life and very strong lumen consistency, a sharp contrast to the 10,000-hour life and rapid lumen depreciation characteristic of the Club’s previous metal halide lighting. And Litetronics’ high-efficiency LED High Bay fixtures also carry an IP65 rating, ensuring their resistance to dust and dirt as well as their ability to be spray cleaned. In August 2016, thanks to funding from the local DRA (Dubuque Racing Association) and the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque’s ‘Grants to Green’ program, the Club’s in-house maintenance staff launched the lighting upgrade, installing over 30 new Litetronics LED High Bay fixtures in the facility’s gyms and game room. “The new lighting looks amazing,” Manders agreed. “Litetronics’ LED High Bay fixtures really made the colors in the gyms pop and, since they consume only about half the energy of the previous metal halide technology, they pay for themselves in a short time. Additionally, the fixtures were very easy to install.” The staff also upgraded the facility’s two and three-lamp T8 fluorescent troffer fixtures with Litetronics’ easy-to-install LED Retrofit Kits, a broad line of easy-to-install products that upgrade all types of fluorescent fixtures to LED technology in as little as three minutes. Overall, “the new LED fixtures deliver a softer, brighter, and whiter light than we had before and have created a much happier place for the kids to be,” Meyer said.

THE RESULTS

“We’re pleased with how the whole lighting upgrade materialized,” Meyer said. “In addition to turning on immediately, which enhances safety and security for our kids and staff, the Litetronics LED upgrades have provided great relief to our budget so that we can now redirect money once earmarked for utilities to programs that go directly to our kids instead.” “I’d recommend these fixtures to anyone,” confirmed Meyer, who noted that the facility’s total LED lighting upgrade will slash energy usage and expenses in half, delivering nearly $8,000 in annual energy and maintenance cost savings. “Thanks to our new Litetronics LED fixtures, our space looks nicer and brighter and enables us to better serve our kids and help make Dubuque a stronger community.” “We always want to provide a good experience for our kids,” Meyer concluded.

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Project Summary

Special Thanks to AES Lighting and Crescent Electric For Their Support of This Excellent Community Project