Lighting & Controls Retrofit Opens the Door to Savings and Improved Lighting

Challenge: Based in the charming city of Charleston, South Carolina, Southern Components, Inc. is a 25-year-old business specializing in the distribution of premium window, door and cabinetry solutions for luxury commercial and residential applications.

Ownership considers its 9,500 square foot facility a strategic asset to operations, and the outdated indoor lighting was beginning to show its age and have unintended consequences on brand identity.

By exceeding its client’s expectations, Southern Components, Inc. has established a reputation for being one of the premier door, window and cabinet suppliers in the Southeast. Having a welcoming environment is key to developing and maintaining long-term relationships with clients who visit from all corners of the country. Customer engagement isn’t limited to the showroom as customers frequently visit the office and warehouse areas of the facility.

In addition to offering significant cost savings, the lighting solution would need to foster interaction at every point in the building. It had to be designed with comfort, office work, meetings and spontaneous interactions in mind. Design Lights Consortium (“DLC”) qualification was also a must to apply for the local utility’s “EnergyWise” rebate program.

Solution: Lyon Lighting Solutions developed a relationship with the owners of Southern Components, Inc. and performed a few formal audits of the existing lighting system compared to new LED solutions. Through this process, it was determined that the original lighting for the site was under-lit and not correct. The team understood that specific products were specified to light every square foot inside the facility strategically. ROI and cost aside, the new lighting solution would have to demonstrate long life, stellar performance and quality aesthetics.

The LCAT with standard 80+ CRI from Columbia Lighting was selected to light up the showroom. The LCAT is a DLC Premium listed LED troffer luminaire that offers the perfect marriage of both design and value with an architectural appearance, LED technology to reduce maintenance and a full family of sizes. Lyon Lighting Solutions knew there would be no problem having made-to-order selections chosen for this stocked product.

For the office space, the team selected Columbia’s DLC Premium qualified TCAT LED troffer. The high efficiency acrylic lenses of the TCAT feature custom formulation for high performance without pixilation.

In the warehouse, the team elected to use Columbia’s LSRK, a labor-saving LED retrofit kit designed specifically for striplights. The LSRK would effortlessly attach to the existing housings, making it a stylish, simple way to convert the linear fluorescent fixtures to the latest LED technology. With the original lighting plan, the warehouse was under-lit; therefore, the team selected the 76 watt, 9,556 lumen fixture to give the space more light, and optional frosted acrylic lenses were added to match the rest of the facility.

The lighting team also identified a low-cost opportunity to integrate lighting controls to further the energy savings. Knowing that client visits to the showroom are typically by appointment only, there was an opportunity to set the lights at a reduced power mode with Current Control Solutions‘ NX Distributed Intelligence™ Room Controller and Scene Switch combination. Control capabilities now allow the showroom to be dimmed down to 10 percent overnight for additional cost savings. Lighthawk® PIR sensors were also installed in the bathrooms and the Lighthawk® Dimming Wall switch in the owner’s office.

The retrofit project also included exit and emergency lighting. The legacy incandescent exits were a constant source of maintenance trouble and continually were not up to code. The new Dual-Lite EVC combo units, featuring Dual-Lite’s patented and industry-leading Spectron® Self Diagnostics was chosen to replace the old, obsolete life safety products.

Benefits: The financial benefits of the lighting retrofit are significant for Southern Components, Inc. By reducing the amount of energy used for lighting by 72 percent, the company can expect to save $4,206 every year, establishing a payback period of just a little more than three years. By using qualified LED fixtures, Southern Components also secured a $3,241 rebate from the local utility courtesy of the “EnergyWise” rebate program.

By the time the fixtures reach their L80, or 23 years of use, the system will have saved nearly $96,738 in energy savings alone.

“The new lighting has created an environment that will inspire the clients who visit our showroom, allow our employees to be more productive and improve our bottom line. We operate in a competitive marketplace, and I believe hosting an exceptional experience for customers in our showroom provides us with a competitive advantage.”

-David Epstein, President, Southern Components, Inc.