Ever wonder where your recycled plastic bottles end up? In Peninsula Packaging’s commitment towards sustainability, they are the largest consumer of recycled drink bottles for production of various food packaging products in the United States and have diverted over 42 million pounds of recycled plastic bottles from the landfill. Additionally, they own and operate the largest privately funded photovoltaic (solar) farm in North America. In efforts to further their sustainability goals, Peninsula Packaging were searching to find the best option for their lighting efficiency enhancements.

While aspiring towards an effective solution to increase the lighting quality, efficiency, and lumen output for their 110,000 sq.ft. manufacturing facility in Wilson, NC, they were struggling to find a partner who provided a reasonable value along with a turn-key solution. GreenTech Solution Group’s ability to provide a complete service from proof of concept to installation aligned with Peninsula’s desired need for a one-stop-shop solutions provider. GreenTech also offered a Waste Stream Report which validated the disposal and recycling destinations of the generated waste from the removal of older lighting fixtures. As a result, Peninsula Packaging experienced successful achievements due to the lighting retrofits:

• 1.5 year payback period
• 70% reduction of energy and maintenance cost
• 52,320W in projected annual wattage savings  
• $40,949 in annual operational cost savings

Along with these achievements, Peninsula Packaging also reduced their adverse impact on the surrounding environment often experienced with the use of old lighting technologies. By replacing all of their 400W metal halide magnetic fixtures with 185W LED linear highbay fixtures by Philips, they significantly reduced their company’s ecological footprint. With a 72% annual reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the release of 420.5 tons of CO2 has been avoided over a 10-year period. Their nitrous oxide and methane gas emissions have also been decreased by 72%, equivalent to 2.1 tons of CO2. These beneficial reductions of harmful emissions are comparable to the amount of carbon sequestered by 73 acres of trees being planted or 104 fewer cars on the road.

Peninsula Packaging exemplifies a model of responsible environmental stewardship and achieved a commendable milestone in their efforts towards sustainability. Greentech Solutions Group is proud to have been selected by Peninsula Packaging to provide resources to implement this project to further their goals to reduce their energy consumption and improve the lighting in their work areas.

GreenTech approached Universal Leaf with the idea of assessing their external lighting at their 1.2 million square-foot plant in Nashville, NC. Illuminating the area was not only consuming vast amounts of energy, but was also becoming an operational issue as many of the lamps and ballasts were becoming dated. Many of the pole lights, flood lights, and street lights were becoming dirty and worn. Delivery trucks and cars come through these areas daily, and safety and security was becoming a concern with the low visibility demonstrated by the current lighting technology. The existing count was as follows:

• 30 250W Ceramic MH
• 32  400W Ceramic MH
• 22 750W Ceramic MH
• 69 1000W Ceramic MH

In the initial assessment, GreenTech noticed that the challenge was going to be meeting the high lumen output flood lights and parking lot lights that took up the majority of the area. While most of the pole lights, floods, and wall packs were old and degraded, all of the wall wash lights were fairly new and in good condition. This led GreenTech to recommend a combination of new fixtures and retrofits as a solution to minimize cost of ownership, reduce energy consumption, and improve light levels.

For the 250W wallpacks located on the detached buildings, GreenTech recommended replacing these with 75W LED wallpacks. This not only reduced operational costs, but provided for a consistent color of light to areas that were characterized by multiple colors (cool & warm). The same could be said for the 400W wall washers that were located around the main facility. These fixtures, however, were in good condition, so GreenTech decided to retrofit these fixtures with 120W LED retrofit kits. The end result was a consistent color and lumen output that beautified the surrounding areas and provided for greater security.

For the 750W street lights GreenTech converted these to new 200W LED fixtures and the 1000W parking lot lights were converted to an exclusive 300W fixture that both carried the same 5000k color to provide for increased pupil lumens for driver safety and security. The 1000W flood lights were replaced with state-of-the-art 280W fixtures that carry a 32,000 lumen output to increase visual lighting in the docking stations. This combination translated into 73% in lighting energy savings and the average 50,000 hour lifecycle reduced the frequency for hiring electricians and lift rentals to continually replace the lamps and ballasts as they went out.

As a result, GreenTech was able to deliver a solution that not only helped reduce lighting energy usage and operational costs, but was able to increase lumen output to maximize safety and provide for a uniform color consistency throughout the area. Although Universal Leaf opted out of the Duke Energy Rebate program due to heavy manufacturing energy usage and the facility operating at only 9 months out of the year, the following benefits were experienced:

• 73% reduction of lighting energy usage
• 3.7 year payback
• 100% reduction in maintenance costs
• 256,200W projected annual watts savings
• $33,192 annual operational cost savings

Due to the success of the project Universal Leaf has contracted GreenTech to install LEDs in the offices and the manufacturing plants to help further their energy efficient lighting plans. Stay tuned for updates on this project!

With their commitment to sustainability, Multi Packaging Solutions succeeds in layering green features in their products, purchasing green energy credits and renewable energy credits for their sustainable energy profile, as well as practicing LEAN manufacturing programs. In furthering their sustainability efforts, MPS looked to increase their energy efficiency in their Raleigh manufacturing buildings.

“GreenTech worked diligently to provide a solution that addressed the difficulties that our complex layout presented. They not only improved our lighting quality, but were able to work within our budget constraints to deliver what no other company could offer. We are happy with the quality of their workmanship and would highly recommend them to anyone who is seeking a lighting solution for their business.” – Dean Robinson, plant manager

GreenTech recommended a combination of LED highbays and tubes, induction lighting, and occupancy sensors to replace outdated and inefficient T12 fluorescence and metal halide technology, taking advantage of retrofitting existing fixtures wherever possible to reduce cost. Multi Packaging was able offset their upgrade costs by 35% thanks to the realized rebates received by Duke Progress Energy. Upon completion of the project, GreenTech recommended that MPS look into the Section 179D tax incentive to take a full tax deduction of $0.60/sqft since their energy cost was reduced by more than 25% compared to the ASHRAE 90.1-2001 baseline. Through the achievement of such impressive energy savings, the use of the 179D tax deduction, and the rebate assistance of the Duke Progress Energy Efficiency for Business Program, Multi Packaging experienced a swift 1.5 year payback!  

Update: GreenTech provided a follow up interview with the plant manager recently to ensure satisfaction.  It was determined that the light output has remained stable with both LED and Induction fixtures providing the same foot-candles as the day they were installed. Since the installation of their lighting upgrade in 2014, MPS has experienced a phenomenally low failure rate of less than one percent!

Starting as a small town weekly newspaper in the 1940s, Atlantic Packaging blossomed and expanded over the decades into providing distribution and packaging services to their customers in over 12 different industries. Atlantic needed a solution to help lower energy usage and costs due to the outdated lighting technology at their warehouse and offices in Wilmington, NC.

Upgrading outdated lighting technology with energy-efficient lamps, ballasts, and lighting controls, makes great strides toward offsetting adverse effects on the environment by reducing an organization’s ecological footprint. When the amount of energy a company consumes is reduced, the amount of pollutants produced from traditional energy sources is inherently reduced. With the rising alert to global climate change, every action to reduce emissions at this critical time helps tremendously, both environmentally and financially. With Atlantic realizing a 63 percent reduction in energy usage, the release of 134 tons of carbon dioxide has been avoided, measurable to taking 33 cars off the road.

“GreenTech was very accommodating throughout the complete lighting upgrade process. They made sure we were completely satisfied with the outcome. They also did everything possible to make sure it was a successful project.” – Dave Robertson

By implementing GreenTech Solutions Group’s recommendations — replacing outdated T12s with efficient T5 tubes, adding occupancy sensors, and converting all metal halides to induction technology —  an impressive two-year payback has been achieved, saving more than $13,000 annually in energy costs. Additionally, utility rebates helped offset the project cost by one-third. As a result of the lighting upfit Atlantic Packaging has effectively reduced their energy consumption, environmental footprint, and financial outlay.