At one time, University Mall paid roughly $5,000 to light its parking garage. Jason Steward, property manager for the mall, saw an opportunity to save and contacted Efficiency Vermont. As with any project of this scope, however, the mall owners needed to approve the plan.
To help Seward make his case, Efficiency Vermont connected Steward to Burlington Airport’s property manager who was undertaking a lighting upgrade at the same time. "That airport referral alone took me from step 1 to step 10 in one go," Steward recalled. "It saved me an enormous amount of time, and I saw the savings potential right away.” Steward was able to convince mall owners of the upgrade's merits with little cajoling.
The mall replaced 330 lighting fixtures and switched from 175-Watt fixtures to 71-Watt LED models—not only improving light quality but reducing lighting costs by about $30,000 per year.