PROJECT PROFILE

Product

Hylite LED T8 Tube Light Precision Paragon CKM-BC Conversion Kit

Five-year savings

$25,000

Rebates and incentives

SCE&G $9,200

Return on investment

One and a half years

Net project cost

$12,800

Gibson Tire is a large equipment tire retread company in Charleston, South Carolina. They handle all tires for the Port of Charleston and many other companies.

Gibson Tire purchased a new piece of equipment that put them over capacity on their electrical load, forcing them to rent a generator as an additional, temporary power source. Gibson called SCE&G, their local power company, to decide how to move forward with increasing their electrical capacity. The proposed solution was a new transformer worth roughly $250,000.

THE SOLUTION

Gibson Tire enlisted the help of Transworld, Inc. to devise a plan to lower the electrical load and avoid the $250,000 cost of a new transformer. Pending a transformer change, the code would have also changed, costing Gibson an additional $150,000 to update sprinkler systems, fire alarms, etc. Transworld was able to help Gibson avoid these issues by updating their lighting:

• Inefficient energy use
• Generator rental
• Transformer code changes
• High energy consumption
• $400,000 updates

Transworld called on the help of Shealy Energy — now Border States — to address and solve the problem. By upgrading their existing lighting to LED strip fixtures, Gibson was able to decrease their power usage enough to use the new equipment and eliminate both the generator and the cost of the transformer and building upgrades.

We calculated the total amp reduction needed to sustain the new load of 60 amps and obtained a total reduction of 80 amps. The new technology also lowers the HVAC load.

THE PRODUCT

Existing fixtures were designed for T12 fluorescent lamps, and we retrofitted for T8 linear LED. The new fixtures have annual energy savings of over $3,000 and allow for a smaller electrical load.

THE RESULTS

The new lighting at Gibson Tire created a bright atmosphere. The owner and employees are pleased with the results and notice an increase in productivity and safety. The new lighting system will last 50,000 hours versus the 20,000-hour life of the previous system. Working with Transworld, we were able to provide a solution to Gibson Tire that saved them nearly $400,000.