KANSAS CITY ART DISTRICT - Light Organ

Terpsichore for Kansas City transforms the parking ga­rage of the new Kauffman Center for the Perform­ing Arts into into a public art musical instrument with light and sound, a complementary venue to the performances at the Center. This artwork created by Harries & Heder extends throughout the entire space of this thousand car, four-story garage, which serves Kansas City’s Arts District. M-Systems Inc. made the artists vision a reality.   

Link to Artist Website

Sandy Hook Newtown Memorial Lit by Solar Power

St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH, was recognized by the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) as a “Business Leader in Energy Efficiency.”

The St. Paul’s School was honored in 2011 for its continued efforts to advance energy efficiency in operations and residential housing. These efforts have resulted in annual energy savings of over 462,000 kWh and a cost savings of over $56,000 for facilities as well as energy savings of 1,941 kwh, and 167 mmbtu through weatherizing four of its residential homes.

As part of its core commitment to practice and teach an ethical relationship between humans and their environment, St. Paul’s has partnered with Unitil since 2008 to reduce energy use and costs.

Through Unitil’s Energy Efficiency programs St. Paul’s has replaced older, inefficient lighting with high-efficient fluorescents as well as updated HID and LED lighting where practical. M - SYSTEMS INC. provided their PTL LED retrofit lighting kit to convert existing post top lamps on campus. 

Stafford Springs acheives Energy Efficiency

M-Systems and Nova Tech worked closely with the Town of Stafford Springs to develop long term energy efficient LED lighting that met the requirements for ARRA and CL&P.

TOWN OF STAFFORD saves energy with LED Lighting

Stafford Schools and Public Library Retrofitted with

LED Outdoor Lighting, Reducing Energy Consumption

by Approximately 75 Percent

April 12, 2011, Stafford Springs, Conn. - The Energy Efficiency Fund, in partnership with Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P), joined with the Town of Stafford, to acknowledge the town's outstanding achievement in energy efficiency through the installation of LED (light-emitting diode) outdoor lighting at five schools and the public library. Present at the event, held on April 11 at the Stafford Elementary School, were Congressman Joe Courtney, Stafford's First Selectman Michael Krol, Stafford Special Projects Administrator Michael Waugh and Timothy Simmonds of CL&P.

The Town of Stafford changed its outdoor lighting from high energy consuming metal halide lights to energy efficient LED lighting, which will reduce energy consumption, according to First Selectman Krol, by approximately 75 percent. The town received an Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as well as an incentive of $49,000 through the Energy Efficiency Fund's Energy Opportunities program to finance the project. The Energy Opportunities program provides business customers and municipalities with financial incentives to offset the premium costs associated with retrofitting existing equipment with energy-efficient technology.

"We commend the Town of Stafford for its leadership in energy efficiency and for utilizing the available financial resources from both the Fund and ARRA for this project," said Rich Steeves, chairman of the Energy Efficiency Fund. "The incentives the town received enabled it to use efficiency measures as a way to reduce energy costs and meet future energy demands."

"With the installation of the outdoor LED lighting at our schools and library, our town has gained a substantial energy savings of approximately 75 percent and, at the same time, has made a positive impact on the environment," said First Selectman Krol. "We are extremely thankful to all who helped make this project possible and successful."

The town worked with M-SYSTEMS Inc. and CL&P to conduct six outdoor lighting replacement projects at West Stafford School, Stafford Elementary, the middle and high schools, Staffordville School, and the Stafford Public Library.

During their lifetime of use, the new lights will save approximately two million kilowatt-hours, resulting in anticipated savings of more than $410,000. That's the equivalent of powering approximately 237 homes for a year, or taking 167 cars off the road for one year. Carbon dioxide emissions will also be reduced by more than 950 to

Other Schools and Towns that have benefited from LED upgrades :

St. Pauls School, Concord, NH

Stafford Springs School District, Stafford Springs, CT

Acadia Hospital, Bagor, ME

Loomis Chaffee School, Windsor, CT

Old Town Streetscape, Old Town, ME

Wallingford, CT

Stafford Springs Library

Stafford Springs Library has installed the M-SYSTEMS Inc. SBX Series LED conversion kit. The SBX series replaces 250 Watt Metal Halide bulbs but keeps the existing fixture. Electricity usage has been reduced by 67 %. Using Luxeon Rebel LED's provides a long maintaince free life. Has been fully tested to IESNA LM79 and LM80 and exceeds DOE requirements for lumen output. Consisting of a one piece bolt in reflector containing LED's, heatsink & LED Driver.

Bus Shelter Lighting

M-SYSTEMS INC. LED lights used in Rhode Island bus shelters are now going on five years of operation with no problems.

We have just heard from Lamar Advertising who owns the bus shelters and Alpha Electrical who maintains them for Lamar.

They are operating perfectly and calls to the electrician for outages have been reduced. As a matter of fact the only shelters that are getting calls, are those that have not been converted to LED. These shelters are staying lit and providing better security for pedestrians who are waiting at night for buses.

We hope to upgrade more bus shelters this year as funding becomes available. Look for a brighter Rhode Island.

Airport Lighting Conversion

Austin Texas Sunflowers

Sunflowers have sprouted. Along I-35 in Austin , Texas are 16 foot tall, blue metallic solar sunflowers that are being installed along a bike and walking trail between a highway and shopping area. The petals themselves are large solar panels to generate electricity back to the grid.

M-SYSTEMS has developed the lighting that will be part of the center stems of the sunflowers. It will provide a soft blue glow at night and light the solar panels and walkways. 

For local news on this project goto :

http://www.jetsongreen.com/2009/08/austin-solar-sunflower-electric-garden.html

For more details go to the artists web site : http://www.harriesheder.com/austin.htm

Photo credits: David Newsom and David Newsom Blog.