PA Leadership Charter School

Client

The Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School (PALCS), located in West Chester, PA, is a public cyber charter school approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and open to all students in grades K-12 who reside in the state of Pennsylvania.

Project Summary

The lighting systems in PA Leadership Charter School's Main Office were outdated, primarily older T12 Fluorescent lamps driven by magnetic ballasts. Legislation has banned the manufacturing of these components and supplies for maintenance are dwindling in the marketplace. Tri-State Light & Energy performed a detailed audit of the existing lighting systems and evaluated several options to eliminate T12 lighting, as well as upgrade to more energy efficient light sources. These upgrades offered significant improvements in lighting quality, occupant comfort and operating cost reductions.

The final solution was a T12 to T8 upgrade including Parabolics to Volumetrics and lamp changeouts for prismatics. A budget issue prevented a move to LEDs however PALCS is now in a situation where they can group relamp in the future and even relamp to LEDs when the time is right.

Electric power consumption for lighting is projected to drop from 318,405 to 97,200 kilowatt hours (kWh) for a total energy use reduction of 69%. The effective load for lighting is projected to drop from 101.4 to 35.9 kilowatts (kW) for a lighting demand savings of 65%.

Efficiency Measures:

• 1,114 Lighting Fixtures Upgraded
• Lighting Controls Added

Project Savings:

• Projected Average Monthly Savings-$2,100
• Projected Annual Savings-$25,139
• Payback Period-3.5 years (Lighting & Maintenance)
• kWh Saved Per Year-221,205