Replacing thousands of light bulbs significantly reduces energy consumption
Workers started changing thousands of lights in the Oregon Convention Center in mid-January and will finish the big job this weekend. It gives new meaning to the classic joke, "how many people does it take to screw in a light bulb," when some of the 2,000 bulbs and fixtures are installed three stories high. The answer is: it takes a four-person crew about five weeks to do it, and it may save the Convention Center more than $130,000 a year.
Ryan Thorpe, OCC's director of operations, applied for federal stimulus money for the project in 2009. After additional incentives from the Energy Trust of Oregon and the Oregon Department of Energy's State Energy Program, the Convention Center expects to pay just $125,000 for the $760,000 project.
"By using some of the money that's available for energy conservation projects, we can maximize our investment, conserve resources and provide jobs to the community, Thorpe said."At the same time, OCC is significantly reducing its carbon footprint."
The Convention Center is switching to a mix of induction and LED lighting along with compact fluorescent light bulbs. The new fixtures and lights are expected to decrease energy usage by half and upwards of 90% in some areas.
"In some cases, our new lights are ten times more efficient and last seven times as long," Thorpe said. "Plus we get brighter, more natural lighting throughout the building."
changing lights at OCC The new lights will conserve energy.
The lights' efficiency and longer lifetime will add up to savings and decrease annual energy usage by 2.7 million kWh.
The Oregon Convention Center is the largest in the Pacific Northwest. In 2004, the Oregon Convention Center was the first convention center to earn LEED® for Existing Buildings certification by the US Green Building Council. In 2008, the facility was recertified at the Silver level and operates with a pledge to continually to reduce its environmental footprint. Totaling one million square feet of space, it hosts an average of 650 events and over 700,000 visitors annually.
The Oregon Convention Center joins the Portland Expo Center, Portland Center for the Performing Arts and Oregon Zoo as the family of visitor venues owned and/or managed by Metro, the regional government. Metro serves 1.5 million people who live in the 25 cities and three counties of the Portland metropolitan area, and provides planning and other services that protect the nature and livability of our region.
Oregon Convention Center takes more steps towards conservation
Replacing thousands of light bulbs significantly reduces energy consumption
