Owen Steel Company is Awarded the Environmental Stewardship Award by Southpoint Solutions as a Result of Implementing an Energy Efficient Lighting Project at Its Columbia, SC Facility
(PRWEB) October 28, 2013 -- Owen Steel Company, a structural steel fabricator with almost 500,000 square feet of operating shop space under its roof, recently completed a project to upgrade its existing lighting systems to reduce electricity costs and improve lighting quality. At the same time, its reduced electricity usage has resulted in less greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity production.
Southpoint Solutions worked with Owen Steel to develop and implement this project utilizing the patented technology of Orion Energy Systems. The solution designed by Southpoint Solutions allowed Owen Steel to replace over 236 inefficient light fixtures with Orion's energy efficient high-intensity fluorescent (HIF) technology, while improving light levels and quality.
As a result of the project, Owen Steel expects to cut its light-related electricity usage, and the associated costs, by almost 62 percent. An added benefit is that lower electricity usage means less fossil fuel emissions associated with electricity production. By completing this project, Owen Steel has indirectly reduced the amount of air pollution by 331.5 tons of carbon dioxide which has an equivalent impact of saving 41,177 gallons of gasoline annually or planting 92 acres of trees. The Environmental Stewardship Award earned by Owen Steel is in recognition of the positive impact the company’s lighting project had on the environment.
Owen Steel Production Manager Brad Arneson focused on another advantage of the Orion light fixtures: the new fixtures re-start instantly after being turned off or knocked off line by a power outage. With their old inefficient light fixtures, there were numerous times when production had to be halted after frequent thunderstorms while everyone waited for the inefficient light fixtures to warm back up and come on. “There was always downtime of about an hour or so with our old fixtures. With the new fixtures we haven’t had any downtime and we’re able to keep working.” This translates into even more money saved by Owen Steel.
Owen Steel is continuing to try and stay in front of the growing trend of going “Green” and becoming more energy efficient. “We needed to reduce our electrical consumption and one way that came to mind was to complete an energy efficient lighting project,” stated Arneson. They not only completed the energy efficient lighting project, but they are replacing older welding equipment with newer models that use 30% less power.
Southpoint Solutions worked diligently to provide the right technology and design to meet Owen Steel’s needs. Arneson continued by saying, “What we liked about Southpoint Solutions was that they took care of everything. They didn’t need us for anything and were able to work around our employees.”
Owen Steel Company has been in business since 1936, and is among America’s premier structural steel contractors. For more information, visit http://www.owensteel.com.
Southpoint Solutions, LLC. is an energy services company whose mission is to help commercial and industrial companies reduce energy costs and achieve environmental objectives by developing and implementing turnkey energy efficiency projects consisting primarily of high-performance, energy-efficient lighting platforms, intelligent wireless control systems and direct renewable solar technology. For more information, visit http://www.SouthpointSolutions.com.
Hagan Grills, Southpoint Solutions, LLC, http://www.SouthpointSolutions.com, 803-802-7330, [email protected]
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