Belmont University

Customer Profile:

Belmont University emerged in 1951 as a private, liberal arts school.  Presently, Belmont University is the third largest private college or university in Tennessee with over 3,000 students enrolled.

Customer Issues:

• Increased Energy and Maintenance Costs
• Old Lighting Technologies
• Variety of Lighting Technologies
• High Number of Burned Out Lamps and Ballasts
• Ensuring Quality Lighting

Project Objective:

As part of a comprehensive energy program, we designed and implemented an energy efficient lighting upgrade at Belmont University.  The upgrade was designed to improve the learning environment, replace old lighting technologies, reduce maintenance and utility cost, improve safety for students and faculty, and standardize lighting materials.  Light levels were evaluated at each building to ensure that the campus met the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) lighting standards.  The overall project was funded utilizing the reduction of energy and operating dollars from within the existing utility budgets.

Results:

The Belmont retrofit was so varied, it was comparable to a small city upgrade.  Improved lighting systems and reduced utility cost was the result.  The new lighting systems included upgrading the incandescent and T12 fluorescent lamps and magnetic ballasts with new energy-efficient T8 fluorescent lamp and electronic ballast technologies.  The emergency lighting systems with incandescent and fluorescent lamps were replaced with new LED (Light Emitting Diode) exit signs.  The project resulted in many benefits for the university that included increased light levels, reduced energy and maintenance costs, and standardization of lighting materials. Improved lighting, funded with reduced energy cost, extended the life of lamps and ballasts, increased maintenance productivity, and protracted material warranties.