Energy Efficient Lighting Project Saves 4.6 Million Kilowatt Hours

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Suwanee Sports Academy (SSA), a world-class, multi-sport facility dedicated to sports development, has received Orion's Environmental Stewardship Award for an energy-efficient lighting project in their seven-court basketball and volleyball facility. Suwanee Sports Academy is saving more than 229,714 kilowatts hours (kWh) annually and more than 4.6 million kWh over the sustainable lifetime of the lighting fixtures. The project was sold and managed by Southpoint Solutions using products supplied by Orion Energy Services of Plymouth, Wisconsin.

"The sustainable savings of electrical consumption by Suwanee Sports Academy should serve as a blueprint for other Georgia companies and sports venues," stated Neal Verfuerth, President of Orion Energy Services. "By presenting the Suwanee Sports Academy with the Environmental Stewardship Award, Orion wanted to highlight the fact that this energy efficient lighting project was good for everyone: It was good for business, good for the environment and better quality of light for the athletes." In addition, Suwanee Sports Academy will take enough power off the electrical grid to provide enough electricity to power more than 23 homes, according to the EPA formula.

The environmental impact of Suwanee Sports Academy's energy-efficient lighting project will decrease air pollution and environmental damage over the lifetime of Orion's fixture, the Illuminator, by 4,479 tons of carbon dioxide, 1,221 tons of carbon, 19.5 tons of sulfur dioxide and 9 tons of nitrous oxides. This is the equivalent of saving 380,131 gallons of gas, removing 651 cars from the road or saving 9,051 barrels of oil. According to John Hawley, Director of Programming and Facility Coordinator for Suwanee, "The quality of light is cleaner and crisper. Several of our customers said, 'What have you done with your basketball courts? They look great."

"In the highly competitive world of sports and sports academies, the Orion Illuminator lighting system has been approved for all NCAA competition," stated John Landers, sales manager for Southpoint Solutions. "This project was an intensely collaborative effort between SSA's Chris Davis and myself, whereby we developed a set of customized solutions that saves more than 70% in electricity cost and increases light levels more than 20%."

"We were able to finance this energy efficient lighting project with the large energy savings, which will have a total payback in under 24 months," said Chris Davis, an owner of the Suwanee Sports Academy. "To a person, our entire staff have noticed the great improvement in our lighting and they have appreciated the positive environmental impact of this energy efficient lighting project."