One of the many hotels in Times Square, the Crowne Plaza, has made a very smart move with regard to lighting. They have a large (80 feet by 20 feet) sign outside their building that is full of light bulbs. The light bulbs use have long been incandescent, which meant high energy bills and replacing the light bulbs every seven months. That’s finally changing as Crowne Plaza has decided to replace the old incandescents with new energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs.
The 3,300 incandescent light bulbs in the sign were 40 watts each. With the new 8 watt CFLs being installed, they’re using five times less energy, which roughly translates into similar monetary savings. The frequency of replacement will be going down by an incredible amount as well; instead of replacing the light bulbs every seven months, they should only have to replace them every three years.
Years! The increase in efficiency and lifetime from incandescents to compact fluorescent light bulbs never fails to impress.
This retrofit stands to save the Crowne Plaza hotel a substantial amount of money. The sign’s energy bill will be greatly lowered; Crowne Plaza expects to save more than $ 120,000 per year just from reduced energy consumption, with an additional $ 20,000 saved through less frequent light bulb reinstallation. Now for the cost of the actual light bulbs themselves. The bulk initial cost of the light bulbs was $ 40,000, but Crowne Plaza paid only $ 26,800 of that due to a $ 13,200 rebate from the Consolidate Edison Commercial and Industrial Energy Efficiency Program.
Savings over $ 120,000 per year based off an initial investment of $ 26,800 is very impressive.
I’d love to be using these light bulbs during a power outage. The power cuts off suddenly, and yet your light bulbs are still on! You can then unscrew one and use it if a flashlight if need. These light bulbs have a power switch right on the bulb, so you can use and/or conserve energy as needed.