Elmira Home Hardware LED Retrofit Case Study
An LED Lighting Upgrade at Home Hardware Elmira in Elmira, Ontario.
Think Green Solutions upgraded Home Hardware Elmira in Elmira, Ontario, to LED lighting, saving the store $1,735 a month and 59% on its hydro.
Client Overview
At the time of the video, Krista McBay had owned Home Hardware Elmira in Elmira, Ontario, for 12 years and had bought the building a year earlier. She calls the LED lighting upgrade with Think Green Solutions probably the biggest project the store has done since the purchase. The store covers 15,000 square feet, with a basement of about 6,000 square feet and about 2,000 square feet of office space. In the project video below, Krista and store manager Kelly Clendenning talk about the old lighting, the upgrade and what it saves the store every month.
The Challenge
About five years before the video, the main part of the store was upgraded to T8 fixtures through Save on Energy. That brought a substantial savings.
Ballasts Kept Failing
The T8 upgrade did not stop the ballasts from failing, so the store still had to keep replacing them.
Dingy Light in Paint
Under “such dingy dark lighting,” it was hard to see the natural colour of the paint chips on the rack.
Chips Taken Outside
Staff would take a chip outside to see its real, true colour.
Hear From the Home Hardware Elmira Team
How the Project Came Together
For Krista, the neatest thing about the project was the way the financing was structured. The store has a complete project without putting any capital out, and its savings are greater than what its payments were before. In her words, “we're saving on hydro, we're saving on fixtures and we have a brand new store.”
The work took about two and a half to three weeks. The store team describes a pretty smooth transition that was fairly quick, with very little interruption, and a difference “well more than what we would have anticipated.”
Results
Before the upgrade, the store ran on T8 fixtures. Since the LED retrofit, Krista says it feels like she's walking into a new place every day.
$1,735 in Monthly Savings
On-screen figures in the video put the store's monthly lighting costs at $2,677 with the T8 fixtures and $942 with Think lighting, a saving of $1,735 every month.
59% Savings on Hydro
Krista says the store has achieved a savings of 59% on its hydro, about $1,700 a month. “For somebody my size to save that kind of money, that's incredible.”
Cash Flow Positive From the First Month
The store put no capital into the project, and its savings are greater than its payments, so the upgrade was cash flow positive from the first month.
A 7 to 10 Year Warranty
On top of the monthly savings, the store is saving time, frustration and money, with “a consistently working product that has a warranty of between seven and ten years. Where do you get that?”
True Colours in the Paint Department
Paint chips no longer have to go outside. Under the new lighting, it is a lot easier to see the colouring in the different chips.
Clear, Crisp Light for Customers
Kelly Clendenning says customers have given the store a lot of feedback on the difference the Think lighting makes. It's now “nice and clear and crisp,” with not as many shadows, and it's a lot easier to see.
It's a No-Brainer
Client Testimonial
If another dealer called me up and asked me about the process, first thing I would say, as I go back to it, it's a no-brainer. Look at your hydro bills, look at your lighting. You know, is there room for improvement in your lighting? If so, call Think and work through the process. At the end of the day, you're gonna have a beautiful looking store and you're gonna save money every month on hydro.
Owner, Home Hardware Elmira
Why Think Green Solutions
Think Green Solutions has completed over $75M in retrofit projects and delivered over $15M in incentives in Canada, and its longest-running projects are more than 16 years old with a failure rate under 5%. To find out what an upgrade could save at your store, book a free lighting energy audit, read about LED lighting rebates in Ontario or explore our LED retrofit projects and solutions.
