New energy-efficient lighting is helping the Winneshiek County Recycling Center to reduce its electricity use

The Winneshiek County Recycling Center is going green with the installation of new LED lights at its facility in Freeport.
 
The program has been gradually replacing the original lights that were installed in the building when the plant was built in 1996. The first lights to be replaced were the fluorescent lights above the power boxes. These lights are difficult to get at and can never be shut off.  The new LED tube replacements meant ballasts were no longer needed.  The LED tubes have been on for well over 30,000 hours straight and have paid for themselves in energy savings a long time ago..
 
The next lights replaced were two of the 400 watt metal halide high bay fixtures in the main production part of the plant.  They were replaced with 200 watt Induction Lamps. These are similar to a fluorescent light but the gas inside the light is lit by a radio frequency magnetic field instead of metal electrodes. Fluorescent lights are fired by metal electrodes in the bulb. Each time the electrodes are fired they degrade a little bit. Sooner or later the bulb starts to flicker and eventually fail when the electrodes are worn out.  Induction lights do not have this problem. The induction lights draw half the power the old metal halide ones did and the light output in lumens is greater. The light temperature is in the 5000k daylight range, too.
 
Recycling officials next replaced the two 200 watt metal halide wall packs on the front of the building. They were replaced with 78 watt LED fixtures. The light is much better and they are activated by a photo eye so they come on automatically at night.
 
The last lights replaced were 13 400 watt metal halide high bay fixtures in the main production are of the recycling plant.  New 235 watt LED fixtures were installed.  The light output in lumens is greater and the light temperature is in the 5000k daylight range. This gives much nicer working conditions compared to working in dingy yellow lighting. Better lighting results in better operating efficiency.
 
Winneshiek County Recycling Department Manager Terry Buenzow says the Recycling Center will be replacing more lights as time goes on.