Medical Center Upgrades to Cost-Saving ILUMINARC®

ilu-hershey-medical-2-small.jpg HERSHEY, Pa. – Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center recently replaced 126 traditional 1000-watt quartz fixtures with nearly 50 ILUMINARC® LED-fitted exterior lighting solutions, saving energy and an estimated $21,000 in operating costs annually. Thirty-six Ilumipanel 180 IP and 10 Ilumipanel 90 IP building washers—with a throw of over 500 feet—now bathe the center's trademark crescent-shaped limestone exterior in color-changing light.

ilu-hershey-medical-3-small.jpg In addition to saving energy and minimizing costs, the center's staff wanted the ability to change the colors of its façade to support different health care awareness initiatives, such as red for National Heart Month, blue for National Autism Awareness Month, or pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. To achieve this goal, the center enlisted lighting designer Scott Chmielewski, president of Digital Media Designs, to pre-program a series of custom scenes for these events and initiatives. For example, during Fourth of July celebrations, the center hosts the Hershey Symphony Orchestra as it performs on the lawn, the color-changing crescent serving as their red, white and blue backdrop.

ilu-hershey-medical-4-small.jpg While researching different energy-saving opportunities, Building Systems Analyst for the center's Facilities Department, Kevin Kanoff, attended LightFair in Philadelphia and found the ideal lighting solution at the ILUMINARC® booth. The LED fixtures, when compared to the previously installed incandescent fixtures, will significantly reduce the annual wattage usage from over 337,000 kilowatt-hours at an annual operating cost of over $26,000, to just over 70,000 kilowatt-hours at an operating cost of approximately $5,480 annually.

“Energy consumption was a concern coupled with the idea of changing colors on the façade,” said Kevin Kanoff, building systems analyst for Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. “The LED ILUMINARC® fixtures were the ideal choice to achieve both functions in one lighting solution.”

Photos courtesy of Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center