SL Green Furthers Commitment to Energy Efficiency with Seesmart LED Lighting

July 18, 2012 - PRLog -- LED lighting manufacturer Seesmart Technologies Inc. (SEST) announced today that it has been selected by SL Green Realty Corp. (SLG), New York City’s largest commercial property owner, to install it’s industry leading LED lighting products throughout 21 commercial office properties, as part of one of the nation’s largest LED lighting efficiency projects.

SL Green is furthering their commitment to energy reduction and sustainability by replacing over 16,000 fluorescent, incandescent and halogen light bulbs with energy efficient Seesmart LED lighting solutions in 21 of their NYC properties.

In March, SL Green installed 7,500 LED units within 16 suburban division (Reckson) buildings, totaling more than 2.5 million s/f in its Westchester & Fairfield County portfolios including 360 Hamilton Ave. and 140 Grand St. in White Plains; 200 & 500 Summit Lake Dr. in Valhalla; and 680/750 Washington Blvd. and Landmark Sq., in Stamford, Ct.

Financial savings are estimated to be in excess of $630,000 annually while providing a superior quality of light and a significant improvement in the longevity and performance compared to their existing lighting. The project will also generate an additional $125,000 in labor and material savings. The combined annual savings will be in excess $745,000.

In a recent interview with Kenneth Ames, CEO of Seesmart Technologies Inc., he said, “Seesmart is pleased to support SL Green Realty Corp., to utilize our cutting edge LED lighting products to maximize energy efficiency and savings throughout its portfolio. The selection of Seesmart is a testament to the market leading efficiency, quality and service we provide to our customers”

Lighting represents approximately 25 to 30 percent of total energy cost in the commercial real estate industry. By implementing Seesmart LED lighting solutions, SLGreen will reduce energy costs by more than 50 percent and extend lamp life by as much as 10 times the average life of traditional lighting products equating to about 8 years.

Jay Black, sustainability Director at SL Green said, "LED equipment allows us to significantly impact life-cycle costs, affecting energy use and lamp life, 90% of lighting's life-cycle costs, will yield a project payback of only three years, providing $4.5 million in total life-cycle savings."

According to John Barnes, senior VP and senior director of Reckson, a division of SL Green, "Through our market-leading program, the LED retrofit is the latest example of how we are utilizing sustainability to improve our business. It saves both SL Green and our tenants money, reduces energy waste and contributes to our best in class experience."

With the latest massive LED lighting retrofit utilizing Seesmart LED lighting solutions I wanted to understand how a leader in sustainability with numerous citations for energy reduction determines the best energy efficient products and services from all the competitors emerging in the marketplace today.

In an effort to assist other commercial businesses faced with the task of reducing costly energy consumption I interviewed the leaders involved in this project including Jay Black, Sustainability Director at SL Green, Greg Hudson from Environmental Systems Corporation (ESC), a designer and contractor that provide due diligence consulting for energy-efficient installations, as well as Patricia Lee from CodeGreen, a leading efficiency company helping real estate and business owners develop and achieve their energy reduction and sustainability goals.

Greg Hudson from ESC said, “We put Seesmart's LED products through performance comparisons with other industry competitors to insure SL Green was using the best product for the job. Through all of our testing, Seesmart products outperformed the other manufacturers in light output, lower wattage use, as well as the return on investment (ROI). Seesmart has stayed ahead of the market in terms of technology adaptation and the continuing effort to offer competitive LED products."

As part of SL Green’s commitment to running a high performance and LEED certified building, CodeGreen was contracted to manage the LEED certification process and perform an ASHRAE Level II Energy Audit at 360 Hamilton Avenue. The energy analysis performed identified energy conservation measures totaling over 420,000 kwh of savings annually including lighting upgrades that could result in over 345,077 kwh saved annually. From the over 20 million sq. ft. of energy audits and retro-commissioning that CodeGreen has performed, efficient lighting has been a leading factor in optimizing energy use in a building. Seesmart worked with the building team to successfully upgrade lighting fixtures resulting in an increased Energy Star score and contributions to the LEED certification. Energy efficiency is an integral part of the LEED program and was essential in the successful achievement of LEED-EB Gold certification at 360 Hamilton.

Q&A with Jay Black:

Examiner: Why did you decide to install LED lighting into you buildings?

Jay Black: Due to the extreme energy efficiency and recent advances of LED lighting we felt it would serve as an excellent catalyst toward our sustainability goals. When implemented correctly, quality LED lighting provides a quick payback and ease of integration into our existing infrastructure. Our sustainability team consulted with leaders in energy efficiency and sustainability in our local area (CodeGreen, ECS) in an effort to thoroughly analyze all aspects of our current project and ascertain the complete benefits to our particular organization. After carefully reviewing all the attributing factors our team concluded that the industry leading LED lighting solutions from Seesmart were the right choice for us.

Examiner: Some say that LED technology is not here yet! How would you respond to that comment?

Jay Black: First I would like to start by saying all LED's are not created equal. There are many contributing factors you must address before choosing any LED lamp including light rendering, warranty period, company stability and many other measures. Our team performed a significant amount of research into current LED technology and have ascertained if you select a quality LED light such as Seesmart lighting we feel the technology is definitely here.

In Conclusion:
After speaking to Jay Black and his sustainability team, it is clear to me why SL Green Realty Corp. is a leader in the industry. Their professional staff has expertise in a variety of areas and works diligently with other leading efficiency experts to analyze all associated factors, targeting the specific areas throughout it's enormous portfolio which achieve the greatest benefit for their particular organization. By utilizing this comprehensive and strategic approach SL Green was able to maximize their overall financial savings while reducing lighting energy consumption by more than 50 percent.

Through it's huge array of industry leading LED lighting products, Seesmart was able to meet the diverse needs of SL Green by providing innovative solutions to the individual challenges SL Green presented throughout the entire project.

SL Green selected Seesmart based on all of the attributing factors, including superior products, efficiency, longevity, exceptional warranty and outstanding service and not just initial lamp cost. "The cooperative effort among all parties involved in this project significantly improved the overall outcome and I believe have made us a better company.," said Ron Young of Seesmart. Through professionalism and due diligence these leading companies strive for excellence in all that they do, resulting in a very smooth running project with little disruption in day to day business. Other commercial businesses could learn alot from their success in improving business and reducing cost through energy efficiency and sustainability. Visit http://www.ledlightingwholesale.com