Big Sky Senior Living
A lighting-upgrade project is saving a senior living center in Butte significant lighting energy costs, while providing higher-quality lighting for its residents, staff, and visitors.
The Big Sky Senior Living complex consists of one main building and 12 cottages. The main building contains common areas, apartments, offices, kitchens, dining rooms, maintenance areas, parking garages, a memory care unit, a hairdressing shop, and a physical therapy center.
The Montana Resource Efficiency Program (MREP) performed a detailed energy audit for Big Sky Senior Living, selected the LED lighting, facilitated both the purchase of the lighting and the utility rebate process. Lighting at the complex ranged from metal halide bulbs in parking garage and exterior fixtures, to incandescent, halogen, and fluorescent lights in the interior fixtures. The new LED lighting is more energy-efficient and will provide a better quality of light, with a longer service life.
- LED Cost:$28,312
- Recycling Cost: $3,627
- Utility Incentives: $20,720
- Net Cost: $11,219
- Annual Bill Savings: $30,000
- Annual Energy Savings: 232,000 kWh
- Simple Payback with Energy Savings: Less than 6 months
Prior to the lighting conversion, Big Sky Senior Living used 731,612 kWh annually at a cost of $73,808, and 13,118 therms of natural gas annually at a cost of $9,038. As a day of service, a group of 15 Energy Corps volunteers and MREP engineers performed the complex-wide light bulb change-out and assisted in packing the 4,300 bulbs for recycling.
Future energy-efficiency potential at the complex includes boiler and hot-water pipe insulation; installing variable frequency drives (VFD) on fan motors of air-handling units, rooftop units, energy-recovery units, make-up air units, condensers, unit heaters, and AC units; installing variable frequency drives (VFD) on the pumps in the hydronic heating systems; installing energy-efficient air-conditioning units; and installing an energy-efficient air-condensing unit for the walk-in cooler and freezer.
LED Conversion per Fixture Type
| Current Fixture | Number of Bulbs | Current Wattage | Replacement Fixture | Replacement Wattage | Watts Saved |
| Parking Garage Lights | 26 | 458 | 150-Watt LED | 150 | 308 |
| Parking Lot, Exterior, and Street Lighting | 47 | 128 | 64-Watt LED | 64 | 36 |
| Fluorescent Tubes | 1914 | 32 | 15-Watt LED | 15 | 15 |
| Incandescent | 1703 | 60 | 9-Watt LED | 9 | 51 |
| Heat Lamps | 300 | 100 | 9-Watt LED | 9 | 91 |
| Wall Packs | 13 | 70 | LED Wall Pack | 12 | 58 |
| Candelabra Bulb | 29 | 28 | 5-Watt LED Candelabra | 5 | 23 |
| Vanity Bulbs | 88 | 25 | 2.5-Watt LED | 2.5 | 22 |
| Halogen BR30 | 75 | 75 | 8-Watt LED | 8 | 67 |
| Halogen BR40 | 75 | 120 | 17-Watt LED | 17 | 103 |
