West Virginia City Eyes Energy Savings Via Improved Lighting, HVAC Efficiency

Huntington City Hall has undergone extensive HVAC and control system improvements.

“The upgrades and improvements we’re working on with Honeywell will improve lighting in most of our build-ings and help reduce operational costs and energy consumption citywide,” said Huntington Mayor Steve Williams. “We’re encouraged that work under the third phase of the project will again be supported by expected energy and operational savings. This limits taxpayer costs and the need for upfront capital investment.”

The current project scope will cover 14 buildings, including: City Hall; Big Sandy Superstore Arena; Huntington Police Department; A.D. Lewis Community Center; Fairfield East Community Center; Safety Town; Centennial Fire Station No. 1; Guyandotte Fire Station No. 5; Westmoreland Fire Station No. 8; University Fire Station No. 2; John W. Gallagher Fire Station No. 10; St. Cloud Fire Station No. 4; and the Public Works Department’s Traffic Building. This phase of the contract is expected to be completed in September 2019.

The lighting system upgrade at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena, in particular, will create a more comfortable environment and a more welcoming facility for hosting events. It will help assist in addressing the facility’s need for more flexible lighting technology and the current challenges of accommodating different lighting scenes. LED lighting and controls technology will also enable quicker adjustments to the lighting conditions and operate more efficiently than the former system.

Already popular, Big Sandy Superstore Arena is adding more flexible lighting technology to attract more events.

“We are focused on bringing energy savings and enhanced comfort levels to Huntington residents and employees through these city facility enhancements,” said Wayne Kent, VP and General Manager Americas of Honeywell Building Solutions. “Project upgrades, specifically at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena, will help to attract a wider variety of events, while optimizing energy consumption and comfort levels in some of the city’s most critical facilities.”

The first and second phases involved facility upgrades, including lighting retrofits, mechanical and controls improvements, domestic water conservation efforts, traffic signal retrofits as well as building enve-lope repairs.

Spotlight on the Arena

Arenas require high-quality lighting for hosting events, so recent upgrades to the facility’s old and often inadequate lighting system are expected to have a significant impact on visitor and worker experience alike – while helping to attract a variety of new events. This third phase of the project is expected to generate about $112,000 in annual energy and operational savings. Overall, the city expects to save about $4.8 million in total operating costs from the multi-phased project.

In 2011, Honeywell and the City of Huntington en-tered into a 15-year energy savings performance contract (ESPC). The final phase of the contract focuses on upgrading the lighting systems at key municipal buildings across the city, including the Big Sandy Superstore Arena, originally known as the Huntington Civic Center and the Huntington Civic Arena. (With a rebranding campaign underway, the name of the arena is set to eventually change again.)

All 14 buildings share the goals of optimizing energy consumption and occupant comfort levels.

As a 7,200-seat multi-purpose arena with an attached convention center, the site is the largest of its kind in the Tri-State area (West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky). The arena hosts numerous concerts, family shows, trade shows and regional and state athletic competitions year-round, bringing in an estimated $17.5 million to the downtown area each year. 

Opening in 1977, the arena has brought notable entertainment acts and sports events to the area, but to stay relevant and continue booking business, updates were needed. The arena’s lighting system hadn’t been substantially upgraded since it opened, and there had been significant lamp depreciation (about 40 percent) over the last 42 years. As a result, arena staff felt that more recent events in the arena were seldom lit to the standard they should be and believed it was potentially impacting performance, viewership and safety concerns for patrons. 

For example, the arena’s lighting has often been believed to be inadequate for regularly held wrestling tournaments – as mats weren’t highlighted as desired under the old lights. Arena staff also had a concern about fans getting in and out of their seats safely for various events. Better lighting technology can help address these and other challenges, including necessary lighting levels for filming and photographing events, while also making it potentially easier and safer for spectators to enter and exit the arena.

Comprehensive Planning

Project work under this particular contract is the result of a successful long-term relationship between the city and Honeywell. Honeywell performed a comprehensive facility energy audit, identifying potential improvements to save energy before arranging, designing and constructing a proposal to address priority improvements. Honeywell also provided the city with information regarding potential financing options to consider for its project; the city is now paying off the project over the 15-year term of its contract. 

Honeywell guaranteed that the improvements would generate sufficient energy cost savings to pay for the project over the term of the contract, and it performs annual energy audits to demonstrate those savings. Perhaps most importantly, the contract has enabled city officials to make improvements without using additional taxpayer money and without having the funding upfront.

Key project improvements under the first and second phases involved facility upgrades including lighting retrofits, mechanical and con-trols improvements, domestic water conservation efforts, traffic signal retrofits and building envelope repairs.

The 15-year program includes upgrades at six different Huntington fire stations.

The third phase encompasses a comprehensive LED lighting system upgrade aimed at improving overall energy efficiency and occupant comfort levels, while helping to reduce maintenance demands (for example, LED lighting lasts much longer, requiring  fewer bulb replacements). The city’s new LED lighting technology is also complemented by occupancy sensors across portions of the facilities, assisting in the automatic control of lighting levels. 

The lighting system upgrades at the arena have helped to create a more comfortable environment and a more welcoming facility for hosting a variety of events. The arena is now brighter and more visually attractive, making it more conducive to hosting events including concerts with special lighting effects, while capturing better quality photographs and video recordings within the facility. 

The improved arena lighting is expected to enable the site to attract new events, such as volley-ball tournaments and trade shows, as well as more high-profile music acts. The arena’s improved lighting may also help attract televised events, which arena staff indicate it hasn’t been able to host previously due to poor lighting in the past. 

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ROI: WHAT TAXPAYERS ARE GETTING BACK

Technology Snapshot:

•    Comprehensive lighting system upgrade at arena/convention center, including new LED lighting and lighting controls;

•    Lighting work at 13 other City facilities;

•    HVAC system improvements and a control system upgrade at City Hall.

Outcomes:

The improvements under the third phase are expected to generate about $112,000 in annual energy and operational savings. Overall, the project is expected to save about $4.8 million in total operating costs for the city.

Key phase-three highlights include:

•    Energy efficiency, longer lamp life, reduced maintenance and ease of operation due to the new lighting control system in the arena area;

•    Greater light arrangement flexibility due to the new lighting control system in the arena area;

•    Higher foot candle light levels at arena:
      — Before (with old 1000w M.H.): 30 to 40 FC around perimeter, 40-50 FC in middle;
      — After (with new 360w LED):  About 50 FC around perimeter, 60-80 in middle.