Ware County School System Upgrades Lighting to LED Tube Lights

According to a new research study, energy costs K-12 schools $6 billion annually in energy costs. Reducing energy costs allows schools to focus their funding on needed energy programs. This is just what Ware Coutnty School District did.The Ware County School system, located in Waycross Georgia, recently completed the largest known K-12 grade public school lighting retrofit program.The Ware County School District encompasses ten individual schools, Pre-K through 12th grade, that serve more than 5,000 students. 

The investment in LED lighting will save the school district more than $10 million dollars over the next nine years.They upgraded 24,000 lighting fixtures to more energy efficient LED Tube lights from RedBird LED. RedBird LED is an Atlanta based LED lighting designer and manufacturer of high quality LED Tube lights. The school system conducted a six-month pilot program incorporating LED tube lighting in several conference rooms prior to reaching an agreement to install LED lights throughout the system. 

“The money we save with maintenance and reduced energy costs can be applied to continual improvement of the quality of education we provide to our students as well as benefit the taxpayers who support our system,’’ said School Superintendent Joseph C. Barrow.

The RedBird Cardinal LED Tube lights have an anticipated lifetime capacity of 15 to 20 years. “The money we save with maintenance and reduced energy costs can be applied to continual improvement of the quality of education we provide to our students as well as benefit the taxpayers who support our system,’’ Barrow said. Cardinal LED lighting provide one of the highest lumens/dollar and lumens/watt of any LED lighting fixture. The Cardinal LED tubes are a direct mechanical fit into standard fixtures, operating on any voltage ranging from 110 to 277 VAC, and do not require the fluorescent ballast. Cardinal LED Tube lights deliver 7,000 lumens of light, yet only draw 66 watts.

” RedBird LED is pleased that our Cardinal™ LED tube light has been selected for the major energy reduction project underway for the Ware County Schools,” said Jonathan Eppstein, President of RedBird LED. “Working closely with Etrenzik and IP-Utilinet, we were able to put together a system that offers state of the art performance and will save the district millions in their electricity bills over the next 10 years.”

Hospitals Using More LED Tube Lights- Even at Mount Everest

Hospitals have discovered that lighting is an important aspect of improving patient safety and a significant expense item. Imagine trying to cost-effectively replicate the conditions of a hospital  intensive care unit at 17,500 feet elevation on the world’s largest mountain. This is what the team of Xtreme Everest 2 recently accomplished. Xtreme Everest 2, is a dedicated team of intensive care doctors, nurses and scientists that are studying health problems in hospital intensive care units.

 On March 10th,they installed LED Tube lighting in their laboratory, operating room and patient areas. They selected Cardinal LED lighting from RedBird LED, a leading manufacturer of LED Linear Replacement Lamps. The Xtreme Everest 2 location at the Mt. Everest High Base Camp required rugged, energy efficient lighting that could perform well in extremely cold temperatures. The solution was RedBird Cardinal Vapor tight LED Luminaires, PG3-66W-50K-132.

 Jonathan Eppstein, RedBird ’ s President says, ” We ’ re pleased to have been selected to light this important facility. The research being done by this dedicated team will have a huge impact on treating a wide array of medical conditions. Our LED lights, with their high CRI and low energy use fit the bill perfectly for this application. While we in the US may think our energy rates are high, just imagine what the cost of electricity is at the Everest High Base Camp, where generators running on gasoline flown in by helicopter provide all the power. ”

They provide one of the highest lumens/dollar and lumens/watt of any LED lighting fixture. The Cardinal LED tubes are a direct mechanical fit into standard fixtures, operating on any voltage ranging from 110 to 277 VAC, and do not require the fluorescent ballast. Cardinal LED Tube lights deliver 7,000 lumens of light, yet only draw 66 watts.

IES Progress Report Selects LED Tubes from RedBird LED

The Cardinal™ LED Linear Replacement Lamps have been selected by the IES for inclusion in the prestigious Illuminating Engineering Society(IES) 2012 Progress Report. The Progress Report award will be presented to RedBird LED this month at the Annual IES Conference in Minneapolis.All IES Progress Report award winners will be profiled in a special supplement in the January issue of LD+A magazine.


The Cardinal™ LED Linear Replacement Lamps have also been recently certified by the DesignLights Consortium. These products are the only LED tube lights in the world to receive DLC Certification in the Linear Replacement Lamp category and are current listed on the DLC’s Qualified Product List. The DLC membership includes some of the largest utility companies in the United States.

Jonathan Eppstein, President of RedBird LED commented, “We are very excited and honored to be selected by the IES Progress Report Committee for the 2012 IES Progress Report. This prestigious award and the DLC certification are continued validation of the technical design and market leading performance our Cardinal™ LED Linear Replacement Lamps deliver. The award certainly solidifies our position as the quality and performance leader in this sector of the LED lighting industry.”

For more information about RedBird LED please visit www.redbirdled.com

LED Tube Light Retrofit Project Saves $ 30,000 Per Year

The potential energy savings from an LED Lighting retrofit can be substantial. In many projects that energy savings can range between 35-60%. The biggest hurdle is financing of the upfront costs of replacing less energy efficient lighting with LED Lighting. There are numerous financing and rebate programs offered through local utility companies. A number of utility companies, including Con Edison, are members of the DesignLights Consortium. The DesignLights Consortium publishes a list of qualified LED lighting products that member firms will include in their lighting rebate programs.

Davis & Warshow, a dealer of luxury kitchen and bath fixtures and plumbing materials recently completed a complete LED Tube lightingretrofit at their 209,000-square-foot distribution center in Queens, New York. The LED lighting retrofit project involved replacing outdated fluorescent lighting to more energy efficient LED tube lighting. The company claims this is one of largest single facility LED Tube light installation projects in the country.

The reported company investment in the LED Tube Lighting retrofit was more than $250,000. While this was a large expense for the company the program reduces the annual lighting energy expense from $50,000 to $ 20,000. In addition the company received a rebate check from local utility, Com Ed of $ 63,704. According to Davis & Warshow president David Finkel, "The amount represented rebates we earned for the lighting conversion based on annual kWh saved using the made-in-America fixtures," he said.  "Moreover, in five years’ time our investment will have paid for itself, with the rebates we've earned and the overall energy savings."

"We are pleased to support Davis & Warshow's efforts to make their business more sustainable," said David Pospisil, program manager of the Con Edison's Commercial & Industrial Energy Efficiency Programs who presented the five-figure rebate. "Con Edison's incentives and rebates help businesses like Davis & Warshow make smart investments to improve the energy and environmental performance of their buildings."

If your lighting project includes four foot LED Tube Light , the DLC only lists one LED Tube Manufacturer that meets their new strict criteria- RedBird LED based in Atlanta, GA. For more information on their Cardinal Linear LED Tube Replacement light please visit www.redbirdled.com

John Gilmore Joins RedBird LED as Vice President of Sales

Redbird LED is pleased to announce that LED lighting industry veteran John Gilmore has joined their sales and management team as the new Vice President of Sales. Redbird LED is an Atlanta, GA. firm that specializes in the design, manufacturing and distribution of premium energy efficient LED Linear Replacement Lamp products. Previously, John Gilmore was leading the LED Lighting sales efforts for SEESMART LED. In his new role, John will spearhead the sales and marketing of RedBird LED Tube Lights to lighting distributors, major national corporations, state and federal agencies, retailers and institutional owners throughout the United States.

Jonathan Eppstein, President of Redbird LED said, "We are excited that one of the most successful sales professionals in the country of LED Tube Lights has joined RedBird LED. John's commitment to RedBird validates our belief that there is a large demand for premium quality- high performing LED Linear Replacement Lamp products. The recent certification by the DesignLights Consortium for both our 22 watt and 18 watt Cardinal Linear Replacement Lamp products, which prequalifies them for many energy rebate programs, was a key factor in John's decision to join our firm at this time. Culminating several years of development and testing, the Cardinal LED Linear Replacement Lamp has become first, second, and still the only LED tube light in the world to receive DLC Certification."

In his previous position with SEESMART, a leading LED lighting distributor, John was responsible for managing the lighting sales operations, marketing strategy development, introduction of new products and managing key client accounts. During his tenure , sales revenue increased 92% to $11.5 million in 2011. Over this same time period his personal sales volume exceeded $7 million, including two of the largest LED Tube lighting contracts, Pasadena City College and General Services Administration. His previous clients included; Department of Defense (Army, Navy, and Air Force), Homeland Security, Department of Justice (correctional facilities), Department of General Services (City of Los Angeles), airports, schools, universities, and various municipalities throughout the US.

"I'm absolutely thrilled to be part of RedBird LED", says John Gilmore. "Jonathan is a brilliant engineer with a great vision. The fact that Redbird is exclusively focused on building the finest LED linear replacement lamps allows me to continue to build on my experience in marketing products in this category. Our plan is to leverage the Cardinal lamp's quality and DLC Certification to become the number one LED tube supplier in the world over the next year. Having the 18W tube on the DLC's qualified product list will allow us penetrate the massive fluorescent tube retrofit market, which has become a more immediate need with the recent obsolescence and subsequent unavailability of the older T12 style fluorescent tubes. Adding a rebate incentive to the basic energy savings, will allow the customer to see a complete payback in less than 1 year in many cases.

Over the past 5 years I have learned a tremendous amount about LED linear tubes. When I met with Jonathan and reviewed the RedBird LED technical data, the decision to make the move was very easy. It is truly the best LED tube in the world today!!"

About RedBird LED - Redbird LED is an Atlanta based designer and manufacturer of LED linear lights. Their company mission is to focus exclusively on providing quality LED linear light solutions to their customers. Redbird LED's core technology is in their premier linear LED light, designed and engineered specifically for retrofits of traditional fluorescent tube lights.

LED Lighting Retrofit Provides Ernst & Young With Annual Savings of $1 MIllion

Ernst & Young recently completed  one  of the largest LED lighting retrofit projects in New York Cty by replacing less energy efficient ligting at its headquarters office building in Times Square.The Ernst & Young headquarters building is 32 floors with 650,000 square feet of office space and houses 5,800 employees.  It is estimated that Ernst& Young will reduce their lighting and mainteance costs by 50% and will save at least $1 million dollars per year in lighting energy costs.The LED lighting retrofit is just one example of Ernst & Young's commitment to reducing their environmental impact. They have set a goal to have 50% of the office space they occupy in 2013 be LEED certfied.

"Reducing the carbon footprint of our office space is part of our firm-wide strategy to reduce our environmental footprint as our business grows," says Leisha John, Ernst & Young Americas Director of Environmental Sustainability. "In fact, by the end of 2013, we plan to have a majority of our employees working in LEED and or Energy Star certified space. The completion of this lighting retrofit project in the New York office brings us one step closer to that goal, and will be part of that office’s Energy Star application.In addition to reducing our energy footprint, green technologies like LED help us to reduce our operating expenses, which is a best practice for any company," said John. "This project is the result of the collaboration between several infrastructure groups within Ernst & Young LLP, particularly the Facilities and Real Estate teams, and the Climate Change and Sustainability Services professionals, who advise clients on sustainability practices."

The firm was able to reduce their upfront installation costs by 13% through sourcing rebates from their Utility Company. For more information on available energy efficient rebate  programs through DesignLights Consortium members please visit www.redbirdled.com

RedBird LED 18 watt LED Linear Lamp Receives Certification from DLC

RedBird LED Inc., an Atlanta, GA. firm that specializes in the design, manufacturing and distribution of  high quality energy efficient LED linear lighting products for industrial and commercial applications, is pleased to announce their second certification by the DesignLights Consortium (DLC) of their Cardinal™ LED Linear Retrofit products.  In May, RedBird LED  received certification by the DLC for their 22 watt LED Linear Replacement Lamp at both 4100K and 5000K CCTs.  The RedBird LED 18 watt Cardinal™ LED Linear Replacment lamp  has now also been certified by DLC as a Qualified Product. Culminating several years of development and testing, the Cardinal™ LED Linear Replacement Lamp has become both the first, second, and still the only LED tube light in the world to receive DLC Certification. 

By establishing the Cardinal LED tube light's position on the Qualified Product List of the DLC, RedBird LED has ensured that these products will be eligible for all rebate programs currently in place among the DLC's membership and will facilitate rapid approval by other rebate sources as well. The DLC is the premier resource for high-quality review and certification of LED lighting products that are not covered under the Energy STAR designated categories. The DLC membership is a nationwide consortium of utilities, EMCs and energy-efficiency programs across the United States and Canada. For more information about the DesignLights Consortium please visit their website at www.designlights.org.

For more information on the RdBird LED product line up or to receive technical specifications please visit the RedBird LED website or email company president Jonathan Eppstein.