Cree LED Lighting Chosen for Albuquerque’s Convention Center
The Albuquerque Convention Center is in the middle of a massive makeover with the clear mission of attracting tourist dollars to the area. Phase I of the project, representing the remodel of the East Complex, was finalized during the summer months and a facelift of the West Complex is in the works.
By Anca Gagiuc, Associate Editor
The Albuquerque Convention Center is in the middle of a makeover with the mission of attracting tourist dollars to the area. Phase I of the project, representing the remodel of the East Complex, was finalized during the summer months, and a facelift of the West Complex is in the works.
A key part of the renovation revolves around energy usage as the Convention Center is one of Albuquerque’s biggest energy consumers. Thus the lighting requirements for the 270,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space were among the prime candidates for the City’s Energy Council Three Percent Program. After a mock-up study of several LED lighting manufacturers, Cree Inc. was selected to install the best solutions based on “the light output, the quality of light and fixtures, the warranty and how they interacted with Lutron in terms of controllability,” said Tony Gurule, energy and sustainability program manager for the City of Albuquerque, in a statement.
“The high-quality illumination delivered by the LED lights makes the ceilings look higher, the restrooms and stairwells brighter and makes all of the colors in the East Complex incredibly vivid. We’re excited to see economic development initiated by this installation and how it will benefit Albuquerque,” added Gurule.
Cree TrueWhite Technology and Lutron Controls are built to reduce the Center’s annual lighting energy consumption to a level below the industry standard of 40 percent to 7.6 percent of the total electrical energy usage for all loads. Among the strategies used are occupancy sensing, daylight harvesting, task level tuning, scene selection and event scheduling. The estimated reduction in annual energy costs is $100,000, and annual maintenance is expected to be reduced by another $120,741.
Albuquerque is not the first city to use Cree LED lighting. Los Angeles and Raleigh are also using the product, and even NASA headquarters in D.C. recently took the Cree LED offer.
Photo courtesy of Cree Lighting.
You must be logged in to post a comment.