About - Lighting Retrofit (McLaughlin Natural Reserve)
The facilities at the McLaughlin Reserve were previously owned an operated by a mining company, and are equipped with lighting that no longer suits the use case. The current sodium vapor lighting fixtures require 1000W each, and are partially responsible for a very high electricity bill. Students investigated what impact the current lighting system has on overall energy use and designed high-, medium-, and low-investment options for retrofits. Methods used to provide this involved energy audit techniques, literature review, and vendor discussion. Results show lighting is responsible for 12,000 kWh of annual electricity use at The Reserve. Replacing the fixtures could reduce this by 57%.