For further Information contact:
Dave Cary, Communication Specialist
Orion Energy Services
1204 Pilgrim Rd.
Plymouth WI 53073
(920) 892-2935
dcary@oriones.com
Dave Brown, Maintenance Manager
Monarch Machining and Fabrication Company
7650 N. 76th St.,
Milwaukee WI
414-353-8820
eng@monarchcorp.com
A 47 percent cut in the amount of electric power used for lighting has brought the Orion Environmental Stewardship Award to Monarch Machining and Fabrication Corporation, a leading precision machining firm located in Milwaukee.
A change from high-pressure sodium lights to a state-of-the-art Orion T8 fluorescent system produced the saving of 175,448 kWh per year and dropped Monarch’s lighting power usage to 163,072. A saving this size, according to federal EPA formulas, means that each year 171 tons of CO2, 47 tons of carbon, .7 tons of sulfur dioxide and .4 tons of nitrogen oxides — all pollutant by-products of power generation — will not enter the atmosphere.
Stated differently, the reduction is the environmental equivalent of planting a 32-acre forest or removing 28 cars permanently from the road. It is the conservation equivalent of saving 14,483 gallons of gasoline or 345 barrels of fuel oil each year.
“We’re glad to earn this award,” commented Dave Brown, Maintenance Supervisor for Monarch. “Cutting energy usage (for lighting) in half is something we all should strive for on a national basis. It helps the environment and the economy. We’re proud to have done something that helped both.”
Brown said that although Monarch is pleased with the new lighting and its savings, employees had found it took a little getting used to.
“Even though we had had a demonstration of the Orion lights in our plant, initially there was a little resistance to them among our employees. “But after a while they all seem to strongly prefer them. The light is different that what you receive from the high-pressure sodium type we had before.”
The light emitted by state-of-the art Orion T8 fluorescent lighting has been termed by the lighting industry ‘sunlight at noon’ or ‘full spectrum’ because it emits light measured at quite close to 5000 degrees Kelvin — the measure of sunlight at noon. Many High Intensity Discharge (HID) lights, such as Monarch’s previous high-pressure sodium variety, emit tinted light when new, change that tint as they age and lose 1/3 of their light-giving ability over their lifetimes. All told, Monarch replaced all 125 fixtures in their main plant one-for-one. Payback for the project is a little over two years.
“Most of the time, when you get something you have to give up something,” commented Orion president Neal Verfuerth. “In this case, though, Monarch Manufacturing and Fabricating actually got better lighting — our T8s routinely deliver that — at half the operating cost, with much longer bulb life in the bargain.””
“The environmental aspects of this project are important,” Verfuerth continued, but so is its effect on the economy as a whole. Taking a chunk of power of the power grid is a step toward stabilizing energy usage and rates — and those are issues we’re all facing.”
We salute Monarch for all this.”
Located at 7050 N. 76th St., Milwaukee, Monarch Machining and Fabricating Corporation is a single-source supplier of complex machining and fabrication requirements from prototype to production projects. You will find our capabilities are customized to meet your engineering specifications and technical customer’s requirements. Monarch has turnkey capabilities for small to large custom projects as well as standard OEM components. Monarch has served a variety of industries and industrial areas for several decades: Oil & Gas, Power Generation & Energy Systems, Steel, Pulp & Paper, Automation Systems, Construction & Mining, Defense and Special Machinery. The company’s ultimate goal is to provide our customers with cost-effective solutions tailored to fit specific needs. Visit the Monarch website at http://www.monarchcorp.com/
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Orion Energy Services, Plymouth WI, manufactures and markets energy efficient lighting solutions for the manufacturing, distribution center, warehousing, commercial, school, and gymnasium markets. Orion provides capacity displacement solutions for supply side management, transmission management, and demand side management for the electricity industry. Neal Verfuerth, Orion President, received one of Wisconsin’s most prestigious awards, the Ernst & Young 2004 Manufacturing Entrepreneur of the Year, and Orion has won numerous awards as a company. For more information, visit www.oriones.com.
