Home > Buildings & Plants > Small Business > Success Stories & Awards > Success Story: Manko, Gold & Katcher

Success Story: Manko, Gold & Katcher

Partner Information

Manko, Gold & Katcher, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania
20,500 Sq. Feet
Employees: 50 Annual Cash Savings: $11,407
Payback period: 18 months

Manko, Gold & Katcher (MGK), an environmental law firm, works on the “green” side of the law. In addition to working on “green” legal issues they are also working under the glow of “green,” energy-efficient lighting. Because MGK rents its 20,500 Sq. Feet office space in a multi-tenant building where the electric bill is broken down for each tenant, they save an average of $11,407 annually from the lighting upgrade.

Says John Kirk, Director of Administration for MGK, “Upgrading to energy-efficient technologies is a no-brainer. For years to come we will reap the economic and environmental benefits of what we accomplished in three nights.” To help MGK reduce their electric bills even further, EPA provided valuable technical information about energy-saving ENERGY STAR® labeled office equipment and other efficiency options. MGK now plans to buy ENERGY STAR labeled equipment when it purchases new computers and printers. And EPA highlighted the company’s environmental leadership in a local paper on Earth Day.

1-2-3 Nights to Energy Efficiency

To complete its energy upgrade, MGK hired a local lighting contractor to survey the office, provide upgrade recommendations, install the new lighting, and handle disposal. The upgrade was completed in just three nights, after office hours, to avoid disrupting employees.

Before the upgrade, MGK had relied on 256 forty-watt, T-12 standard fluorescent lamps with inefficient magnetic ballasts to provide light to 32 offices, 5 conference rooms, and 7 printer rooms. MGK replaced these T-12 lamps with efficient 30-watt, T-8s with extended output ballasts. Because T-8s produce more light using less energy than T-12s, MGK was able to de-lamp 120 fixtures (from four to two lamps per fixture) while maintaining appropriate light levels. MGK also added reflectors to all fixtures, increasing light levels and making the lighting more direct. The company also upgraded 13 exit signs from 50-watt incandescents to 2-watt LEDs and installed 37 infrared occupancy sensors in office and conference and printer rooms. The entire retrofit has saved MGK over $11,000 annually.

Continuing to Seek Energy Efficiency Opportunities

The success of MGK’s lighting upgrade has prompted the company to look for other opportunities for energy efficiency. One example is a study on the effects of dirt accumulation on a light bulb’s output and energy use. MGK hopes to find out if the savings generated by cleaning the lamps (thus maintaining light levels and increasing the life of the lamps) will pay for the cost of cleaning. In addition, MGK now carefully tracks its energy usage as a result of increased energy efficiency awareness through ENERGY STAR.

Along with exploring other efficiency options, MGK notified its employees by e-mail about its success. And they alerted clients to their environmental leadership in a client newsletter — environmental leadership that prevents 190,000 pounds of toxic emissions from entering our air each year — not bad for three nights work.