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Success Story: Whitaker Newsletters, Inc.

Partner Information

Located in Fanwood, New Jersey
1680 Sq. Feet
6 Employees
Annual cash savings: $ 796.00
Annual kWh savings: 128,000
Payback period: 24 Months

Service and Product Provider

Atlantic Lighting and Supply Co.

Joel Whitaker, owner of Whitaker Newsletters, Inc., has always believed that making efforts to protect the environment also makes good business sense and that you don’t necessarily have to “hug a tree” to be an environmentalist. That’s why switching to energy-efficient lighting was such an easy decision for Whitaker. Even this very small office, at less than 2,000 square feet and with only 24 lighting fixtures, is saving almost $800 per year. And from these simple lighting upgrades, Whitaker’s pollution prevention equates to removing one car from U.S. highways or planting one acre of trees.

Giving a Boost to Good Intentions

Originally, Mr. Whitaker called a local electrician to learn more about lighting efficiency. As it turned out, he knew more than the electrician. An EPA financing directory guided Whitaker to Atlantic Lighting and Supply Co., an ENERGY STAR service and product provider. Atlantic surveyed his space for free and provided specifications, a cost analysis, and an environmental analysis. This process took Atlantic less than one hour. Atlantic included Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) rebates in their economic analysis and predicted the payback.

After Atlantic completed the survey, Whitaker asked for financial assistance. Atlantic agreed to finance more than half of the upgrade cost. Whitaker simply repaid Atlantic with the savings from its electric bill, including signing over the rebate check it received from PSE&G. Once Atlantic delivered the project materials, Mr. Whitaker contacted a different electrician he found listed on a church flyer to install them. The entire upgrade process, from survey to installation, took a little over a month.

Upgrade Overview: Easy as Reading the Directions

Before the upgrade, Whitaker Newsletter’s 24 fixtures were inefficient T-12 fluorescent lamps with magnetic ballasts. The electrician had never before performed this type of lighting upgrade, but the straightforward directions made installation of 24 energy-efficient T-8 fluorescent lamps with electronic ballasts no problem. Although the number of lamps per fixture was decreased from four to two lamps and the wattage per lamp was decreased from 40 watts to 32 watts, employees generally thought the lighting was improved. And the improvement in lighting color gave the office a warm glow.

Whitaker also changed one exit sign from incandescent to LED, an upgrade that increased the lamp life from 9 months to 50 years. This is especially important to Whitaker, since the local fire inspector had, in the past, warned the company about a burned-out lamp.

More Than Just a Bright Light

Mr. Whitaker was particularly impressed with the pollution-prevention equivalency information supplied by ENERGY STAR. In turn, employees were impressed that he had done something good for the environment. Mr. Whitaker was so happy with the results of his lighting upgrade that he convinced a local municipality and a local school district to upgrade their facilities. He also helped PSE&G publicize energy-efficiency programs by participating in radio spots.

“Our lighting upgrade was a piece of cake: the financing was easily handled, and we got a local electrician to install everything. It was really no sweat. But none of it would have been done without EPA’s ENERGY STAR for small business program.”

Joel Whitaker
Owner
Whitaker Newsletters, Inc.