GE Lighting LED solutions were recently installed in several locations at Marriott International’s headquarters located in Bethesda, Md. The installations have enriched lighting quality, heightened employee security and improved energy efficiency. Following its corporate campus-wide lighting update, Marriott will use 860,000 fewer kilowatt hours (kWhs) of electricity and save more than $120,000 in combined energy and maintenance costs a year.

Security and energy savings were top priorities when considering new lighting to cover the nearly 2 million square feet (45 acres) of parking and garage space at Marriott headquarters. More than 230 GE Evolve™ LED Area Lights now illuminate Marriott’s outdoor lots, while inside the parking deck nearly 400 Evolve LED Garage Light fixtures and several Evolve LED Tunnel Light installations — as well as more efficient GE T8 fluorescent lamps — help light the way to and from the headquarters offices. Collectively, a 280-watt reduction per outdoor lighting fixture will cut electricity use by 580,000 kWhs a year, equating to $70,000 in utility cost savings.

Marriott also gained the functionality to dim its new garage lighting with GE’s ProSys™ Lighting Control system incorporating motion sensors. Light output is reduced to 40 percent while the garage is vacant and adjusts to 100 percent when motion is detected. Alone, this precise control will produce nearly $11,000 in energy savings (88,000-kWh reduction) each year. And, the control system will interface with Marriott’s video surveillance center, alerting guards to after-hours movement in the deck and focusing the nearest security camera to where motion is detected.

Marriott also coordinated with Montgomery County government officials to replace 32 180-watt metal halide streetlights along the road that serves its headquarters and neighboring companies. With the first cost of GE’s 106-watt Evolve LED Roadway Cobrahead fixtures covered by Marriott, the county will see an immediate benefit: using 10,000 fewer kWhs each year provides a $1,200 annual energy savings.

Moving inside Marriott’s eight-floor, 900,000-square-foot headquarters, GE replaced 1,000 65-watt bulbs with 7-watt LED PAR20 lamps in all hallways. The 58-watt difference will mean a nearly $18,000 difference (150,000-kWh savings) in electricity expense over 261 working days.

In the foyer, special scaffolding is needed to reach fixtures in the high ceiling. Marriott would change the lights, which lasted just one to two years on average, only once a year at a cost close to $3,000. Maintenance savings will now add up after GE replaced 12 90-watt bulbs with 20-watt LED PAR38 lamps. Rated for 50,000 hours of life, GE’s LEDs could keep the scaffolding away for up to seven years.

Meanwhile in the auditorium, combined halogen and compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) lighting was inadequate for Marriott’s advanced dimming system. While the halogen lights could be darkened, the CFLs could not. A total of 140 GE 12- watt LED BR30 lamps improved the functionality of the space, producing a fully dimmable system with higher light levels and more light uniformity in addition to $2,300 in energy savings.

Seventy-two new GE Lumination® Recessed LED Troffers were next added to the building’s lower level. When illuminated, the chic and slim 2'×2' fixtures produce a perfectly even glow. While off, they appear completely free of a light source to blend in with the ceiling, enhancing the elegant aesthetic of Marriott’s employee space that includes a daycare and cafeteria.

GE also retrofitted the ‘Marriott’ sign at the Bethesda headquarters entrance with Tetra® PowerStrip LED lighting, improving maintenance cycles from two to three times per year to once every five to 10 years.

Marriott’s comprehensive LED update will decrease annual electricity use by 66 percent (680,000 kWhs outside; 180,000 kWhs inside) at its headquarters, slashing energy expense an estimated $104,000. Maintenance mitigation will yield an additional $210,000 savings over the next decade for a total return exceeding $120,000 a year. Marriott will also receive more than $130,000 in utility rebates and EPACT savings. All told, the anticipated payback period for the lighting project is slightly more than two years, based on combined electricity, maintenance and labor reductions.

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