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When Lanz considered adding a new building to its manufacturing plant in West Eugene, Purchasing Manager Dave Meier was interested in having an efficient new building and keeping his electrical costs as low as possible. He planned to install the same lights that were in his existing building: 400-watt metal halide (MH) lights.

Then EWEB lighting specialist Joe Vaccher visited the cabinet manufacturer and told Meier that “metal halide will do the job, but fluorescent can do it better.” Ultimately, Vaccher convinced Lanz Cabinets to install T-8 fluorescent lights instead of the MH lights.

Fluorescent lights have several advantages over MH: instant-on, better light color and more consistent light output throughout the life of the bulb. To determine the economics, the contractor submitted bids to install both the MH and T-8 systems.

“The initial capital cost of installing fluorescents and MH are close, but the operating cost of fluorescent is far less,” says Vaccher.

In Lanz’s new building, the T-8 system uses 40 percent less energy than the MH lights. Meier was so pleased with the fluorescent lights that he changed the MH lights in the older building to T-8 lights even though the MH lights were only four years old. This reduced the lighting energy use by 50 percent.

With both the EWEB incentive and the Oregon state tax credit, the new T-8 lights for both buildings paid for themselves in less than one month. Meier has nicknamed the T-8 lights “happy lights” because of the positive response from employees.