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Chicago is striving to be the greenest city in America. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is quoted as saying “A sustainable Chicago is a city that spends less on energy use with each passing year, creates good-paying jobs in up-and-coming industries, responsibly maintains and upgrades its infrastructure, and ensures every Chicagoan has the opportunity to live a healthy and active lifestyle.”

The spending less on energy use is critical for everyone here at Paramont EO. Environmental concerns are taken into consideration with every client.

Is there a way we can make each project more energy efficient? Energy efficiency is not only good for the environment, it’s good for the wallet too with lower energy costs.

Energy use in buildings makes up 71 percent of Chicago’s carbon emissions, according to the 2015 Sustainable Chicago Action Agenda. Chicago is 22 percent toward the 2020 emissions reduction goal related to energy-efficient buildings, based on the 2010 emissions inventory.

The city has an initiative called Retrofit Chicago that was designed to create jobs, save Chicagoans money, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and demonstrate Chicago’s environmental leadership.

Mayor Emanuel’s plan calls to support homes and businesses to achieve 20 percent energy efficiency improvements through Retrofit Chicago, including residential energy efficiency zones and the Commercial Buildings Initiative. There are rebates available to help with the costs of retrofitting.

Directional light source

The LED replacement bulbs emit light at a 110 degree pattern versus the 360 degree pattern given off by T8 fluorescent lamps meaning only 30 percent of the light given off by the T8 fluorescent is actually hitting the intended target.

One of the most important differences lies in the fact that there is no mercury or glass content with LED lighting.

More cost-efficiency

Most lighting sources including fluorescent use heat to generate light. LED fixtures contribute little to none in regards to heat gain in a room or air conditioned space. Less heat means that the air conditioning system does not have to work as hard.

A huge opportunity for contractors

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that the installed base for fluorescent tube lighting today amounts to two billion lamp sockets nationwide. Linear fluorescent tube lighting with instant-start ballasts is one of the most common types of general lighting used in shops, offices and industrial spaces. The estimated square footage of office space alone that could be positively impacted by installing the T8 LED replacement solution is 7.4 billion square feet. So, the opportunity for energy and costs savings is huge.

If you have questions about retrofitting, call Paramont EO at (708) 345-0000 or [email protected].