| December
1, 2005 12:00 PM
Trophy Jobs 2005
By Jim Lucy, Chief Editor
From the world’s largest LEED building to the renovation
of an 1869 opera house, EW picks some of the most interesting construction
projects.
[Excerpt follows]
Blending the Best of Old and New
Bardavon Theater, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Way too many Main Street cinemas from a bygone era have
been crushed by the omnipresent multiplex movie monstrosities at shopping
malls. The Bardavon 1869 Opera House, located in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., has
survived, though, with the help of some innovative lighting design and a
grant from a public agency promoting energy efficiency. Hosting
entertainment for Hudson River Valley residents for more than 130 years,
the Bardavon's list of performers include author Mark Twain, crooner Frank
Sinatra and dancer Martha Graham. A victim of suburban cineplexes, the
Bardavon closed in 1975 and was slated for demolition when local residents
rescued the elegant venue. As part of the renovation project, the
Bardavon's original three-sided 1940s era marquee and the vertical blade
sign were replaced with replicas that still used incandescent light bulbs
as light sources. Later, the 3,600 incandescent lamps were replaced with
energy-efficient light-emitting-diode (LED) bulbs from LEDtronics Inc., a
manufacturer of LED lamps based in Torrance, Calif. A
grant from New York State Energy Research & Development made it
possible for the nonprofit Bardavon theater to switch to LED-sourced
lighting. Knowledgeable about LED's reputed long life and power savings,
Bardavon's Jason Adams contacted LEDtronics. Following discussions with
LEDtronics regional representative, Jeff Mizel, and after testing several
sample lamps, Adams purchased 3,600 white, yellow, orange, red and
blue-green LEDs. The LED lamps feature 25mm Edison-screw bases that
enabled them to be installed into existing sockets without requiring
pricey modifications. The marquee and the blade
sign typically operate for six to eight hours per show about 150 times a
year, which averages about three hours a night over the course of a year.
The theater was hit with an annual electrical bill of $3,445 for the 11W
S14 incandescent lamps, while electricity for the 1.3W LED lamps with
their 100,000-hour lamp life cost $124.40, an annual savings of $3,220.50
a year, approximately $9,615 over the three-year warranty period, and
$35,233 over the typical 100,000-hour LED operating life. The annual
energy saved is 38,237Kwhs. Besides lower energy
costs, the Bardavon has benefited from the lower maintenance costs. The
older incandescent lamps, which had a lamp life of approximately 1,000
hours, had to be replaced approximately once a year, and a boom truck had
to be rented for the maintenance. Assuming labor for changing the bulbs
was $13 an hour, the cost of replacing the 3,600 lights, including the
cost of labor, new lamps, boom lift rental and operator pay was more than
$51,000. The 100,000-hour lamp life of the LEDs eliminates this annual
relamping. LEDtronics estimates that the theater annually saves more than
$57,000 in power savings and maintenance, and that these savings quickly
paid for the LEDs. Reducing energy and maintenance expenses freed up
resources for the theater's other restoration projects.
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