EDC May 2012 : Page-37F
With three floors of exhibits, MPM encompasses life-size dioramas, a rain forest and a live butterfly garden, as well as the Humphrey IMAX Dome Theater and the Daniel M. Soref Planetarium. As one of the region’s pre-mier museums and an iconic landmark in Milwaukee, the MPM was aware of the need to replace energy-consuming 100W metal halide lighting in the enclosed loading dock with an environmentally friendly solution. Like many organizations and businesses, the MPM looks for ways to reduce energy consumption and costs, as well as lessen maintenance expenses. Recently the U.S. Depart-ment of Energy’s Gateway Pro-gram began testing interior LED luminaires in three museums around the country; however, though the MPM is one of the first museums to install LED luminaires for general illumina-tion, it is not included in the Gateway program. Originally, this loading dock had 15 100W metal halide ceiling-mounted fixtures. However, the different color temperatures from fixture to fixture and ongoing ballast problems that left lamps burned out left the illumination in the area extremely poor. A decision was made to explore installing LED luminaires engineered by Everbrite Lighting and installed by Dnesco Electric. Fifteen 93W LED luminaires with eight LEDs have been installed, reducing energy consumption by approximate-ly 30 percent and will virtually eliminate maintenance costs. Additionally, these lower wattage luminaires actually generate 150W of light. In fact, because of the tremen-dous light output of these new luminaires, the museum is able to remove high pressure sodium wall packs around the dock’s parameter, further increasing the energy savings. “By installing LEDs, the loading dock is brighter and more evenly lit, which really improves the unpacking and packing of priceless traveling exhibits,” says Lead Mainte-nance Engineer Rick Gutowski. “The installation of LED light-ing in this area is truly an asset for MPM.” The DOE has heralded LEDs as the future of lighting because LEDs have an extremely long lifespan when compared to in-candescent lighting — in many cases lasting 20 times longer. In addition, LEDs consume consid-erably less energy and are clean burning, thus reducing carbon emissions significantly. “I think this LED installation is the first of many sustainabili-ty initiatives for the MPM,” says Jay Williams, MPM president and CEO. edc JEFF GATZOW IS EVERBRITE LIGHTING (EL) PRODUCT MANAGER AND MAY BE REACHED AT JGATZOW@EVERBRITE.COM OR 414-529-7178. EVERBRITE LIGHTING WAS ESTABLISHED TO DEDICATE RESOURCES TO THE EMERGING USE OF LED TECHNOLOGY. VISIT WWW. EVERBRITELIGHTING.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION. ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF EVERBRITE LIGHTING. ABOVE Cleopatra exhibit at MPM. Photo by Christoph Gerigk. www.edcmag.com 37F
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