Sustainability Team 1 - Proposal Draft


  1. Turning Off the Lights! 

  2.  

  3. Introduction

 

Global Cash Access, a service provider for the gaming industry, has a Las Vegas office composed of two main building sections. Each section has one light switch that controls all the lights (fluorescent tubes) for the whole section. These lights are very rarely turned off, even though there are portions of the building unoccupied from 5 or 6 PM until roughly 7 to 9 AM on weekdays, and unoccupied through the entire weekend. Often one person working late (say, until midnight) will result in the lights for the whole side of the building being lit. There are only two areas with people working in them 24/7, and one of these (the help desk, where Richard works) already has separate light controls. The other area, the call center, is a fairly large area (occupying about 1/2 to 2/3 of that section of the building).

 

Turning off the lights for an entire side of the building is not really an option generally, because most of the time there will be at least one person who needs light. The real problem here seems to be the lack of separate light switches for small sections of the building. Of course, offices have their own light switches, but the number of people in cubicles under general lighting is much greater than the number of offices.

 

If turning off the lights is not a viable option, perhaps setting the lights on a timer is. This solution saves electricity during non-standard hours of operation while keeping the option to use the light switch open. However, it does not take into account the handful of people that work during these operational anomalies that will manually adjust the lighting. Even if the lights are on timers, people are still utilizing the inefficient source of overhead lighting during these times. In addition, the light switches are currently by the exit doors; putting timers in would mean that if a timer were to go off, workers in the affected area would have to interrupt their work, get up and go to the timer, and turn them back on. Workers are likely to view this as a nuisance and may just set the timer for much longer than they actually need.

 

Alternatively, motion sensor lighting provides flexibility that timed lighting does not. Since certain areas remain unoccupied during times of the night the motion senors will not be triggered therefore providing energy and cost savings while meeting the necessary lighting requirements for those left in the building. However, the feasibility of this option would be very limited by the structure of the cubicles (6 foot wall height); there would have to be a motion sensor for each cubicle or at the most for 4 to 6 cubicles, which would be relatively expensive to wire.

 

Infrastructure changes to the building's lighting can be time consuming and possibly cost prohibitive. There is also a potential loss of productivity during the construction phase. The feasibility of efficient and cost effective energy-efficient individual or group lighting solutions may prove a viable option. the benefits are that it is quick and still saves energy. Options such as desk lamps or floor lamps to replace overhead lighting during off hours could quickly and easily change the company's energy consumption. However, this is likely to be an expensive option to implement, as the price for separate additional lights for each cubicle would quickly add up. Also, the relative efficiency often cited for CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) bulbs is in comparison to incandescent bulbs. The fluorescent tubes already in place are among the most efficient lighting sources currently available for commercial use.


Introducing the Team

Sustainability Project: Red Team One

 

            Team Member 

Background 

            Richard Wood 

Richard has the unique advantage of being an employee of Global Cash Access (GCA). Having worked there for nearly 10 years, he is familiar with the general business climate and has access to the personnel who can approve our proposal. 

           Jennifer Smith  

A former sales executive with over 14 years experience in prospecting, research, and presentations. Jennifer has also worked on several group projects and managed budgets up to $1,000,000. 

           Antonia Connolly 

Antonia Connolly is an Information Developer with a Point of Sale Software company in Las Vegas. Working in a similar 24/7 work environment, working collaboratively on a daily basis to create and maintain both internal and external documentation helps provide a certain familiarity with the subject matter. 

           Jeffrey Hajibandeh 

Jeffrey is a licensed Engineering Intern (EIT) and Civil Engineer with experience in green building design. He has worked on several development projects to optimize site plans and maximize the efficiency of design.  Additionally, he has created several proposals and post-construction reports, making him a capable member of a Sustainability Team. 

 

 

 

Existing Site Layout

 

North Office Building 

 

South Office Layout

 

Recommendations

[Text]

 

Alternative Light Sources: Understanding How They Work

 

Timed Automatic Switches

 

If turning off the lights is not a viable option, perhaps setting the lights on a timer is. This solution saves electricity during non-standard hours of operation while keeping the option to use the light switch open.

Automatic Timed Lighting only uses electrical energy during set timed sequences which turn lighting on and off at alternating times during a 24 period. Pricing is set at $18.00-$48.00. 

 

Motion Detectors

 

Alternatively, motion sensor lighting provides flexibility that timed lighting does not. Since certain areas remain unoccupied during times of the night the motion sensors will not be triggered therefore providing energy and cost savings while meeting the necessary lighting requirements for those left in the building.

Motion Detectors only use electrical energy when triggered by movement inside a space. In addition, motion detectors permit users to manually adjust lighting. The sensor also permits users to determine the length of duration that the lights remain on. These durations are usually set at 10, 20, or 30 minutes. The motion sensors cover an area of 180 degrees, which is 2,100 square foot coverage. Pricing is set at $118.99 per unit. 

 

Energy Efficient Bulbs

 

Infrastructure changes to the building's lighting is often time consuming and possibly cost prohibitive. There is also a potential loss of productivity during the construction phase. The feasibility of efficient and cost effective energy efficient individual or group lighting solutions may prove a viable option. The benefits are that it is quick and still saves energy. Options such as desk lamps or floor lamps to replace overhead lighting during off hours could quickly and easily change the company's energy consumption.

An ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) will save about $30 over its lifetime and pay for itself in about 6 months. It uses 75 percent less energy and lasts about 10 times longer than an incandescent bulb (EnergyStar.gov, 2010, para. 2). This needs to be replaced with data about CFL vs. T8 fluorescent tubes, data about CFL vs. incandescent is irrelevant to this project as there are no incandescent bulbs currently in use. There is some good info about T8 bulbs at http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/NLPIP/publicationdetails.asp?id=128&type=2 (which is linked from the sidebar on http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/lighting_daylighting/index.cfm/mytopic=12070).

 

This section is irrelevant as T8 is what is suggesteb by energysavers.gov as an energy efficient bulb - it is the CFL they suggest. http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=sb_guidebook.sb_guidebook_lighting 

 

Indentifying Project Obstacles

 

The team proposal is based on the business environment of team member Richard Wood. As such, Richard is responsible for conducting the majority of the preliminary research leaving the secondary research, analyzing, and processing of the information to the remaining team members.

 

Reporting the Findings

Based on the findings...

 

Timed Automatic Switches

 

Using timed automatic switches does not take into account the handful of people that work during operational downtimes which means manually adjusting the lighting. In addition, the light switches are located by exit doors. If the times that the timers go off employees in the affected area would have to manually turn the lights back on. GCA employees are likely to view this as a nuisance and set the timer for much longer than they actually need. Also, this option can only be implemented after the lights are separated into separate circuits, since adding a timer to the current setup would still only turn all the lights on or all the lights off.

 

Motion Detectors

 

The feasibility of this option would be very limited by the structure of the cubicles (6 foot wall height). The pricing for the installation of motion sensors for each cubicle or small groups of cubicles in addition to the price of wiring makes this option relatively expensive. This would also requires separation of light circuits, though it might be feasible to rewire only locally (i.e. from specific lights to specific motion sensors).

 

Task Lighting

 

The main advantage to this would be that less lumens are required for task lighting; i.e. one person working in a cube would only need a small amount of light overall, as opposed to having an entire zone lit up. However, the energy efficiency of individual bulbs, even CFL bulbs, is less than that of the T8 fluorescent overhead bulbs currently in use. Calculating the exact efficiencies of this method would be difficult due to the combination of factors. The option itself is also likely to be expensive to implement, as the price for separate additional lights for each cubicle would quickly add up. 

 

Schedule

 

Since the building has restricted access, we have to rely on Richard to do most of the research and collecting pertinent data. This will be completed during or by the end of Spring Break. The rest of the team will then work collaboratively to process and interpret the data and then to present it. Please see our chart link below.

 

Preliminary Gannt Chart

 

Shedding Light on a Solution

 

Though there are several logistical obstacles to overcome, we believe the solutions suggested in this proposal generally outweigh these problems. Local rewiring combined with motion sensors provide a viable alternative to constant power usage. These solutions are based on the collaborative innovation of our team, and we submit this proposal for consideration and an offer to answer any questions the reader may have. We appreciate the opportunity to devise sustainable solutions for GCA. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any member of Team 1.