Leviton and the University of California Santa Cruz’s (UCSC) Science and Engineering Library’s joint project has been named a recipient of two significant awards.
The university utilized Leviton’s LevNet RF™, a high-performance line of wireless occupancy sensors, switches and accessories that feature EnOcean’s energy-harvesting technology, to aid in helping reduce the library’s energy consumption by 50 percent.
For their efforts, UCSC was awarded the “Best Practice Lighting Award” at the 2011 California Higher Education Sustainability Conference and the Wireless Innovation Project of the Year” award bestowed by the EnOcean Alliance, a 250-member consortium of companies working to standardize and internationalize energy harvesting wireless technology for green intelligent buildings.
The school was concerned that existing lighting in the library was in use for nearly 20 hours a day, leading to daily energy waste. Daily occupancy of the building varied greatly and did not follow a reliable pattern. Facing time constraints and the potential high cost of conventional wired technologies, the energy team chose to use Leviton’s LevNet RF products to achieve their energy goals.
The LevNet RF receivers were paired to wireless occupancy sensors and light sensors that control the updated and more efficient T8 light fixtures. The wireless light sensors control all perimeter lighting fixtures adjacent to windows and takes advantage of daylight harvesting. With an abundance of ambient lighting, these sensors will keep the lights off resulting in greatly reduced energy waste. The introduction of Leviton occupancy sensors, combined with a lighting upgrade, resulted in an anticipated $48,000 annually savings in energy costs for UCSC. The university was also able to make use of an energy rebate incentive for the replacement of the inefficient T12 light fixtures and an additional incentive was given for the occupancy and light sensors that further reduced the project cost.
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