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Here Comes The Sun

Gary Bull

Q&A Gary Bull:

Manager Gary Bull knew he needed to bring light into the dark A-1 Cold Storage & Handling facility in Inglewood, CA. With new daylighting technology, he lowered utility costs and discovered the unexpected benefits of the sun.

What is your position? How many years have you been in the facility management profession?

I am the General Manager of A-1 Cold Storage & Handling and have more than 20 years of experience in facility management.

Please give a brief description of the facility involved in this project.

We are a warehouse handling company that operates 24/7. Our facility is a 12,000 square foot cold storage warehouse, divided into a 4,000 square foot office space and a warehouse that is 8,000 square feet.

We provide overnight refrigeration, short-term storage, paperwork processing, and forwarding services for imported, highly perishable food, fruits, meat, fish, pharmaceuticals, and flowers.

Why was the decision made to pursue this project for the facility?

The building has windowless, 8” thick concrete walls. We wanted to introduce natural light to improve working conditions in both the office and the warehouse.

Please describe the decision making and research process for this project.

At first, we felt that windows and skylights would complement each other and provide the amount of daylight we wanted, but we were hesitant to cut holes in the walls.

Then we learned about SunTracker ONE advanced daylighting systems and we changed our thinking. The systems produce illumination equivalent to 800 watts of fluorescent lighting. We could get more daylight in the building than with windows and skylights.

What was the vendor selection process like?

Ciralight was the only vendor at the time offering advanced daylighting technology. Our choices were either to select conventional windows and skylights from a multitude of vendors, or go with a daylighting technology offered by a single vendor. We elected to go with the single vendor.

What led you to choose the specific solution that you did?

We felt confident the technology would work successfully for us and that Ciralight could support the product.

We were also impressed with the ability to use a single product instead of a combination of products to get the amount of natural light we wanted into the building without cutting holes in the walls.

Have there been any energy saving benefits as a result of this project?

We found the daylighting units save about $2,000 a month on our electric utility bill. That’s significant for a facility like ours.

Have there been any other economic benefits as a result of this project?

Because the daylighting units produce so much light, we turn off all electric lighting for most of our workday. This action extends lamp life and reduces lamp replacement and labor costs.

Did you encounter any unexpected highlights or challenges while implementing this project?

As a matter of fact, we did. About a year after the units were installed, the vendor removed them to incorporate an updated model. The openings in the ceiling had to be covered with plywood for two months. During this time, office plants died, and our employees were cranky. Basically, we missed the sunshine! It’s incredible to think daylight can make that much of a difference, but it does.

What has been the reaction to the project from upper management and elsewhere in your organization?

My partners and I are very happy with our decision. And as I mentioned before, we learned firsthand that employees are happier when they work in daylight.

A-1 Cold Storage & Handling PHOTO: A-1 Cold Storage & Handling
What was the most professionally rewarding aspect of this project?

We put our faith in a technology that wasn’t widely known and one that we certainly had no experience with. The project’s success validated our decision and that is a good feeling.

Bull can be reached at Garyb@a1coldstorage.com. For more information on Ciralight, call (435)645-2728, or e-mail the company at sales@ciralight.com.

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