PECO and Lutron helped us exorcise a phantom from an historic Philly church. I have always thought that many of the historic structures in the city were haunted by
long ago Colonists. It had not occurred to me that they could be haunted by phantom electric until we, under a PECO incentive program, relamped – changed the lightbulbs from incandescent to LED – the Sanctuary and found that the lights would not turn off, even when the lighting controls were set to off. Instead, there was an eerie glow of ‘almost off’ lamps.
Over Ten years ago the church had installed a Lutron dimming control system to create beautiful lighting scenes to enhance services and, to save on consumption, had been diligent in turning the system off when the church is not in use. Turns out that the electrician who installed the system set the off-setting to a very, very low dim that kept the bulbs very warm to the touch but did not light them up. The voltage being delivered was more than enough to light up the LEDs.
First step, shut the system off at the breakers. As the graph shows there was an immediate drop in demand.
Second step, call in the electricians to help reprogram the system so that off was truly off. Trying to program the older system that was installed before LED technology moved beyond little indicator lights, proved to be too specialized for them.
Third step, ask Lutron for help. Their customer service is exemplary. The technician who troubleshooted the system was able to identify the issues with the original programming and develop a creative work around that allows the system to recognize and control the LEDs.
With the onset of earlier sunsets and the return of the choir for evening practices the demand curve has returned to its normal shape but it shifted down by 30% resulting in real dollar savings for the church. A quick estimate of the cost of that phantom is about $10,900 over the 10-year period – maybe not a lot in the big picture of things but significant in the life of a church. The good thing is that this phantom has been exorcised with the help of great partners.
Emboldened by this experience, the church is embarking on an ambitious Sustainability Plan that promises to root out other phantoms, drive down consumption, and find opportunities for savings across its campus. Follow their lead and exorcise the electricity phantoms in your life.
