Creating an efficient lighting system was essential to the project, SHI director of operations Steve Alt tells GlobeSt.com in an email.

“We wanted to ensure employees had the proper amount of light at their work surface while preventing as much glare as possible,” he says. “We also wanted to achieve a reduction in energy usage to help achieve our LEED silver registration and save on operational costs.”

Cornerstone worked closely with Union City, CA-based lighting system manufacturer Finelite, and independent lighting manufacturer representative, Jeffrey Maglietta of Chatham, NJ-based Liberty Lighting Group, to design a system that provided a higher-quality light while realizing a 50% percent reduction in energy consumption for lighting and the number of lighting fixtures.

“We worked from the desk up, giving employees an LED desk light they can control. It’s very efficient,” Barranger says.

Rather than spacing the overhead linear fluorescent lighting 12 feet apart, SHI’s lamps are spaced 18 feet apart, aligning with the office cubicles rather than the aisles. This created a glare-free light over the workstations, while reducing the number of fixtures by at least one-third, saving money on equipment and energy. Under-shelf LED task lighting and vertical lighting on the walls supplement the overhead light.

“The color rendition is good, pushing excellent,” Barranger reports.

The SHI project is the largest private project in the country to reflect a new energy-saving trend in lighting, which is to use task lighting to supplement ambient lighting, Cornerstone says. SHI saved approximately $450,000 by not having to purchase as many fixtures and anticipates saving $500,000 on energy costs over the next 10 years. The reduced number of lighting fixtures also saved on labor costs for both installation and replacement.

SHI did need some persuading, Barranger recalls. Cornerstone and Finelite created four mockups for lighting designs, which were presented to SHI along with information about pricing and energy savings. This unique approach allowed SHI to observe light levels before making a decision.

The elaborate plan was both necessitated and made possible by the extent of the entire building retrofit. SHI relocated to a former AT&T building from the 1980s that had been vacant for 10 years.

“We had a team of forensic engineers plus a tem from my office going through the building,” Barranger recalled. “It was a spec building purchased by AT&T, which translates into inefficient.”

Cornerstone also installed other energy-efficient features including occupancy sensors, water efficient plumbing fixtures, low VOC finishes, zero irrigation landscaping and a 500-kilowatt rooftop solar photovoltaic system. Cornerstone expects that the building will be awarded LEED Silver certification by the US Green Building Council.

SHI just moved into the building in November after the 15-month fit-out, so it’s a little early for results, Alt notes.

“We have only been in the building for a few months so we are unable to accurately estimate our energy savings to date with the new system,” he says. As for productivity, I have received zero complaints about lighting in the new building - that is very unusual.”