Hawaii's "Most Beautiful Garage" Undergoes LED Lighting Retrofit

Kailua Town, Hawaii nestled on Oahu's windward side is best known as the home of one of the world's top beaches and the vacation spot of choice of President Barack Obama, however if you talk with Miles Nishijima, Assistant Vice President-Asset Management of Kaneohe Ranch Management Ltd he'll probably boast about Hawaii's "most beautiful" and now, most energy-efficient parking garage.

Opened in late 2004, the Kailua Town Center Parking Garage was built to service a newer commercial district that today includes Long's Drug Store, California Pizza Kitchen and Whole Foods Supermarket. "We built the garage with future growth in mind. It is a three level concrete structure with 434 parking stalls," said Nishijima, "and we made sure that it was constructed to the highest standards. Because of our relationship to the Harold Castle Foundation and the Kaneohe Ranch Cultural Center, we included art and sculpture in the design of the parking garage. That's why I call it Hawaii's 'most beautiful' parking garage."

Starting in late 2011 and culminating in early 2012, the parking garage underwent a complete lighting retrofit. Increasing energy costs and environmental impact led Nishijima and his team to start considering LED (light emitting diode) fixtures as a solution to these challenges. "We looked at a number of different lighting manufacturer's LED solutions and the EvoLucia products came up on top because of the light quality and the unique EvoLucia Aimed Optics™ photometrics package that strategically directs light precisely where it is needed, avoiding light glare and spill. Also, we liked the idea that EvoLucia products are used at many US military installations around the world," added Nishijima.

The parking garage was lit by seventy 175 watt high intensity discharge (HID) fixtures on levels One and Two and sixteen 180 watt Low Pressure Sodium fixtures on Level Three. The garage is open seven days a week, yearlong and it is illuminated both day and night. "Miles and his team were replacing lamps every two years and ballasts every three years. Equipment and labor costs were high, not to mention the fact that Hawaiian electricity rates were increasing and continue to increase—up 19% over the past year---to $0.34/kWh, so we did an analysis and recommended the EvoLucia product line based on long life and Aimed Optics," said Clinton Abe, Sandwich Isle Marketing, EvoLucia's independent representative in Hawaii.

The first floor of the garage features 14 ½ foot ceilings, so the thirty-one 175 watt HID fixtures were swapped out for thirty-one 90 watt EvoLucia LED parking structure lights. On the second floor, the lower ceiling height allowed for a changeover of thirty-nine 175 watt HID fixtures to thirty-nine 75 watt LED parking structure lights. The rooftop posed a unique challenge. "Our garage is adjacent to the federally protected Hamakua wetlands, an important bird and wildlife habitat. We originally chose the low pressure sodium light sources because they would not interrupt bird migration patterns. The EvoLucia Aimed Optics solution, which is Dark Sky™ certified, allowed us to switch to LED because the lack of glare, light spillage and infrared light has no impact on the nearby wetlands—we were able to direct the light to exactly where it is needed and nowhere else and we were even able to eliminate 4 shoebox fixtures bringing our total number down from sixteen to twelve EvoLucia LED shoebox lights," said Nishijima.

EvoLucia's LED lights save over 50% in energy-savings and can contribute to substantial decreases in energy costs and maintenance. The facility's total electricity consumption, including traditional and LED lights, has dropped over 42% from a high of 400kWh/day in July 2011 to a low of 232kWh/day after the installation in April 2012. "We are saving about $1500/month in energy costs and we are projecting that our maintenance bill should drop by $15,000 annually based on the EvoLucia products' nearly 100,000 hour life," added Nishijima.

Hawaii's "most beautiful" garage also serves as the home of a weekly Farmer's Market held in cooperation with the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation. Well over a thousand locals and tourists happen by to purchase locally grown produce every Thursday evening from 5:30 to 7:30 pm making the lighting very important. The garage also hosts a monthly Kanikapila—a musical celebration featuring local artists. "The garage was chosen because of its excellent acoustics however the good light distribution and high quality light color provided by the EvoLucia products cannot be discounted as a contributing factor in the choice of location for both the Farmer's Market and the Kanikapila," Nishijima said.

"When you look at the results—incredible energy savings and maintenance reduction, positive environmental impact, excellent light performance, the EvoLucia retrofit of the Kailua Town Center Garage is truly a beautiful thing," commented Mel Interiano, CEO, EvoLucia Lighting (Sunovia Energy Technologies).

Kailua Town is attracting more tourists as word spreads about Oahu's windward side beaches and famous visitors. Who knows? perhaps a visit to Hawaii's "most beautiful" Kailua Town Center Garage may very well join the "must see" list—as tourists sample the Farmer's Market offerings, take in the art, listen to music at the Kanikapila and park under energy efficient and environmentally friendly EvoLucia Aimed Optics LED lighting.

About Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc. 

Sunovia Energy Technologies (OTCBB and OTCQB: SUNV), Sarasota, FL is an industry pioneer in the design, engineering, manufacture and marketing of high performance LED lighting systems to the global lighting markets. Sunovia received the United States Department of Energy's highest award for lighting within the LED category, and has installed thousands of its fixtures at military bases, universities, municipalities, and large commercial entities. Sunovia's LED lighting products are sold under the brand, EvoLucia Lighting.

All EvoLucia products offer highly energy efficient, durable, commercial-grade LED lighting for both indoor and outdoor applications. The company's award winning cobra head and shoe box fixtures employ EvoLucia's proprietary Aimed Optics™ technology, which increases light levels and visibility by strategically directing light to the target area. EvoLucia fixtures require 50%-80% less energy than traditional lighting, and last for approximately 12 years without maintenance.