Maintenance Savings at Red Wing Schools [Lighting Before & After Video]

Published September 2022

“We crunched the numbers and it clearly made sense to do this. We would be spending almost exactly the same amount of money maintaining [the lights] over the next 30 years vs. replacing them, so it’s kind of a no-brainer.”

Kevin Johnson, Buildings & Grounds Director, Red Wing School District

Red Wing School District Project Summary:

• Location
  • Red Wing, MN
• Project Goals
  • Remove light flicker for students and staff, maintenance savings (both current and future), support special education with classroom enhancing color-tuning lighting technology, increase safety and security for students and staff in exterior areas
  • Energy savings and additional utility rebates are an added bonus to this LED project
• Results of LED Upgrade
  • Estimated annual cost savings of over 51.39%, or approximately $85,000.00/annually
  • Maintenance Savings for staff district-wide (no more changing out bulbs and ballasts!)
  • Color tunable lights in special education classrooms, including wall-mounted iPad and app based control systems, provide more supportive learning environments for special education students and staff
  • Rebates of over $250,000.00 from Xcel Energy and the Xcel Energy/CEE One-Stop Program were processed by Retrofit Lighting & Design and paid back to the school district, offsetting the upfront project costs significantly
• Project Size
  • 800,000+ square feet of building space (interior and exterior LED upgrade)
  • 20,000+ lights upgraded
  • District-wide upgrade includes: Red Wing High School, Twin Bluff Middle School, Sunnyside Elementary, Burnside Elementary, Colvill Family Education Center, River Bluff Education Center, Prairie Island Ice Arena, Maintenance Shop

Looking for another lighting story from a school? Check out the improvements at Lakeville Public Schools where they focused on adding color-tunable lighting in multiple special education classrooms.