According to the U.S. Department of Energy, lighting makes up about 30 percent of a typical commercial building's energy use. Further, there are over five million commercial buildings in the United States and the majority of these buildings do not have modern energy efficient lighting or controls. Marketing lighting retrofits to commercial customers normally focuses on energy savings and payback. However, in addition to energy savings, lighting retrofits also result in improved lighting quality that can improve the customer's bottom line through increased employee productivity and increased job satisfaction as well as improved customer satisfaction and increased sales. This seminar will focus on the benefits of lighting retrofits beyond energy efficiency and how the electrical contracting firm can convey these benefits to the customer when marketing lighting retrofits.

Learning Outcomes: 

1.      Understand the advantages of lighting retrofit benefits beyond energy efficiency.

2.      Know of studies that have been done illustrating the impact of lighting quality on employee performance, customer satisfaction, and the business bottom line.

3.      Learn how to include the advantages of improved lighting quality through lighting retrofits which are difficult to quantify in proposals and sales presentations.

Dr. Thomas E. Glavinich is the Director of Architectural Engineering & Construction Programs in Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at the University of Kansas (KU). At KU, Tom teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in power and illuminations engineering. Tom received his Doctor of Engineering (DE) degree from KU in construction management. He also has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) from KU as well as a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE) from the University of Missouri. Prior to joining KU full time in 1992, Tom worked 16 years in industry and was involved in the planning, design, and construction of commercial, industrial, and utility facilities. Tom is a registered professional engineer in Kansas, Missouri, and California. Tom has completed a number of research projects for ELECTRI International.