2015: Friends of the Children Lighting Upgrade

As part of its annual Giving Back community outreach project, Evergreen donated a lighting upgrade to Friends of the Children, a nonprofit that provides adult mentors for at-risk children. Near the end of 2015, a team of volunteers and professionals spent more than one week retrofitting lighting throughout the 16,400 square-foot office space, plus exterior and parking lot installations. They replaced inefficient incandescent, metal halide and T8 lighting with LED technology due to its long lamp life, energy savings and better light quality. In many areas, schoolhouse style fixtures were selected to match the building style. In total, the team replaced 208 fixtures in both interior and exterior areas including public spaces, halls and stairwells, gym, kitchen, offices, parking areas and the main entrance. Occupancy controls were added for even more energy savings. The new and improved lighting is estimated to reduce their energy consumption by approximately 80% and save more than $4,800 in annual energy costs.

Special thanks to Pacific Lamp Wholesale and the Portland Development Commission’s Green Features Grant Program for their contributions.

Woman installing a light fixture