Commercial, Energy Efficiency, Industrial  -  March 23, 2017

Auburn to save $442k with baseball stadium LEDs

At Auburn University, a newly installed LED lighting system is expected to save more than $442,000 in energy and maintenance costs over the next 25 years.

For administrators at the Alabama university, however, the cost savings were just a side factor in the decision to install new lighting at the baseball stadium, Samford Stadium-Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park. According to a news release about the project from Musco Lighting, which did the installation, the decision was made in an effort to enhance visibility for players and improve their ability to track the ball.

"This has been my first experience with LED lighting and seeing the functionality up close. All our interactions have been positive, from the immediacy of which it powers up to the players' response on the playing surface," Butch Thompson, head baseball coach at Auburn, said in a statement. "This is my 25th year in coaching and this is far and away the best lighting I have ever seen at a baseball stadium. We feel like Plainsman Park now possesses the best lighting system in America and that is a big deal to us." 

The university's decision to take on the project for its baseball field follows a growing number of sports venues across the country that have adopted modernized, energy efficiency lighting technologies.

Earlier this year, the American Airlines Center near Dallas announced the completion of a lighting retrofit plan that is expected to reduce the arena's energy consumption by 66% percent, resulting in $1.26 million in annual energy savings.  And in August 2016, Ford Field, home to the Detroit Lions, illuminated its new system, which included retrofitting the lighting inside the stadium as well as the installation of a completely new rooftop lighting system.