Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) announces that it is joining the Cree LED University® program, an international community of universities working to accelerate the adoption of energy-efficient LED lighting across their campuses. College officials recently retrofitted a six-story, 900-vehicle parking garage, replacing high-pressure sodium lights with LED lighting products from BetaLED®.

More than 500 BetaLED fixtures are now illuminating the garage located at North 8th and West State Streets on campus. Energy use for the garage’s lighting is reduced by 55 percent and the college expects to recoup $25,000 annually in maintenance costs savings over the 12-year life of the fixtures.

“MATC is committed to implementing new technologies that help us reduce energy use today as well as providing a clear path to help us stave off the effects of the electricity rate hikes we all anticipate,” said Vicki J. Martin, Ph.D., MATC interim president. “With help from Johnson Controls, this project serves as a demonstration of MATC’s commitment to ongoing sustainability initiatives and an example to our students and community of the significant steps we are taking to reduce energy consumption and our carbon footprint.”

“Switching to LED lighting is a high-impact step MATC can take to reduce its impact on the environment. Starting with a parking garage is an ideal way to evaluate the technology and to gather energy and maintenance cost savings information,” said Deb Lovig, Cree LED programs manager. “MATC is a living laboratory for LED lighting and the experience gained from this installation can be shared with the larger community so that others in the Milwaukee metro area might gain the confidence to begin switching to energy-efficient LED lighting.”

Milwaukee Area Technical College joins LED University participants North Carolina State University, Marquette University, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Arkansas, Madison Area Technical College, Notre Dame, University of California, Davis, University of Alaska at Anchorage, University of Miami, Joliet Junior College, Alfred University and Tianjin Polytechnic University in China in evaluating, promoting, and deploying LED lighting as they work toward increasing energy savings, protecting the environment, reducing maintenance costs, and providing better light quality for improved visibility and safety.