Bowling Green State University (BGSU), a higher education leader in sustainability efforts, selected LED lighting by Cree to replace the outdated metal halide light fixtures over its indoor turf field in the Perry Field House. The 100x60-yard field is now illuminated by Cree® CXB™ High-Bay LED luminaires, delivering much better light quality while providing the university with more than US $200,000 in energy and maintenance savings and delivering a payback of less than two years.

“The Cree® CXB™ High-Bay luminaires installation at Bowling Green State University demonstrates once again that customers can enjoy a better light experience while saving energy and significantly reducing their operating expenses,” said Betty Noonan, Cree chief marketing officer. “Cree® LED lighting gives customers immediate benefits and rapid payback without the compromises required with other solutions.”

Bowling Green State University (BGSU) Perry Field House after the LED upgrade. (All photos courtesy of Cree)

Since 2012, BGSU has participated in the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (PCC), which signifies the university’s pledge to take actions to achieve climate neutrality.  As part of PCC, the Student Green Initiative Fund advances the campus’s environmental efforts. Cree’s CXB Series helped the university gain swift approval to use the fund to cover half of the project’s cost through rapid payback and emissions reductions. The Cree CXB Series provides quick and easy one-to-one replacement of up to 400W HID fixtures at the highest lumens per dollar among LED luminaires today, cutting energy consumption in half and providing a better light experience. Its innovative design features a low profile for high-bay applications at half the weight of incumbent technologies.

“The need to upgrade the lighting in Perry Field House was identified in our climate action plan, and we were looking for a solution that would provide exceptional cost savings, reduce our emissions and improve light quality compared to the original system,” said Dr. Nick Hennessy, sustainability coordinator at BGSU. “The Cree® CXB Series doubled the foot candles of the area, decreased our energy usage and reduced our carbon footprint while improving the lighting quality and performance with rapid payback.”

Cree CXB Series LED High-Bay luminaires were applied in the BGSU lighting project.

The new Cree CXB Series LED High-Bay luminaires contributed immediate benefits to BGSU, including instant-on performance that eliminated the warm-up required with the earlier lights. Previously, the lights would remain on, even when the facility was not in use between events. The coaches, athletes and field-house staff have strict requirements for the facility, and are all enjoying the new lights, especially the better light quality and uniformity eliminating hot and cool spots. Backed by Cree’s 10-year industry-leading limited warranty, the CXB Series offered added benefits, such as lower maintenance, easier installation and additional utility rebates that proved the switch from metal halide was worth it.

“The lights were installed over brand new artificial turf, so we needed an LED fixture with very low maintenance that would eliminate the need to go in with normal lifts moving forward,” said Hennessy. “The days of $3,000 maintenance calls with lifts are gone with the use of the Cree® CXB Series, and we worked with our utility to secure $8,900 in additional rebates that reduced the payback time to less than two years.” 

Illuminated BGSU arena.

Please visit lighting.cree.com/BowlingGreen to read the full case study and view images of the installation.