New LED Retrofit Leads to a Greener Carpe Vino

Through a cooperative program with the Sierra Business Council and Pacific Gas & Electric, retrofitting nearly 100 halogen and incandescent light bulbs with LED equivalents has transformed Carpe Vino into a Green Machine. We’ve just completed a project that replaced 40-, 50- and 60-watt bulbs with 7-, 8-, 9- and 12.5-watt LEDs that produce the same brightness and a similar color of light at a dramatically lower cost and consume substantially less power.

From an ecological perspective, this dramatically reduces our carbon footprint and, at the same time, provides substantial relief with one of our largest costs: electricity. Thanks to this change, our PG&E bill could be reduced by as much as 40% and the LED lights won’t need to be replaced for many years.

The one downside is the upfront costs are substantial because LED bulbs are pricey. But the SBC and PG&E significantly discounted the bulbs and labor for installation, so the decision to participate was truly a no-brainer.

There is another upside and the motivator for PG&E: with a broad adoption of LED retrofits among commercial users, power demand can be reduced, relieving the pressure to build more generating capacity. And that’s another huge cost savings.

We are delighted to be a part of this program, and we’d recommend other small businesses look into the potential of participating because it is truly a win-win game changer.