LED Installation Lights Up NC Zoo, Teaches Students About Energy Efficiency

The actual installation went extremely smoothly, where installers only ran into the minor challenge of having to work around air conditioning ducts.

“When you pull open a tile, there are so many things running in the ceiling at that time, the complexity [of installing light] was ridiculous compared to now. When we install an LED light, we don’t need nearly half that stuff. We have technology in the 21st century that easily goes into the ceiling,” says Casadonte.

Installing LED light in the Zoo’s multipurpose room not only gave students a great learning experience on the Green Apple Day of Service, it will continue to provide them with an optimal learning experience every time they utilize the room. In comparison to the traditional lighting found in educational environments, LED lighting can help students stay focused longer.

Casadonte explains that traditional florescent light flickers, even though it is not often visible to the naked eye. Students’ brains are still affected by the flicker, though, and therefore they are not the best choice for lighting educational environments. In contrast, LED lighting does not flicker, and does not distract students from learning.

Furthermore, LED lights have a longer lifespan compared to florescent lights. “Number one, the light itself will be a minimum 50 to 60 percent more efficient. You can burn the light longer at a cheaper cost and the color that you see is amazing. The light time of having to replace one of those fixtures is years,” says Casadonte.

“The whole idea of seeing it first hand was really impactful. It was so surprising, the change in the room.”—John Casadonte, vertical marketing manager for lighting at Cree, Inc.

The installation not only provided a great learning experience for high school students, but it also significantly reduced the amount of energy the zoo was using to light the multipurpose room.

“We reduced the energy by a lot, a think the numbers were near 70%, and we also reduced the number of fixtures that had to go into the ceiling, so that’s huge,” adds Casadonte.

Once the installation was complete, the zoo held an event to show off the new LED lighting. As part of the presentation, the zoo only lit half of the multipurpose room, and the audience was essentially viewing the beginning of the presentation in the dark. As part of the live demonstration, the zoo turned on the other half of the room with the new LED lights.

“Half of the room was still outfitted with the metal halide and the other half with LEDS. That’s when the kids instantly got it. How do you get that through to a teenager in high school? How do you make that impactful? The whole idea of seeing it first hand was really impactful for them,” says Casadonte. “It was so surprising, the change in the room. I don’t think anybody who was sitting there wouldn’t recognize that.”