Profile in savings: how
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For nearly a century, Cascade School Supplies, Inc. has been growing—from a small seller of paper goods like brown bags and toilet paper to a paper-conversion operation to a nationwide supplier of school supplies like pens, crayons, notebooks, and furniture. But during a recent survey of their 100-plus employees, the company learned that some of their workers felt they were being kept in the dark.
“Our mission is to be a world-class educational materials distribution company by building loyalty with and exceeding expectations of both our customers and employees,” says Todd Shafer, vice president of Cascade School Supplies. “And yet it was clear that [our employees] were concerned about the lighting in the facility.”
Cascade School Supplies operates out of a five-floor, 100-year-old brick five-story in the old mill town of North Adams, Massachusetts. Everyone from the office workers who process invoices and payments to the “pickers” who read and hand-fill orders and the packers who print mailing labels were having trouble doing their jobs in the dim, outdated lighting. Not only was inadequate lighting causing errors and wasting time, but it was also costing the company money in terms of wasted electricity and bloated utility bills.
So, Shafer called National Grid.
National Grid understands that energy efficiency in your company isn’t just good for the environment—it’s smart business. Energy-saving solutions not only boost your image as a corporate citizen in your community and on our planet, but it also improves conditions for customers and employees, and it saves you money on utility bills. It’s a win-win-win.
That’s why National Grid has incentives, services, and educational programs that help businesses—large and small—improve ambiance, safety, and customer confidence, while at the same time lowering monthly overhead costs.
A thorough energy assessment can lead to major savings in both costs as well as eco-efficiency.
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For Cascade School Supplies, it all started with a free energy assessment. National Grid sent a representative to look at things like gas and electric consumption, HVAC systems, and lighting fixtures. The representative then put together a complete project design to help Cascade meet their energy goals.
For Cascade School Supplies, it all started with a free energy assessment. National Grid sent a representative to look at things like gas and electric consumption, HVAC systems, and lighting fixtures. The representative then put together a complete project design to help Cascade meet their energy goals.
At Cascade School Supplies, the representative was Walt Pazderski from National Grid’s local energy partner Energy Source.
“When Walt first walked in, I thought he was on our payroll,” says Peter Cote, president of Cascade School Supplies. “He was here every day for weeks measuring, looking at every detail, documenting with photos, and writing things up. He went to the ends of the Earth to make sure the project was well documented without surprises and laid it out to us in dollars and cents and eco-savings. It was something I’d never seen before. I’ve had others come in saying we’d love to save you money on your lights, but in those past cases, it didn’t happen that way. Walt demonstrated incredible follow-through. His work as a liaison between National Grid and the construction team made it so much easier for us. We didn’t have to do much of anything, really.”
The assessment revealed that there was already natural light coming through the building’s windows. So, the team installed LED smart fixtures and a daylight harvesting app that enables each fixture to be programmed and automatically adjusted to fit every worker’s individual lighting preference and need.
National Grid can also recommend and incentivize custom outdoor lighting improvements, HVAC and refrigeration energy upgrades, and high-efficiency water-saving products that can reduce water usage by up to 30%. And National Grid has partnerships that can provide streamlined, flexible financing to help businesses of any size take advantage of these energy-saving opportunities.
The Cascade School Supplies project cost $110,887, but since it removed more than one megawatt of power from the local grid, National Grid was able offset that price tag with $98,100 in incentives—bringing the total cost to the business down to just $12,787, which Cascade was able to finance directly on their monthly National Grid electric bill for 36 months at 0% interest. Furthermore, the new lights translated to an annual energy savings of more than $30,000 on energy bills.
Best of all, employees reported a significant decrease of migraines triggered by improper lighting, not to mention improved productivity and morale.
“The productivity time that is saved because they can read the paperwork clearly right away is as big a savings as you can get—probably the largest benefit that came from this project,” says William Poirot, Jr., warehouse manager at Cascade School Supplies. “It has reduced errors significantly already. Not only that, but the workplace is also safer. We’re now better able to see obstructions in our way before someone gets hurt. The lighting also has an impact on how people feel when they’re working. Everyone has a sunnier attitude, and that makes the job a whole lot easier.”
To find ways to save energy at your business or schedule a no-cost energy assessment to spot problems, solutions, and possible opportunities to save, visit www.nationalgridus.com.
Cascade School Supplies Partners With National Grid To Save Energy
The coordination between National Grid’s energy partner, Energy Source’s Walt Pazderski, and Todd Shafer, vice president of Cascade School Supplies, played a key role in making the lighting project succeed.
Photo from Cascade School Supply's Facebook
Select your jurisdiction to learn more about the lifespan of your natural gas heating equipment, like boilers and furnaces.
NATURAL GAS HEATING EQUIPMENT
Long Island
New York City
Upstate New York
Massachusetts