by Rex Godinez Ortega
A significant portion of the Institute’s electric bill comes from power-hungry incandescent and fluorescent lighting still being used in its various offices and classrooms.
To cut down power consumption and consequently the power bill, MSU-IIT instituted efforts in the past to change incandescent bulbs with high energy compact fluorescent lamps or CFLs.
In an effort to further bring down power consumption, the Institute is now making the shift to Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology.
LED lighting is one the world’s most energy-efficient lighting technologies today. According to a consumer resource of the U.S. Department of Energy, LED lighting use 75% less energy, and last 25 times longer than incandescent lighting.
With the clear energy savings to be made when using LED lighting, MSU-IIT issued a memorandum in October 19 instructing all cost center heads to oversee the replacement of all fluorescent/incandescent bulbs with the durable and more power-efficient lighting.
The cost center heads were also advised to make an inventory of all electric light bulbs in their offices and buildings.
With regards to the CFLs already installed and currently in use, the memo instructed cost center heads to only replace them with LED lighting when they have stopped working.
The shift to LED is a move agreed upon in the Collective Negotiation Agreement MSU-IIT has with the two unions in the Institute – the Faculty Union (FU) and the Administrative Non-Teaching Employees Union (ANTEU), to contribute to cost-cutting measures.