St. John’s Anticipates $500,000 in Annual Electricity and Maintenance Cost Savings Through Initial Deployment of Intellitube® LED Lighting

SOLON, Ohio, June 02, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Energy Focus, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFOI), a leader in LED lighting technologies, today announced that it has been selected by St. John’s University to retrofit its main Queens, NY Campus, with its industry-leading tubular LED technology – Intellitube®.  The retrofit project has begun at St. John’s 105-acre Jamaica Queens campus, spreading throughout its lecture halls, dorms, and landmark buildings such as the Carnesecca Arena, St. Augustine Hall, D’Angelo Center, and ROTC/Public Safety Building. This initial deployment is expected to be completed by the end of this summer.

Lighting accounts for approximately 20 percent of St. John’s total energy consumption, and the lighting retrofit project, consistent with the University’s strong commitment to environmental sustainability, is expected to result in a 3% carbon reduction for the University, bringing its total, Campus-wide carbon offset to 27% since 2007.  The University is one of the 17 universities that accepted the “New York City Carbon Challenge” that aims to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by the year 2025, and is actively supported by current Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, as part of a broader sustainability initiative to reduce the city’s carbon footprint by 80% by 2050.

The project focuses on the replacement of 32-watt fluorescent T8 lamps with Energy Focus’ 13-watt Intellitube. The dual function lamps are currently operating with the present electronic ballasts, which, once burnt out, will be removed, allowing the very same Intellitube lamps to connect to the power lines and operate as a more energy-efficient solution in the direct wire mode.  Upon the installation of 35,000 Energy Focus Intellitube lamps at the Queens campus, St. John’s is expected to reduce its total lighting energy consumption by over 50%, resulting in an estimated $350,000 in electricity savings and an additional estimated $150,000 in maintenance savings, totaling $500,000 in annual savings for the University.  In addition, by taking advantage of the city-wide Commercial and Industrial Demand Management Rebate Programs offered by Con Edison of New York, St. John’s will receive a 50% abatement on the total cost of the project, resulting in a simple payback of approximately one year for Energy Focus Intellitube lamps.  It is anticipated that upon completion of the main campus, the University will also retrofit all the fluorescent sockets in its Staten Island campus with Energy Focus’ tubular LED technology.

St. John’s had been actively seeking a tubular LED retrofit solution that not only was safe to handle, but also could be deployed as quickly as possible to capture the energy savings. After testing and evaluating several tubular LED technologies in both direct fit (ballast compatible) and direct wire (ballast free) mode, it determined that Energy Focus’ Intellitube was the best solution for St. John’s campus-wide fluorescent retrofit project. “We researched a wide range of LED lighting technologies and products for fluorescent replacement, and Energy Focus stood out from all the products we tested as exceptionally high in quality with a track record of performance and reliability,” said Thomas Goldsmith, a licensed master electrician and Director of Sustainability at St. John’s.

”We are gratified that St. John’s has chosen Energy Focus as its trusted LED lighting partner after extensive evaluation on various LED lighting options,” stated James Tu, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Energy Focus, Inc.  “The lighting retrofit with Energy Focus Intellitube in the University’s campus, compared with other energy and carbon reduction technologies, would be extremely swift and cost effective with impressive return on investment, thanks to relatively high electricity costs in New York and St. John’s purchasing the products directly from Energy Focus, on top of the rebates being offered by Con Edison. In addition, the retrofit improves the human wellness profile of the buildings with our flicker-free LED lamps. We see tremendous and exciting opportunities to replicate such an impactful retrofit project—from the standpoints of people, planet and profit—within the higher education sector, as well as across the New York metropolitan area.”

About Energy Focus, Inc.
Energy Focus, Inc. is a leading provider of energy efficient LED lighting products and a developer of energy efficient lighting technology.  Our LED Lighting products provide energy savings, aesthetics, safety and maintenance cost benefits over conventional lighting.  Our long-standing relationship with the U.S. Government continues to enable us to provide energy efficient LED lighting products to the U.S. Navy and the Military Sealift Command fleets.  Customers include national, state and local U.S. government agencies, as well as Fortune 500 companies and many other commercial and industrial clients.  World headquarters are located in Solon, Ohio with additional offices in Washington, D.C., New York City and Taiwan.  For more information, see our web site at www.energyfocusinc.com.

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