LED Lighting Retrofit at the Allentown Brew Works

Historic Building Leaps Into the Future

Allentown, Pa–

The Harolds building on Allentowns Hamilton Street, restored and reborn in 2007 as the Allentown Brew Works, has been transformed again as a shining example of green energy solutions. The former warehouse is now home to one of the largest LED lighting implementations in the restaurant industry worldwide. The building’s current power usage will be decreased from 167,000 kWh/yr to 39,000 kWh/yr, resulting in a savings of 77%.

The City of Allentown’s AEDC Deputy Director, Lauren Giguere, knew that the Fegley family that owns the Brew Works was committed to sustainability (as is evident in their menu options) and that they were searching for energy solutions to reduce their carbon footprint. She suggested to Jeff Fegley that he pursue a grant that was available from PPL (along with the Sustainable Energy Fund) to retrofit the existing lighting to an energy efficient system. Fegley researched it, applied, and was awarded the grant to move forward with the change.

Partnering with a local Lehigh Valley company, Sitka Enterprises, of East Texas, PA, the Brew Works utilized their patented state-of-the-art solutions to cost-effectively retrofit the existing light fixtures and dramatically reduce energy consumption. 100% of the ambient lighting in the multi-floor restaurant/nightclub/banquet facility has been refit. Over 450 incandescent lights were replaced with fully dimmable LED lights custom configured to match the existing ambience of the Allentown Brew Works, developing three distinct areas within the facility: the main floor restaurant is configured with a turn of the century environment, the Silk lounge multifunctional entertainment space is set with a modern edgy atmosphere,and the events facility, the Hamilton Room, is designed with a traditional warm and intimate feel suited to formal occasions.

Brian Roy, of Sitka Enterprises, commented “one of the challenges in working on the Brew Works project was to specify lighting products that would maintain the overall look and feel of the space, especially in working with the EcoPower team to select matched BIN number LEDs to ensure that the overall warmth of the facility was not compromised with the often harsh qualities of much of the LED lighting available today. Refining the dimming performance of the EcoPower LEDs was also critical, and because of these demands, the Brew Works is the first application in the world with this range of products with matching performance.” The willingness of the Fegleys to let Sitka trial a number of different lamp types during the specification phase was a critical element of making the overall project successful.

Jeff Fegley, is thrilled with the results of the endeavor. Were proud to be a part of the green initiatives happening in Allentown, and are grateful to PPL for making this possible. But the irony of this is that while we think its highly noteworthy, we know its a total success because it has gone completely unnoticed by our guests. People will just have to come in and see for themselves.