Home » Topics » Energy Management & Lighting » Direct Efficiency Program Helps Airport Meet Energy Goals

With no upfront capital required, a regional airport reduced energy and maintenance costs, improved customer experience, and optimized operational safety.

With over 100,000 square feet of hangar space and 24/7 operations, Concord-Padgett Regional Airport serves as a gateway to the Concord/Charlotte area as well as a provider of hangar service for multiple sports teams, corporate general aviation and three flight schools. Entering its 27th year in operation, Concord-Padgett Regional Airport completed a lighting retrofit project with Duke Energy One’s Direct Efficiency® to promote safety and add cost-efficient, visibly impressive lighting.

As Concord-Padgett Regional Airport expanded its facilities to add hangar space, its leadership team aggressively sought efficiencies to save money. The airport was spending too much on HID ballasts and bulbs each year, and the city had changed 90% of lighting to LED. Since the airport is city-owned, Duke Energy One helped Concord-Padgett Regional Airport prepare its justification presentation for city government approval.

Concord-Padgett Regional Airport worked with a dedicated Duke Energy One Business Energy Advisor to explore their options for lighting upgrades. Once a proposal was approved, the old lighting was replaced with impressively brighter, high-efficiency LED lighting in their hangar facilities – with no upfront capital and minimal disruption – through Duke Energy One’s Direct Efficiency program.

The Direct Efficiency program is a solution that allows customers to implement energy-efficient projects with no upfront capital. Through Duke Energy One’s network of preferred efficiency providers, we fund, develop, construct and maintain energy efficiency upgrades for commercial and industrial customers. Once operational, we meter and track the actual energy savings. Customers make service payments based on a portion of monthly savings, resulting in immediate reduced operating expenses. Customers get new lights with zero upfront costs and immediate savings.

It was critical for Concord-Padgett Regional Airport to find a lighting solution that would promote safety and enhance the customer experience. The airport consulted with Duke Energy One to explore a cost-effective solution for lighting upgrades that minimized maintenance and installation expense. With Direct Efficiency, maintenance costs were included, and no upfront costs were incurred.

Duke Energy One installed energy-efficient lighting throughout the facilities at Concord-Padgett Regional Airport, including hangars that store aircraft for sports teams, hangars for multimillion-dollar corporate aircraft and areas of public use for customers – all with no upfront costs. For Concord-Padgett Regional Airport, better LED lighting helps to minimize the risk of incidents to aircraft and hangars, especially in working environments where crews perform maintenance on the planes. The newly installed lights also benefit the staff who work in the hangar offices.

Direct Efficiency at the airport is projected to save 572,360 kWh per year, which equates to $47,649 in energy cost savings per year. The airport also believes that the upgrades will help minimize incidents associated with refueling and repositioning of multimillion- dollar aircraft.

Duke Energy One will track the airport’s energy savings through the remainder of the seven-year contract, billing them only for a portion of their monthly savings. The Direct Efficiency program will continue to help Concord-Padgett Regional Airport reduce energy and maintenance costs, improve customer experience, optimize operational safety, and most importantly, free up capital to help with their continued expansion.

Now that the Direct Efficiency program has been expanded to include HVAC optimization, Concord-Padgett Regional Airport looks forward to meeting with their Duke Energy One Business Energy Advisor to explore additional energy efficiency opportunities.

Duke Energy One (“DEOne”) is not the same company as Duke Energy Corporation’s regulated utilities, including Duke Energy Carolinas, Duke Energy Florida, Duke Energy Kentucky, Duke Energy Indiana, Duke Energy Ohio and Duke Energy Progress (“Regulated Utilities”); DEOne is not in any way sanctioned by the state utility commissions regulating the Regulated Utilities; Purchasers of products or services from DEOne will receive no preference or special treatment from the Regulated Utilities; and a customer does not have to buy products or services from DEOne in order to continue to receive the same safe and reliable electric or gas service from the Regulated Utilities. Nonpayment for these products or services may result in removal from the program, but will not result in disconnection of electric or gas service by the Regulated Utilities. THIS MESSAGE IS PAID FOR BY THE SHAREHOLDERS OF DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION.

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