Easy Upgrades
For Simple Retrofits
Industrial detergent manufacturer
cleans up with Idaho Power Easy
Upgrades incentive
Brian Rencher’s business card identifies him as president, janitor & mad
scientist at Technichem Corporation. “We’re a detergent formulator, and I do
most of the formulating,” he says proudly. “We make industrial-grade soaps
for washing everything from hands to really dirty equipment.”
Founded by Brian’s father in 1968, Technichem has grown from a small
cinder‑block building behind a Stinker gas station in downtown Boise
to a 12,500 square-foot building near the corner of Maple Grove and
Franklin Road on the west end of town. “We’ve been here for 30 years,”
Brian said, “but then, so has our lighting.”
Lights that are cooler, quieter, and more efficient
Most Idaho Power customers who take advantage of our Easy Upgrades
incentives focus on the energy savings. Brian appreciates another aspect
of modern lighting. “Those 30-year-old lights were hot, and they whined,
and made lots of noise. The new lights are cool and quiet. So from that
standpoint alone, it’s been a really good upgrade.”
Energy savings you can be
comfortable with
Normally, a person doesn’t like to say they’re
working in the dark, but in Brian Rencher’s case,
it bordered on a matter of necessity.
“Before the upgrade, I would leave the old lights
in the office turned off because they were so hot,
and I’d just work in the dark with a desk lamp.
But the new lights don’t give off all that heat, so I
The project
can just leave them on, and now I have all kinds
Technichem replaced 91 T12 fixtures in its warehouse, offices, restrooms,
and shop with high-performance T8 lighting. They also converted their
exterior metal halide lights to more efficient light-emitting diode (LED)
lights and added motion sensors in the offices and restrooms to further
increase the efficiency. The lighting contractor kept the project’s costs in line
by relamping/reballasting instead of replacing the entire system.
of light in here.”
“They didn’t change out the basic fixtures,” Brian pointed out. “They just
pulled out the old tubes and ballasts and installed new electronic ballasts
and lights. Saved us time and money.”
www.idahopower.com/business
“I would recommend the Easy
Upgrades program to anyone who
has been hesitant about it, or has
an old building. Or even a not-so-old
building.”
– Brian Rencher, President,
Technichem Corporation
And Brian didn’t have to devote a lot of his work hours to the project.
“The lighting contractor took care of everything,” he said, “from putting
the estimate together to working with the power company. Then the
Idaho Power contractor came in, looked over the new lighting, signed off on
it, and we were done.”
The savings
The total bill for Technichem’s lighting upgrade was $8,683.09.
Idaho Power’s Easy Upgrades incentive covered $5,448.00 of the cost.
Besides being quieter and cooler than the old lighting system, the new
T8 lights cut Technichem’s energy usage by 22,084 kilowatt-hours (kWh)
per year and shaved $1,098.00 off its annual electric bill.
Estimated savings from Idaho Power’s Easy Upgrade projects
for Technichem
Savings
(kWh/year)
Project
Cost
Savings
($/year)
Idaho
Power
Incentive
Customer
Out-ofPocket
Payback
(years)
22,084
$8,683.09
$1,098.00
$5,448.00
$3,235.09
2.9
Uncommon savings are quite common
Saving energy has always been a smart business decision. Now, Idaho Power
makes it attainable. Our complete suite of energy efficiency programs
provides attractive incentives to commercial and industrial customers who
want to reduce their utility costs.
•The Custom Efficiency program offers incentives to
large commercial and industrial customers who invest in energy-saving improvements in their facilities.
•
Easy Upgrades provides financial incentives to commercial and
industrial customers who implement qualified energy-saving
measures in their facilities.
•The Building Efficiency program helps offset the additional
capital costs incurred as a result of more efficient systems incorporated in the construction of new buildings and major remodels.
How much can your company save?
For more information about Idaho Power’s
energy efficiency incentive programs, go to
www.idahopower.com/business or call us
at 208-388-5624 within the Treasure Valley
or 1-800-488-6151 outside of the Treasure
Valley. We’ll show how you can save energy
like Technichem.
This success story was produced in cooperation
with, and approval from, Technichem.