CYPRESS, Calif. – (April 22, 2014) – In a joint effort, USHIO Inc. (USHIO) and Christie®, a wholly-owned subsidiary, have continued their mission to be both environmentally conscious and more energy efficient by recently completing solar energy panel installations in both of their USA headquarters in Cypress, Calif., USA. USHIO and Christie are excited to have this newest part of our energy conservation efforts up and running, which was necessitated by increased energy consumption in all areas, necessitated by company growth, with large increases occurring in all three buildings.
A solar energy feasibility study was performed in 2012 to determine if solar panel installations would be a cost effective alternative that would help reduce the cost of electricity consumption and reduce greenhouse emissions. The conclusion was that there would be significant savings in energy use and expense if solar panels were installed, with a payback period on the capital investment of seven years. In addition, the decision to move forward on the installation was enhanced by government incentives and accordingly, the objective of a 15 percent reduction in energy use over the first three years was set. This objective coincides with a request from Christie’s parent company, USHIO, to reduce CO2 emissions from energy consumption as outlined in the latter’s Phase 4 Environmental Action Plan.
The project included: one 177.5 kW DC, 155.6 kW AC roof-mounted photovoltaic system (710 Sharp ND-250QCS modules) at 5740 Cerritos Avenue; one 112 kW DC, 95.16 kW AC roof-mounted photovoltaic system (448 Sharp ND-250QCS modules) at 10550 Camden Drive and one 258 kW DC, 226 kW AC roof-mounted photovoltaic system (1032 Sharp ND-250QCS modules) at 5440 Cerritos Avenue.
All systems were installed by Independent Energy Solutions, Inc. of Vista, CA. As part of the system, monitoring equipment with real-time Web feeds were installed, with the output displayed on the Christie® MicroTiles® display in the lobby of USHIO and Christie. The display will show what energy is being produced each day and each month, and cumulatively for all to see. The information will also be expressed in interesting and comparative environmental metrics, such as how many trees would be needed to produce the equivalent amount of CO2 saved, or the equivalent energy production as car mileage.
With the solar panels installed and the system recently up and running, Christie and USHIO are pleased to have furthered the initiative to promote and initiate systems that are environmentally aware. Christie’s Environmental Management System, created over seven years ago, has implemented and managed programs and awareness within the company. Some of these initiatives include: higher efficiency light fixtures, eco-friendly materials, a recycling program, a hazardous and universal waste diversion program, a ridesharing program, a landscape irrigation water conservation program, a paper reduction program, and more. The recent launching of the solar panel project further enhances the company’s efforts to promote and support the environment.
“At Christie, we recognize our responsibility to control impacts to the environment from our business activities, products and services. We are fully committed to environment-friendly solutions for current and future generations,” said Jack Kline, Christie CEO. “As an industry leader, we are committed to the prevention of pollution and continual improvement through implementation of our environmental management system. Since achieving ISO14000 certification in 2007, Christie’s offices in Cypress and Kitchener (Canada) have been constantly improving. For example, in Kitchener, the recent expansion to the facility was designed to meet a LEED Gold standard for green buildings and the current recycling program was expanded with the acquisition of three new recycling stations.”
