Fernley’s Amazon.com makes a change

Fernley’s Amazon.com distribution center made a change that’s to save about 1.9 million kilowatt-hours per year, earning them an Environmental Stewardship Award from Orion Energy Systems, whose system Amazon used to reduce energy. Amazon replaced 465-watt high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting with Orion’s 221-watt high-intensity fluorescents. An Orion press release said the change prevents 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere, something akin to taking 300 cars off the road. According to Energy Business Intelligence, an independent research company, most warehouses have been using HID lighting because fluorescents weren’t bright or strong enough for their needs. But high-intensity fluorescents have been improved to produce better-quality light than HID while using much less energy.