For the past two years a Poplarville business has been saving business owners and government sectors money on their electric bill.
Chris Kimball has operated another business out of his home since 2007, a refrigeration business. But the idea for Energy Savers came about while working in a cooler for a client, who was dealing with blown out bulbs in the store on a regular basis.
Dark coolers sell less inventory than those with working lights, so the business owner was ready to try a different solution. Kimball said the problem is that customers assume a dark cooler is malfunctioning, therefore not keeping the contents cold.
After Kimball realized how costly it was becoming for the business owner, he began to research alternatives, leading him to the LED lighting business.
Today Kimball has conducted retrofits at 12 locations, including businesses, schools and government buildings from Covington Louisiana, to Meridian. What began as working out of their home in Poplarville has grown to an office in Wiggins. Kimball said he currently employs five people, and what used to be just one truck on the road is now three.
He said the city of Poplarville is currently undergoing energy assessments to determine if they want to participate in a power company incentive program he uses to help the businesses and governments save on the retrofit.
The program Kimball uses is from Mississippi Power, but others are available.
The program offers incentives to help defray the cost of installing LED bulbs in businesses and public buildings.
For the most part, the fixtures in the business can be used to house the new energy saving bulbs.
Also, where four bulbs were once needed, two can produce the same if not more light. Additionally, the need for ballasts in fluorescent lighting fixtures is negated with the LED bulbs. Kimball said all the necessary electronics are housed in the new bulbs.
And unlike fluorescent bulbs, the LED replacements are not made of glass, so they are harder to break and also do not contain mercury.
For canopy installations, Kimball said there are 100 watt bulbs capable of putting out the same or more light as a 400 watt metal halide bulb.
The lifespan of the bulbs is also touted as being up to 10 or even 20 years.
One business owner, Mike Nichelson, had LED retrofitting work completed at his store located at the intersection of Beech Street and Goodyear Boulevard about two weeks ago.
He has already seen a savings on his electric bill of $478 for the two weeks the bulbs have been used, Nichelson said.
Kimball said he has completed similar work to the two other gas stations.
Energy Savers can be reached by calling 228-341-0423 or by email at info@EnergySaversLighting.com.