Making the Switch

The Black Dog Tavern is reducing its energy costs and carbon footprint while improving its customer experience with LED technology. The specialty retail and restaurant brand has upgraded the lighting in five stores (and its warehouse) to date, with more locations in the works.

Although Black Dog entered into the project with a primary goal of increasing energy savings, store aesthetics were also a priority. The company worked with Sylvania Lighting Services (SLS), which recommended replacing the existing lighting with energy-efficient Sylvania Ultra LED lamps. The lamps are designed to be a direct replacement for traditional sources.

The Black Dog store in Oak Bluffs, Mass., served as the test location, with SLS replacing 45-watt PAR lamps and 65-watt halogen floor lamps with Ultra PAR20 and PAR38 lamps, which use eight watts and 18 watts, respectively. The new lamps provided more flattering illumination for the store’s merchandise, while dramatically reducing energy use by almost half.

“After we installed the new lighting from Osram Sylvania in our Oak Bluffs store and got our first electricity bill, we were astounded. It was a fraction of what we were used to paying,” said Dan Pucillo, COO, The Black Dog Tavern, Vineyard Haven, Mass., which operates 19 stores.

Pucillo added that he noticed an improvement in the lighting quality, with the lamps providing better color rendering — and less heat — on the merchandise. Aside from the aesthetic and energy benefits, the lamps also provided cooler temperatures under the fixtures, which enhanced customer comfort and the overall customer experience.

Based on the successful results of the initial store, Black Dog and SLS completed retrofits of four additional locations. In addition, high-efficiency fluorescents were installed in some store stockrooms (Sylvania Octron T8) and in the company’s warehouse (Sylvania Pentron T5).

Across the upgraded locations, Black Dog experienced an average savings in energy consumption of about 45%. Energy use from lighting was reduced by 77,083 kWh, with 97,347 equivalent CO emissions averted annually. Along with energy savings and the environmental benefits, the retailer also stands to gain from reduced maintenance costs as the LED lamps last significantly longer than the halogen lamps they replaced.

Moving forward, Black Dog has decided to retrofit more of its stores to the LED lighting solution.