Focus helps minor league team become a major energy saver

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had quite a year in 2008. Pitcher Phillippe Aumont played on the World Team for Major League Baseball's All-Star Futures Games, the Midwest League named the Timber Rattlers' grounds crew the best in the league and the team signed a four-year player development agreement with the Milwaukee Brewers. But there was one accomplishment even die-hard fans may not know about: the Timber Rattlers growing commitment to green.

An energy savings grand slam
Last spring, Focus on Energy provided a $7,000 custom lighting grant to help the franchise replace its outdoor incandescent message board with a state-of-the-art LED (light-emitting diode) alternative. The sign is located at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium, on U.S. Highway 41 in Appleton, Wis.

The new board uses only one-tenth the power of the old sign and saves more than 93,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity and $9,340 in energy bills each year.

"We heard about other companies that were changing out their digital highway signs and saving quite a bit of money," said Rob Zerjav, president of the Timber Rattlers. "The grant we received made it easy for us to pursue this project and Focus walked us through the entire process. They showed us our current energy usage and even gave us suggestions on how to save energy in other areas of the ballpark."

Not only is the new message board a huge energy saver, but it also offers a better display. The board is programmable from the Timber Rattlers' front office and is equipped with a light-sensor system that controls the sign's brightness based on how dark it is outside.

"LED lighting is the next step in energy efficiency," explained Ken Williams, director of Focus on Energy's Business Programs. "The technology uses very little power, has a long life and is reliable in cold temperatures. It's ideal for projects like this where a sign is using electricity around the clock."

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