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How Remy Cointreau's Low-Voltage Lighting Installation Delivered 85% Energy Savings, IAQ Monitoring, and Occupancy Data from a Single Infrastructure
Remy Cointreau built a new 30,000-square-foot US headquarters in Times Square with a mandate from Paris: find an energy-efficient way to operate the office and support the company's carbon-reduction goals while doing so.
The team selected W Tech's Smart Engine, a low-voltage lighting system that centralizes intelligent drivers in telecom closets rather than at each fixture. The approach eliminates conduit, switch gear, and the need to access the ceiling for driver maintenance. Installation time dropped 40 to 60 percent compared to traditional line voltage, with materials costs down 15 to 30 percent.
The energy results were significant. Lighting power density came in at 0.10 watts per square foot — 85 percent below the code-allowable 0.69 watts per square foot. Annual lighting energy costs dropped from roughly $33,000 to $5,094.
The low-voltage lighting system inherently includes sensors for occupancy detection and indoor air quality, which opened up use cases beyond energy from the same installation. The embedded sensors track temperature, humidity, CO2, VOCs, and air pressure. During a routine HVAC preventive maintenance visit, Ted Grant, Office Facilities Manager at Remy Cointreau, received a poor air quality alert from the lighting sensor network — not from the HVAC vendor. "I shared this information with our vendor. They returned, changed the filter where the area of concern was, and before the end of the day, that alert was gone," Grant said.
The same motion sensors that trigger occupancy-based lighting control also generate utilization data. The facilities team now compares huddle room usage across the office over time, without a separate sensor deployment.
The project earned a US Department of Energy integrated lighting campaign award and an IFMA Best Design and Construction Award for facilities under 75,000 square feet. By centering the project on energy savings, Remy Cointreau tagged space utilization and occupant experience outcomes onto a single infrastructure investment.
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Remy Cointreau built a new 30,000-square-foot US headquarters in Times Square with a mandate from Paris: find an energy-efficient way to operate the office and support the company's carbon-reduction goals while doing so.
The team selected W Tech's Smart Engine, a low-voltage lighting system that centralizes intelligent drivers in telecom closets rather than at each fixture. The approach eliminates conduit, switch gear, and the need to access the ceiling for driver maintenance. Installation time dropped 40 to 60 percent compared to traditional line voltage, with materials costs down 15 to 30 percent.
The energy results were significant. Lighting power density came in at 0.10 watts per square foot — 85 percent below the code-allowable 0.69 watts per square foot. Annual lighting energy costs dropped from roughly $33,000 to $5,094.
The low-voltage lighting system inherently includes sensors for occupancy detection and indoor air quality, which opened up use cases beyond energy from the same installation. The embedded sensors track temperature, humidity, CO2, VOCs, and air pressure. During a routine HVAC preventive maintenance visit, Ted Grant, Office Facilities Manager at Remy Cointreau, received a poor air quality alert from the lighting sensor network — not from the HVAC vendor. "I shared this information with our vendor. They returned, changed the filter where the area of concern was, and before the end of the day, that alert was gone," Grant said.
The same motion sensors that trigger occupancy-based lighting control also generate utilization data. The facilities team now compares huddle room usage across the office over time, without a separate sensor deployment.
The project earned a US Department of Energy integrated lighting campaign award and an IFMA Best Design and Construction Award for facilities under 75,000 square feet. By centering the project on energy savings, Remy Cointreau tagged space utilization and occupant experience outcomes onto a single infrastructure investment.
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This is a great piece!
I agree.