From far away, Colorado State Capitol’s golden dome is a highlight of Denver’s skyline. As visitors draw near, there are other key ingredients that make this area a rich urban tapestry: The pop of green from Civic Center Park, the nearby skyline from high rise buildings in the commercial core, and the iconic cultural buildings like the Denver Art Museum and Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.
As a maintenance worker and groundskeeper for the Catholic church, no day is the same for Antonio Cabrera. There’s the constant drum of routine cleaning, inspections and repair. Emergencies crop up regularly for the 1910s-era gothic building and demand immediate attention. And then there’s trash pick-up and groundskeeping responsibilities.
So, when Cabrera saw an email from Energize Denver that said Cathedral Basilica needed to adhere to new energy efficiency standards, his heart sank.
“It was daunting because not only am I now in charge of the entire maintenance of this beautiful old church, now I have this deadline,” he said.
Even though he had several years to comply with the Energize Denver deadline, Cabrera did not have a wealth of knowledge that he could draw upon to meet the standards. He started out volunteering his time to assist with Mass. Then he graduated into a full-time role conducting maintenance for the large building. Like many who work for nonprofit or faith-based institutions, he’s deeply connected to his organization’s mission. His religious devotion—and the beehive at Cathedral Basilica (Cabrera is an enthusiastic beekeeper)—is what fuels him every day.
But while Cabrera first felt trepidation, he quickly discovered a sense of relief after contacting Denver’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency (CASR). Cabrera learned there was an easy pathway to compliance for the Cathedral, which is about 21,500 sq. ft., by participating in the Energize Denver Energy Navigation (EDEN) program.
Energize Denver offers building owners under 24,999 sq. ft. three potential pathways to compliance: 1) Upgrade lighting to LEDs that use less energy, 2) integrate enough on- and off-site renewable power to offset at least 20 percent of the building’s energy use, or 3) reduce the building’s energy use by at least 15% compared to a 12-month baseline for the building. Cabrera knew Cathedral Basilica’s lighting was last updated in the 1940s. It was time to enter the 21st century.
“We had bare wires, exposed wires, wires not grounded,” remembers Cabrera.
The first stop was meeting with someone from Denver’s CASR office, which discussed the LED lighting retrofit opportunity, the economics and return on investment associated with the improvement. Then Cabrera sought help from a company that ordered the lighting fixtures and worked with an electrician to replace them. This was no small feat considering that the ceiling of the church soars as high as 60 feet in some spaces.
Fortunately, Cathedral Basilica was one of the early buildings in the 1940s to have recessed lighting added to its ceilings. While there weren’t significant construction costs needed to add canned lighting, the rewiring and electrical work did end up costing about one-third of the project cost: $20,000 of the $60,000 spent. The remaining $40,000 was spent on lighting retrofits and supplies.
The end result is a significantly cheaper electricity bill: Cathedral Basilica pays about $100 a month compared to the $1,200 spent previously, saving the Basilica more than $13,000 a year. Perhaps more noticeable to weekly visitors is a much more thoughtful and thorough illumination of the space. Parishioners can now see details of the priest and sanctuary at the front. Giant stained-glass windows at the side of the church are lit up all the way to the 60-foot ceiling. The light bounces off the white limestone ceiling and marble floors to provide better illumination of the space.
When asked about the lessons he learned going through the EDEN program, Cabrera highlights the importance of taking advantage of the free technical consulting for non-profits provided by CASR. That provided Cabrera and Cathedral Basilica with help modeling the estimated savings for the LED swap, and submitting documentation required by CASR.
Cabrera emphasizes that there was a lot of coordination needed between the engineering support and Cathedral Basilica’s electrician. That gets to his main recommendation: involve your electrician early and often in the process.
“Walk it through and say, ‘Will this light actually work?’” said Cabrera. He worked with a company to purchase lights. While they met the correct technical specifications in theory, in practice the electrician was unable to use them.
Another pain point came from a lost shipment. Cathedral Basilica’s equipment was not the type that could be easily selected from a local Home Depot store. After weeks of working as a go between with his online lighting store and the engineer, Cabrera learned that a lost shipment never actually left the warehouse (despite evidence from the distributor to the contrary).
But with great patience comes even greater rewards. The rejuvenated lighting and space has been a great perk. But even better has come in the form of one less job to do: Cabrera is no longer swapping power hungry 500-watt lightbulbs all the time.
“Sometimes I would go up there, change them, come back the next day, and some others had burned out. I was just like, ‘Oh my goodness,” said Cabrera. “It's all over with, it looks great, and it was worth it.”