Split Incentives Between Landlord and Tenant - To realize savings from a lighting upgrade, each tenant must renegotiate the lease with the landlord. The landlord rarely installs energy-efficient lighting in new construction, since utility charges are passed on to tenant. Green Lights is developing standard lease language that removes the split incentive barrier between landlord and tenant. The building's existing hybrid ballasts were replaced with electronic ballasts that consume less electricity, weigh less, make less noise, and create virtually no lamp flicker. Two hundred occupancy or motion sensors were installed throughout the building, reducing average annual lighting hours from 6,300 to 5,200.
Motion sensors control lighting, depending on the presence of a person in the area.
As a result of the lighting upgrade, American Express has reduced the number of kilowatts used for lighting by almost 500 per year. In the MOU, Green Lights participants agree to survey their facilities and, within 5 years of signing the MOU, to upgrade 90 percent of their square footage, where it is profitable and where lighting quality is maintained or enhanced. Participants also agree to appoint an implementation manager who oversees participation in the program. As of August 1992, over 600 organizations have joined Green Lights. EPA's Part The MOU also states EPA's commitment to Green Lights Partners.