Going Green

For many years, Lady's Funeral Home has been a forward thinking business. This time, it was our "Going Green" initiative which was done in four phases over a one year timespan.

In 2015, Lady's Funeral Home began a conscious effort to reduce their energy consumption and "Go Green". It all started by replacing more than 1200 lightbulbs (Phase 1). By replacing every incandescent and florescent "curly" lightbulb with newer more energy efficient LED lightbulbs, it didn't take long to notice the energy savings. Not only did the new LED lightbulbs make an energy difference directly, but it also made a difference indirectly as well. Since LED lightbulbs do not get hot, in turn the buildings did not get as hot and therefore the air conditioners did not have to run as hard or as often to keep the buildings cool.

(Phase 2) The funeral home building is an older, colonial style structure. With the older construction, there were air gaps where the heated and cooled air were being let out of the building as it was not properly insulated. To remedy this, the building was treated over a three day period with spray foam insulation. In the process, all of the old loose insulation was removed and then the new spray foam insulation was installed. It was a long three days as the building could not be occupied while the insulation was being sprayed.  Again, it didn't take long to notice the energy savings to heat and cool the funeral home.

The first solar panels that installed were on the garage and crematory building (Phase 3). There are 36 300 watt solar panels installed. These panels produce around 20 mega watts of power each year that allows the funeral home to operate at a zero cost per month for our crematory. This is a significant cost savings each month.On the main funeral home building, there are 132 300 watt solar panels installed (Phase 4). There are four 10,000 watt solar power inverters installed. With all this in place, the monthly cost savings is far greater than we ever expected, especially after doing the above improvements.Both solar arrays together produce over 54 kilowatts of power.

The solar system is expected to pay for itself within 4 years. With the cost of electricity only going to go rise, the cost savings will only increase as well. But not only is it a cost savings, it is being environmentally mindful and responsible.If anyone has any questions regarding any of the "Going Green" phases listed above, feel free to call us. We will be happy to share our experience with you.