Alberta offers cash for greener lighting

EDMONTON, ALBERTA - The Alberta government is offering financial rebates to businesses that use advanced lighting equipment to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gases.

Restaurants, offices, and warehouses become eligible for rebates if they make their buildings more energy efficient.

The rebates are available under a new program aimed at encouraging green lighting retrofits.

Environment Minister Rob Renner said some larger companies will be eligible for thousands of dollars in rebates. All businesses have to go through an assessment before becoming eligible for the program, administered by the non-profit group Climate Change Central.

"Taken to it's extreme, it's not out of the realm of possibility for an average commercial building to be able to reduce their lighting costs by anywhere from 50 to 70 per cent."

Renner said the program could have the same environmental impact as taking 40,000 cars off the road over the next 10 years.

Simon Knight, CEO of Climate Change Central, said advances in lighting technology can save commercial buildings 50 percent of their energy costs.

"This is going to focus on restaurants, offices, retail buildings multi-unit residential and warehouses," said Knight. "There have been some huge technological advances in lighting and this is why we're concentrating on this effort."