AEP OHIO CASE STUDY

MANNINO’S HITS A GRAND SLAM IN ENERGY EFFICIENCY WITH

AN LED LIGHTING UPGRADE!

The Company

Mannino’s Grand Slam is a leading provider of indoor

softball and baseball batting cages, private lessons, fall

and winter leagues, camps, clinics and cage rentals. The

business was established in 2008 when Kathy Fishbaugh

and Brian Mannino combined two existing baseball and

softball businesses to become Mannino’s Grand Slam

USA.

Their vision is to provide the best playing experience for

each player. Provide an opportunity for each player to

improve their skills and create a fun, family environment.

They strive to improve their facilities and improve the

overall experiences people have in the facility. They

make the game fun through practice and preparation.

Energy Efficiency ACHIEVEMENTS

• Over 80% reduction in annual kWh usage

• Significant reduction in annual lighting and

maintenance costs

• Increased overall light levels by 41%

• Customers more satisfied with their customer

experience at Grand Slam

Company Description Leading provider of indoor softball / baseball services -Dublin, Ohio

CASE SUMMARY

Industry

Youth Sports and Athletic Training

Building Type

Mixed Use Retail – Strip Mall

Program Type

Prescriptive

Measures Implemented

LED Lightning Retrofit

Total Project Cost

$42,000

Project Annual kWh Savings

160,000-170,000

Total Annual Savings

$20,000-$24,000

Payback Period without AEP Ohio

Incentive

22 months

Payback Period with AEP Ohio

Incentive

11 months

The Situation

Prior to their lighting retrofit, Mannino’s Grand

Slam USA operated with 125, 400w Metal Halide

Highbay light fixtures to illuminate the 18,000 sq.

ft. facility. While Metal Halides illuminated the

facility, it tended to allow for dark places

throughout the facility. This was especially

cumbersome in the batting cages where shadows

were often present and generated customer

complaints. Also, the Metal Halides used a

significant amount of electricity and required

ongoing maintenance.

The shadows in the batting cages

were one thing customers would

often complain about. –Brian

Mannino, Owner

The Solution

A neighbor of Brain Klass, who is also a customer

of Mannino’s, mentioned to Brian Klass that he

thought the lighting could be greatly improved.

Brian Klass and David Warner of Spectrum LED

Solutions, a registered Solution Provider for AEP

Ohio Business Incentive Programs, approached

Brian Mannino about upgrading the lighting to

LEDs at his facility. According to Brian Mannino,

“Spectrum LED showed us how

much less energy we would be using with LED

lighting and the savings we would potentially

have on our monthly electric bills. Spectrum LED

Solutions made it really easy for us with them

setting up everything from the electricians to

replace the lights to working with AEP and their

programs”.

Through the Prescriptive program, Spectrum LED

Solutions had the 125 Metal Halide light fixtures

replaced with 82- 6 lamp LED highbay tubes and

26 - 4 lamp LED highbay tubes. They were also

able to take advantage of the bonus incentive

offered through the program in June, 2014 for

replacing the Metal Halide lights. Brain Mannino

indicated “that as a small business, if it wasn’t for

the AEP Ohio Incentive, they would not have

been able to complete the upgrade”.

Key Benefits & Savings

Replacing the inefficient Metal Halide lights

presented many benefits for Manninos.

Not only did the change in lighting have an

overall change in the appearance of the venue,

but the change in lighting also allowed Mannino’s

to save on maintenance cost. They were

spending $2000-3000 per year on Metal Halide

lamps, ballasts and labor costs. Virtually all

maintenance costs are eliminated with LED since

there are no ballasts and the LED Tubes come

with a 10 year warranty. In addition, the LED

lighting provides “instant on/off” capability

whereas Metal Halide requires warm up and cool

About AEP Ohio’s energy efficiency programs for businesses

AEP Ohio’s Business Incentives program provides cash incentives to help business customers purchase and install energy efficient equipment.

Prescriptive incentives are available for common commercial and industrial measures including lighting, HVAC, motors and drives, refrigeration,

and food preparation and storage equipment. Custom incentives are available for process improvements and other measures not covered through

prescriptive incentives

Visit AEPOhio.com/Solutions for more information.

Disclaimer: AEP Ohio does not guarantee the energy savings

and does not make any warranties associated with the measures eligible

for incentives under this program.

down periods. After occasional power

interruptions, their customer base would need to

sit around for 20 minutes waiting for lights to

warm up before they could resume training.

Before

After

“Customers noticed immediately something was different. Then when they got into the cages

they really notice a difference in the lighting because with LED lighting it is a cleaner light, fewer shadows and overall more balanced lighting.

---Brian Mannino - Owner

Brian Mannino is presented with a big check for

his efforts in the AEP Ohio Energy Efficiency

program. Pictured left to right Brian Klass-

Spectrum LED Solutions, Rebecca Karason- AEP

Ohio, Brian Mannino, David Warner- Spectrum

LED Solutions, Maggie Beggs- AEP Ohio and

Tracie Campbell AEP Ohio.

Things are much brighter now for Mannino’s in more than one way. Customers are having a

better customer experience.

As an indoor baseball/softball facility, lighting is

one of the biggest things people either

compliment or complain about…lots of

compliments now”.

---Brian Mannino - Owner