My name is Ingrid Mattis, I founded The Cape May County Energy Efficient and Renewable Energy workshops on the premise that education and advocacy leads to change and betterment. I am a firm believer that no matter your financial status, all business owners deserve the same education for the decision to lower their cost of operation. Most people do not know the fundamentals of energy-efficient products such as LED and Renewable Energy , not to mention the tax incentives.
I am cofounder of a Solar company that I started in 2009, that will do almost $6 million this year. I presently own two companies, the first looks at the Total envelope of a building for energy-efficient measures and provides business owners the information and specifications on how to retrofit their buildings or business with energy-efficient measures and renewable energy for a cash positive result.
The second is a LED Lighting consulting company, I partner with a world known lighting designer that assists in the cause of providing real lighting designs at none lighting design cost. Most people do not know in the retail level that a light designer fee is anywhere from $1 to $3 per sq foot, Which is why you do not find light designers in the retail market (not cost justified or affordable in that market).
I have also found that resources and education to the business owners and contractors are not available readily or at all. For example if you need a new roof or water heater for that matter, does your contractor teach you that purchasing the more energy-efficient measure actually saves you money and reduces your utility usage and has a return on your investment going forward Or does he just sell you what is the cheapest because he thinks you will shop him. Does your electrician (because that is where most people turn to for lighting, even though electrician are not lighting consultants they do electric.) show you the difference of 2700k , 3000k 4000k or 5000k and the effect it has on your product or how using the correct kelvin color will increase your sales.
I was recently in a hotel and a bar (this is not the start of a joke) both places had 5000k color bulbs. Now in a hotel the negative reaction will be disturbed sleep by their customers because 5000k has blue in it as in day light and that actually makes us release hormones that tell us to be awake. Great for a factory setting but bad for customers who now have disturbed sleep, because they were exposed to blue light before bed. Side note same blue light that is in your smart phone and IPad etc. Do not look at those device before bed.
For the bar, using blue light counter acts the body’s natural circadian rhythm. In a bar / restaurant you need medium light (warm), that way you are not going against a person natural rhythm and they stay longer. Even though the person may not know why, they feel uncomfortable and leave sooner than they would if there was proper lighting. If those owners had the resource to learn then perhaps the mistake would not have happened. I could go on with examples like how to lead a person via light plan through your store.
Lighting is engineering, it is not a personal opinion or fashion design, it is here to not to be seen, it has a purpose. The fixtures should go with the interior design and the color of the light for the purpose. If someone is looking at your lights and it is not a person like me then it is a bad light job. I am speaking about lighting more because that is our next workshop topic.
I believe that education is truly how you should treat the consumer; my clients have all been taught the fundamentals of what I am installing. I want them to be able to take care of themselves and not be misled in the future.
I literally make the client learn, as I am told many times by supermarket chain owners ‘I just sell Tomatoes and Mozzarella” or the Car dealership chain owner “ I just sells cars” “Please just take care of this”, my reply to any CEO or solely owned business is the same. I need you to learn so if something happens to me you will know what we did and why.
Now why a workshop? I use to do free workshops in the village of NYC years ago and found that in a community that allows for communication it is a valuable and accessible resource. That is why I started the workshop series here in Cape May County. I have seen businesses spend quarter of a million cost for LED lights done by so called distributor or contractor and have seen horrible light jobs costly to correct.
I want to prevent that from happening in Cape May County. I teach people the savings of Energy efficiency and renewable energy. I teach about product, tax incentives and state rebates. I show people how to obtain a quality installer, the importance manufacture warranties not the installers guarantee, (installers may go out of business).
I show people the ROI (the return of investment, how many years till you breakeven then the savings afterwards). I show them how to finance the project to be cash positive so you are ahead from the start. I teach the energy savings of the entire envelope of a building from roof to geo thermal. I ask guest speakers from manufactures to state officials to come and speak.
These workshops are for education purpose only and not sales. This is my way of giving to a community before someone takes advantage of them. The time for energy efficient retrofits is here now and it not some far off future. I want people to learn and help their businesses grow.
The next workshop is Thursday November 10th from 3PM-4PM, free workshop, free food and drink. So come join us and learn a Little , Knosh a little. My workshop this month will be held at 19 Jackson Street Cape May @ The Mad Batter. You can email us or call to reserve a spot. cmceere@gmail.com or call 609-536-9156.
This is excellent. Something most people think there is no need to know, but lighting is critical. Lighting can make or break a design scheme and take people’s moods from happy to glum. With the onset of Energy saving bulbs and elimination of many incandescent wattages, it is critical to understand that you are buying COLOR in your light as much as wattages. Warm (daylight 5000-6000K color) is inviting, comforting and yields true color in the space as well as the people. (Women know the nightmare of being in fluorescent light / many cool CFL bulbs and trying to apply makeup colors to look normal in natural daylight.) The original and still common “cool” CFL bulbs yield a very gloomy, depressing atmosphere (they are also a photographer’s nightmare and a real negative when trying to sell Real Estate).
Fortunately the CFL bulbs are improving and now available in varying Kelvin temperatures (cool to warmer light), unfortunately most people are not aware of the various effects created by the light in our environment or the differences in the bulbs available to us.
The wrong temperature bulbs are also a Photographer’s nightmare, but that’s another story!
The Energy Efficient Lighting Workshops being offered (above) are excellent and needed far more than most people imagine, especially in the restaurant and hospitality industries. (I know, I often travel with my own bulbs! 😉
Thanks for the great share! I also like the idea of Energy Efficiency. The best part I like is this: The reliability and availability of modern energy sources cause people to tend to assume that it will always be accessible. And as for the case of non-renewable energy sources, most people do not know or maybe even refuse to accept that it will eventually run out.