Japhy's logo 1.jpg
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Authors Ryan Mack
Location California, USA
OKH Manifest Download

Japhy's[1] is a soup restaurant. Japhy's is located at 1563 G St., Arcata, CA[2] and run by Miwa and Josh Solomon. With the guidance of the Redwood Coast Energy Authority,[3] Japhy's converted 50 lighting fixtures to more energy efficient bulbs.

Energy retrofits[edit | edit source]

Describe the retrofits:

  • The retrofits all pertained to lighting. The lights which were changed are located in the dining area and kitchen of the restaurant. There are 50 light fixtures in Japhy's. 47 of the light fixtures were fluorescent tube bulbs. These were likely replaced with four foot fluorescent T4 tubes. The other three bulbs were small compact floresents and were located in the back of Japhy's.

Projected Cost:

  • $771.04

Estimated Payback:

  • 1.5 Years

Did the client change their habits after the retrofits? Were the lights on less? More?

  • Japhy's took down their neon sign and replaced it with a paper sign. Other than the removal of the neon sign, the client reported no changes in behavior.[4]

Why did the client move forward with the lighting upgrade?

  • The client upgraded their lighting to save money and help the environment.[4]

Would they do more retrofits?

  • When asked this question, Miwa Solomon responded "definitely." Japhy's was very happy with their experience with the RCEA. If more retrofits were possible she said they would be more than happy to have RCEA come back.[4]

Were they satisfied in the work RCEA did?

  • Japhy's was definitely satisfied with the work RCEA did. The RCEA representatives were "nice and down-to-earth."[4]

How effective were the retrofits?

  • Miwa Solomon stated that the savings after the retrofit were "significantly noticeable."[4] According to the Japhy's use data supplied by PG&E, the retrofits were more worthwhile than RCEA advertised.

Energy savings[edit | edit source]

  • RCEA reported an annual energy savings of 3,319 kwH/Year (predicted).
  • Since the retrofits, Pacific Gas and Electric[5] has recorded an average energy savings of 4,444.38 kwH/Year.
Figure 1: Table of Predicted and Actual Values

CO2 reduction[edit | edit source]

  • RCEA claimed that the retrofits would reduce CO2 emmissions by 1,725 Lbs / Year.
  • Due to the retrofits, Japhy's has been offsetting global CO2 emissions by 2,310 Lbs / Year
  • This is 585 Lbs / year more than RCEA expected.

$avings[edit | edit source]

  • RCEA estimated Japhy's average savings to be $515.84/Year.
  • Japhy's has been saving $690.79/Year on average since the retrofits.
  • This is $174.95/Year more than estimated by RCEA.

Graphs[edit | edit source]

Figure 2: Japhy's energy use as a function of time

Analysis of retrofits[edit | edit source]

Figure 3: Table of Actual - Predicted Savings
  • After taking the mean energy use per month before the retrofits (2,286.06 kwH), we found the mean of the energy used after the retrofits (1,915.72). After subtracting these numbers we were left with a monthly average of 370.34 kwH saved, and a yearly average of 4444.08 kwH.
  • The predicted savings on the retrofits at Japhy's was $515.84. Their actual savings came out to be $690.79, saving them $174.95 more than predicted. The extra savings made the actual time until the retrofits paid for themselves 1.12 years. Since the retrofits were done over 1.12 years ago, the retrofits have already paid for themselves and more.
  • Japhy's actual energy savings were much higher than predicted. The estimated payback was probably inaccurate because of the number of lighting retrofits done. While there were 50 lights replaced, observations showed only 26 lights were on during business hours. This means that RCEA likely over-accounted for the average energy use of Japhy's - which would make their calculations of estimated payback a greater value.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Japhy's Website
  2. Japhy's on Google Maps
  3. Redwood Coast Energy Authority
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Interview with Miwa Solomon.
  5. PG&E Monthly Energy Bills for Japhy's. 2005-2009.
FA info icon.svg Angle down icon.svg Page data
Part of RCEA energy audit reviews, Engr115 Intro to Engineering
Keywords energy, energy audit
SDG SDG07 Affordable and clean energy
Authors Ryan Mack, Ryan Noone, Dustin Poppendieck
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Organizations Redwood Coast Energy Authority, Cal Poly Humboldt
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 6 pages link here
Impact 226 page views
Created October 28, 2009 by Ryan Mack
Modified February 28, 2024 by Felipe Schenone
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