Granite Bowl

ST. CLOUD – Granite Bowl, a bowling alley with two locations in St. Cloud, found opportunities for $3300 per year in energy savings as part of a no-cost lighting assessment facilitated by Energy Smart.

“I had heard a lot about potential savings from lighting upgrades, but did not believe it until I had someone crunch the numbers for me,” said Jeff Cypher, owner of Granite Bowl.

Energy Smart contacted Granite Bowl at the end of January 2009 as part of Energy Smart’s targeted St. Cloud outreach. Thus far, Energy Smart has contacted hundreds of St. Cloud businesses. Dozens have received Energy Smart services, including assessment facilitation and utility rebate information. A handful have agreed to complete energy efficiency upgrades and will save money on energy costs.

Cypher agreed to undergo lighting audits at both the Granite Bowl (1740 St. Germain St. W) and Granite Bowl South (1222 33rd St. S) locations. Energy Smart helped to facilitate the no-cost lighting audits available to Granite Bowl as an Xcel Energy customer.

Cypher plans to upgrade lighting at one location first, and will work with the property owner at the second location where Granite Bowl rents space. The cost to Granite Bowl after receiving $5600 in rebates will total approximately $8000, an amount that would be recovered in cost savings in 2.5 years.

Granite Bowl’s energy saving efforts are not limited to lighting alone. Last year, Cypher replaced a furnace and made sure the other four were properly working – these efforts saved $10,000 last year in natural gas costs. Cypher hopes to measure the energy use of the business’s bowling pin setting machinery as a next step.