City of Fargo Saves Money While Enhancing Downtown Lighting

Monday, November 22, 2010 - Millerbernd Lighting announced the completion of the Post-Top LED Retrofit Solution for the city of Fargo, North Dakota. “The solution met our expectations in appearance, performance and ease of installation,” explained Dave Helland, street lighting coordinator for city of Fargo. “By retrofitting our existing acorn fixtures we have been able to maintain existing look and feel of our downtown walkways, while at the same time not being able to tell the difference between the LED retrofit and our existing metal halide lamp source.”

Fargo’s focus was centered on energy efficient lighting, green technology and a reduction in energy and maintenance costs; however the aesthetic feel was also critical. The original acorn fixtures were a beautiful addition to Fargo’s impressive walkway and replacing them was going to be extremely expensive. “Since the city’s focus was on reducing energy and maintenance costs, they took a proactive role in seeking an LED solution,” said Mitch Gaida, national sales director for Millerbernd Lighting.

Millerbernd Lighting partnered with Lumagine, a Minneapolis based original design manufacturer, and provided a customizable and energy efficient platform utilizing Phillips Lumileds LUXEON® Rebel LEDs. The custom design allowed the replacement of the light source without replacing the existing fixtures. “We successfully addressed the challenge of mimicking the performance and appearance of the existing light source, maintaining the unique design of the original fixtures in this landmark area and saving the city of Fargo thousands of dollars in replacement costs,” Gaida continued.

The patent pending heat sink/reflector retrofit design used by Millerbernd had undergone extensive thermal testing in a variety of existing luminaries and outdoor environments, and in each instance met or exceeded all customer expectations including increasing reliability and performance:

• Reducing lamp maintenance costs
• Realizing energy saving of 40-60%
• Replacing 70-150 Watt HPS or Metal Halide Lamps
• Designed, manufactured and supported in the USA

“With a completely tool-less retrofit installation and the mogul base adapter, the process was not much more than replacing a lamp and the total time took less than five minutes per fixture,” said Helland. “The ability to partner with a company for a custom solution designed, supported and produced in the USA turned out to be a great fit for the city of Fargo.”

Millerbernd Lighting, a division of Millerbernd Systems, utilizes leading-edge engineering, manufacturing tools, and LED technologies to create the most cost-effective custom lighting solutions possible. LED Retrofit solutions are available for most existing post top acorn fixtures. All of Millerbernd Lighting’s fixtures are designed and built-in-the-USA.

Millerbernd Lighting is a division of Millerbernd Systems — a third generation family owned business that has continued the tradition of innovative fixture designs, custom LED solutions and commitment to QMS. For more information on Millerbernd Lighting and its capabilities contact Mitch Gaida at 320-485-5458 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .