Uniformed Decarbonization: Cintas chooses Redaptive to partner on long-term Energy Moves

April 24, 2023
First phase of the project focuses on installation of Redaptive’s LED lighting at over 100 of Cintas’ oldest, largest, and most energy-intensive facilities in the U.S. and Canada. The second phase of the project involves a pilot program to explore solar

Office supply firm Cintas, which earlier this year announced plans to updates its lighting at nearly 500 sites, has choose energy-as-a-service provider Redaptive as a partner in its multi-year conversion to LEDs and greater energy efficiency.

The project is aimed at assisting Cintas in reducing energy consumption across the company as part of its goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The companies will work on further decarbonization moves beyond the lighting upgrades.

The first phase of the project focuses on the installation of Redaptive’s LED lighting at over 100 of Cintas’ oldest, largest, and most energy-intensive facilities in the U.S. and Canada. To date, Redaptive has replaced more than 42,000 incandescent and fluorescent lighting fixtures with energy-efficient LED lighting, reducing annual CO2 emissions by over 7,050 metric tons.

Overall, the company expects that it could save as much as $21.8 million in energy costs.

“With Redaptive, we’ve already installed LED lighting in over 6 million square feet of space in our facilities, which is poised to reduce our annual energy use by almost 18.7 million kWh going forward,” said Christy Nageleisen, Vice President of ESG and Chief Compliance Officer at Cintas.

The second phase of the project involves a pilot program to explore the benefits of solar technology. Cintas is working with Redaptive and the state of New Jersey to install the company’s first solar-powered system at its rental location in Piscataway. The installation is expected to be fully operational in the late spring of 2023, allowing Cintas to assess its year-round performance and compare costs with traditional utility-based energy sources.

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“We’re proud partners of Cintas and are excited to help in the company’s transition to net zero emissions,” said Arvin Vohra, CEO of Redaptive. “An initiative of this magnitude shows our unique capability to impact organizations with large real estate portfolios and significantly reduce their energy consumption and energy costs.”

Redaptive is a Denver, Colorado-based firm that funds and installs energy-saving and energy-generating equipment.

Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cintas provides specialized services to businesses of all types primarily throughout North America. It designs, manufactures and implements corporate identity uniform programs, and provides entrance mats, restroom cleaning and supplies, tile and carpet cleaning, promotional products, first aid, safety, fire protection products and services.

About the Author

EnergyTech Staff

Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

He can be reached at [email protected]

EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.