United Laundry Services Inc (ULS), Honolulu, one of the leading establishments in the state providing clean linen services to the hospitality and health care companies of the state is ushering in sustainable initiatives in their manufacturing operations.  ULS recently refurbished their lead plant located off Sand Island Access Road in Honolulu with a brand new Photovoltaic (PV) and Cool Roof System, Skylights for natural daylighting and new roof vents.

ULS operates their Honolulu plant with other 600 employees and runs 2 shifts per day, 365 days a year to support their customer base.  This continuous operation entails very high electricity consumption on account of the boilers, washing and ironing machines.  Passive Solar tactics were incorporated into the roofing system by installing bright new skylights which used natural sunlight to light up the operations area and reduce lighting electricity loads.  New Roof Top Vents were installed to ensure cooler temperatures within the operating plant.  The Cool Roof System and Skylights would provide better working conditions for the staff of the plant.

A 397.800 kW DC PV System was installed to partially offset the high electricity consumption.  A HydroStop Cool Roof System was chosen with long term warranties to cover the entire roof area which significantly reduced heat dissipation from the roof inside the operations area of the plant.  The PV System installed is expected to offset about 15% of the current electricity consumption of the plant.  The energy savings is expected to increase further with better lighting through skylights and reduced heat due to Cool Roof System installed.

United Laundry was a “green” project as it was executed in a technical partnership with Greenpath Technologies Inc.  The entire project was covered under one warranty for both roofing and PV thus delivering one point of accountability for the client.