The Chicago Cubs were the surprise of the baseball season in 2015 and they have made some splashy moves so far this offseason to keep the momentum going into 2016.
Today they made another upgrade to the franchise that will help their players shine brighter.
Ideal Industries Inc., a company that creates and provides energy management solutions, announced that their Audacy system, which is a wireless energy management system, was chosen by the Cubs to be the lighting control solution for Wrigley Field.
According to Ideal’s CEO, Jim James, Audacy will first be installed in the new 30,000 square-foot clubhouse and fitness facility for the Cubs that is being constructed behind the third base grandstand. And then over the next few years, the Ideal team will continue to install Audacy sensors, control units, gateways and reporting components into the Cubs’ facilities all around Wrigley.
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Now, when you first hear about the Cubs using an energy management solution you may not give it a second thought. But it’s actually a good move for the organization from a bottomline and energy usage standpoint. The Audacy system believes it can reduce energy use from lighting by up to 50 percent at Wrigley. Also, almost every new or previously installed fixture at Wrigley will be set up on the Audacy secure cloud-based operating platform. From here the lighting around Wrigley can be controlled via the Audacy Android or iOS app.
Carl Rice, vice president of the Wrigley Field restoration and expansion said of the partnership with Ideal, “We’ll be able to easily set lighting parameters for optimal impact and energy conservation in almost every venue across Wrigley Field. What’s more, we can easily make adjustments based on event type, game delays and energy usage patterns from a tablet or mobile phone.”
Rice went on to say that the Cubs also will also be able to automatically monitor and report their energy usage to city, state and federal agencies.