Megan Scott | Champion Story
Dominus Estate is a leading Napa Valley winery situated on the historic 124-acre Napanook vineyard in Yountville, California. It is celebrated for its complex, elegant, and long-lived Bordeaux-style blends with a focus on Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery achieves this distinct style by masterfully combining high-quality Napa Valley fruit with traditional French winemaking techniques to make premier wines.
As part of their holistic sustainability initiatives, Dominus Estate achieved Napa Green Winery Certification in 2020. As part of their initial integrated water, waste and energy resource assessment, it was noted by the Napa Green team that there were T-12 lights, which are older, linear fluorescent tubes commonly used in commercial and residential settings, that should be phased out in favor of T8 or LED alternatives for environmental energy efficiency.
Replacing T-12 fluorescent lights with LEDs reduces energy consumption by 50–80%, significantly cutting electricity bills. In addition, LEDs last 2 to 3 times longer (50,000+ hours), reducing maintenance costs. They also offer better light quality, eliminate flickering, and reduce heat, which lowers HVAC loads. In addition to reducing the carbon footprint and energy costs, the quality of light can be particularly critical in the tank room, warehouse, and bottling line, which is essential to the winemaking team, to visually assess wine quality.
Napa Green partner, MCE (formerly Marin Clean Energy) is a local, not-for-profit, community-governed utility agency providing cleaner, often more affordable electricity compared to traditional utilities. MCE drives California’s state renewable energy goals by offering 60%–100% renewable energy, supporting local green jobs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and offering stable, competitive rates. In addition, they also offer energy efficiency programs and incentives to support local homes and businesses in Napa, Solano, Contra Costa, and Marin Counties.
In 2023, Dominus did an LED retrofit with MCE saving an estimated $14,500/year with an additional $5,800 incentive. Talk about green!!
