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Blue Cross Will Light Up ‘Olde English D’ For World Series - Although sadly the Detroit Tigers lost the 2012 World Series the pride that the city and the state have in their team has been on display for years at the Blue Cross/Blue Shield building on Lafayette Avenue near I-375 in downtown Detroit. They have had, on the front of the 9 story building, an old English ‘D’ for Detroit Tigers that has been lighting up the night since the Tiger’s unbelievable run for the pennant started a few months ago. Not only are the folks at Blue Cross HQ proud of their team they’re also proud of the fact that their 9 story tall tribute to the Tigers is energy efficient after a refit was done to change from the old tech incandescent bulbs that have been used for years to new, light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. The new LED lights for the display, which features 39 total bulb fixtures, will reduce the energy consumption from 600 watts per fixture down to 25, a reduction of over 22, 400 watts in total! Not only will the new LED fixtures save money because of their reduced energy consumption but, since the new bulbs can also change color,  it has eliminated the need to stock the different colors formerly needed to show Tiger pride.  The new LED bulbs also come with a remote control system that allows them to be programmed once and left alone, another cost saving plus. When the Tigers aren’t playing the Blue Cross building also puts on an annual Christmas light display and in fact has been doing so for over 30 years. Their gigantic holiday Christmas tree display, decked out in all green lights and visible from downtown, is a yearly tradition in Detroit.  They also have an enormous  red heart that they display for all the city to see every February that coincides with their own National Heart Month. Now that the new, programmable, color changing LED bulbs are in place all 3 of these beautiful displays are also using much less energy and can change colors, fade, and even ‘twinkle’. Even though the Tigers didn’t win the World Series (sorry Tigers’ fans) the city of Detroit still comes out a winner with the new LED display at the Red Cross.  By switching to the new, LED technology they have become a beacon of energy saving success for all the residents of Detroit to see and a reminder that, while baseball is important, saving energy is even more so. They have also shown that it can be accomplished  with flair and a lot of pride.