While residents likely haven’t noticed, Cheney’s nights are becoming a bit brighter.
Thanks to funding from the Washington state Transportation Improvement Board and the Bonneville Power Administration, Cheney Light Department crews have been busy since March replacing old high pressure sodium street light fixtures with newer, more energy efficient light emitting diode (LED) fixtures and lamps. The $315,360 project is funded by $264,260 from the TIB’s Relight Washington program, with the BPA’s conservation program taking care of the $51,100 balance.
Originally the city applied for $171,395 in TIB funds to replace 535 fixtures, with an estimated project cost of $204,535. Light Department Director Steve Boorman said between the application and the ordering of fixtures they worked on the “accuracy of our mapping,” which increased the number of fixtures needed to 725. Once the project is done, TIB will reimburse Cheney for any additions.
Boorman said crews have replaced 308 fixtures so far, doing the work when they are not engaged in other projects. Replacement time has averaged about 20 minutes per fixture, which includes not only time at the pole, but also loading the fixtures into the bucket truck and unloading the old ones into the department’s shop.
Once unloaded, the old fixtures are broken down, with the metal parts being saved while the ballast — the electronic device that ignites the lamp — and the glass coverings are discarded.
“The glass has no value,” Boorman said. “Glass is made out of sand and it’s not worth the cost to send it to a factory to have it melted down.”
The 725 fixtures are broken down into 120 pedestrian, lantern-style fixtures, 345 “cobra-head” fixtures, the traditional streetlight style, and 260 of a newer, NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) barnyard-style fixture. Boorman said all of the pedestrian fixtures have been installed, since they are mounted lower to the ground.
The city previously switched out 87 HPS fixtures for the newer LED style along State Route 904/First Street a couple years ago under former director Joe Noland. Boorman said fixtures in Cheney’s downtown core along First, Second and Third streets had all been replaced, as well as most of the fixtures in the west and north ends.
The fixtures located around Eastern Washington University would be replaced once most of the students are gone for the summer.
LED lights generate significantly more natural white light than cooler, yellow HPS lamps, leading to greater visibility and safer conditions for pedestrians and motorists. According to the Lighting Science Group, LEDs whiter light also generates better color accuracy that enables a better display of natural colors in the illuminated environment.
“It’s definitely better light,” Boorman said.
According to the TIB’s Relight Washington web page, the goal of the program is to “lower a city’s street light costs by helping cities convert to more energy efficient LED streetlights.” Boorman said the city estimates it will use 197,338 kilowatt hours of electricity, 56 percent of what it uses today, once all the fixtures are installed by the end of the year — amounting to an annual savings of $7,068.
Because the expectation is for the LED fixtures to last three times as long as HPS fixtures, Boorman said the city will see a significant annual savings for a number of years in both labor and material costs needed to maintain streetlights, a savings the city estimated in its grant application at approximately $7,300. These factors would have eventually led Cheney to convert its streetlights from HPS to LED gradually.
“It’s (TIB/BPA funding) a great deal for the city,” Boorman said. “We’d have done it over a decade, instead of all at once.”
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
Reader Comments(0)