Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Free Tool Helps Cities Assess Impact of Switching to LED Street Lighting


In February 2012, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium released an economic cost-benefit analysis tool to help cities, as well as utilities and other organizations, estimate the costs and impacts associated with switching to light-emitting diode (LED) street lighting....

The new Microsoft Excel-based Retrofit Financial Analysis Tool, developed in collaboration with the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), is available for download at www.ssl.energy.gov/financial-tool.html. To use the tool, city leaders and other stakeholders can input the variables of their particular situations — such as the street-lighting technology they are currently working with, necessary quantities, projected phase-in period, local electricity and labor costs, local taxes, installation cost, loan interest rate and rebates — to generate a detailed analysis that lays out annual energy-cost savings, maintenance savings, greenhouse gas reductions and simple payback. To facilitate its use, the tool is accompanied by an instructional video and a sample analysis.

The consortium is presenting an LED Street Lighting Workshop in Boston, Mass. on August 2nd-3rd, 2012.  For more information go to http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/consortium_boston2012.html.  Or, to view the April 3, 2012 Webinar on the Retrofit Financial Analysis Tool  go to http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/msslc-tool_webcast_04-03-2012.html or the April 19-20: LED Street Lighting Workshop in Los Angeles, Calif. go to http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/msslc_losangeles2012_materials.html Updates on these events and registration details can be found on the consortium events page at www.ssl.energy.gov/consortium_events.html.

On all night, every night, streetlights are one of the biggest fixed costs for cities, and they carry a major environmental impact. The estimated 26.5 million streetlights in the U.S. annually consume as much electricity as 1.9 million households, and generate greenhouse gas emissions equal to those produced by 2.6 million cars. Furthermore, with an average age of more than 25 years, the energy and maintenance costs are continually rising at a time when cities are facing drastic reductions in general fund revenue.

LED street lighting has the potential to provide energy savings as high as 50 to 60 percent (compared to existing street lighting sources), while also reducing maintenance costs, improving visibility and reducing “uplight,” which causes light pollution. Additionally, the cost of LED street lighting has dropped by more than 25 percent in the past year alone.
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While the new tool helps assess the site-dependent costs and benefits of making the switch to LED streetlights, several cities have already seen dramatic results. Los Angeles started its LED program in February 2009 and has currently converted 64,500 of 140,000 total streetlights. At 61.2 percent energy savings, the city has already exceeded its original 40 percent goal. The program is ultimately expected to cost $57 million, the bulk of which is coming from a $40 million utility energy efficiency loan that is being repaid with savings from the city’s street lighting budget — $17 million per year. The program is expected to reach simple payback at seven years.

The new tool is based on an earlier model that CCI developed for analyzing cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Beijing. The original tool was complex and required someone from CCI to run it. The consortium teamed with CCI to develop the user-friendly version that cities can use independently. To facilitate its use, the tool is accompanied by an instructional video and a sample analysis.

The consortium was created in 2010 to educate and provide consistency around the energy-efficient lighting many cities were already pursuing, particularly LED streetlight products. Municipal efforts are often tied to block grants and energy mandates, and the consortium provides an easy way for cities to navigate multiple sources of information at once. The new financial tool complements the Model Specification for LED Roadway Luminaires that was published by the consortium in October.

... To download the financial tool or view an instructional video, see www.ssl.energy.gov/financial-tool.html. To learn more about the consortium, visit www.ssl.energy.gov/consortium.html.  Information on the Clinton Climate Change Initiative's efforts can be found at http://www.clintonfoundation.org/what-we-do/clinton-climate-initiative.
 
At the Los Angeles workshop Carlos Gomez of the California Department of Transportation noted that for CalTrans purchased 40,000 Roadway Luminaires to replace 20,000 200 watt and 320,000 310 watt HPS's.  In addition 5,600 were Purchase for Maintenance Stations to replace 1,00 200 watt and 3,800 MV Wallpacks.  The budget was $30 million with an estimated costs of $500 to replace the 200 watt HPS Units and $700 for the 310 watt units.  Energy saving was 9.2 MegaWatts, 38,000 MWHrs per year, and $3.4 million per year.  Maintenance Savings were $3.5 Million per year.  Net Economic Benefits were a $92 million Net Cash Flow to Caltrans based on 15 year life of LEDs and a 4% inflation factor.  Other benefits include: 1) More Uniform Lighting, 2) Less Light Pollution, 3) Reduced Carbon Footprint of 18,000 tons CO2 per year and 4) Rebates of $5 million to $7 million
 
by Sandi Burtseva
Nation League of Cities www.NLC.org
http://tinyurl.com/ckwwpvm

March 12, 2012

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