Workmen install a new light fixture in the Prince Street Parking Garage on Thursday.
The relighting of Lancaster Parking Authority's garages is one of those proverbial "win-wins," Larry Cohen enthuses.
The replacement of the 2,400 fixtures in all five of the city's public garages will provide better, brighter lighting and make the garages safer.
It will cost less to power and maintain the fixtures, and the project will reduce the authority's environmental impact, Cohen, the authority's executive director, said.
"We'll reap the benefit of this for probably the next 20 years," Cohen said.
The two-month installation project began Thursday in the authority's largest garage, Prince Street Parking Garage.
It is the first authority-wide lighting replacement done in the garages. Some of the fixtures being replaced are original to the garages, the oldest of which were built four decades ago.
Cohen said the cost of the project will be about $413,000. With energy-saving rebates, that cost drops to $333,000, he said.
With the $92,000 annual cost savings on the authority's electric bill, the investment will be returned in a little over three years, he said. The savings represent a 44 percent reduction from current electric pricing.
The project funding will come from — and be returned gradually to — the authority's "rainy day fund," Mark Vergenes, the authority's board chairman, said.
Vergenes noted that parking revenues at the garages have been relatively flat, while operating costs have continued to rise. The lighting project will reduce operating costs and, the authority hopes, will keep motorists parking in the garages.
"It's all related to the customer service and customer satisfaction, because we can't grow more spaces," Vergenes said.
As part of the authority's contract with Chicago-based BlueStar Energy Solutions, the company will take over maintenance of the fixtures for three years.
A recent survey noted that 37 different kinds of light bulbs were being used in the garages. With the replacement project, that number will shrink to four or five, Vergenes said.
The new lights will be T-8 fluorescents, Cohen said. The energy-efficient lights will project a white light. The new lights are replacing older-style fluorescents and high-pressure sodium lights, which cast a yellowish light.
All the garages will be brighter with the same amount of fixtures, he said, with the exception of the 3-year-old East King Street garage.
The light output will be about the same in authority's newest garage, but there will be significant cost savings with the switch, he said.
While there has been much discussion about adopting light emitting diode lights, Cohen said LED fixtures remain prohibitively expensive and the light output relatively low.
The project is being coupled with the authority's switch of energy provider. In addition to providing and installing the fixtures, BlueStar will supply energy to the authority for the next three years at about $140,000 per year.
According to environmental projections made by the company, the relighting is projected to save: 675 tons of carbon dioxide; 3,920 pounds of sulfur dioxide and 1,658 pounds of nitrous oxides. It is also the equivalent of taking 128 cars off the road and planting 17,298 trees, the parking authority reported.
