The city of Ann Arbor plans to install 45 new LED light fixtures in the parking lot of the Wheeler Service Center, the city's maintenance facility on Stone School Road.
City officials said the wattage for each fixture is being reduced from 400 to 165 watts, reducing maintenance expenses as well as the cost of energy by 60 percent.
The city predicts the average annual savings will be about $5,106, including $4,246 in energy savings and $860 in maintenance savings on labor and equipment.
The Ann Arbor City Council voted this week to approve using $30,870 in federal grant funds to purchase the LED fixtures from Hamtramck-based Caniff Electric.
The city of Ann Arbor began its move to LED lights with the conversion of 1,000 downtown streetlights through a grant from the Downtown Development Authority.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
City officials pointed out the grant period ends March 7, so this is one of the last purchases expected under the grant. They said it brings the total grant utilization to more than 93 percent.
Nathan Geisler, the city's energy programs associate, said in order to achieve energy and maintenance savings, the city's field operations unit began the process of converting all city-owned streetlights to LED fixtures in 2007. The project began with the conversion of 1,000 downtown streetlights through a grant from the Downtown Development Authority.
"This effort was then expanded to include the conversion of the city-owned streetlights outside of the DDA using funding from various state and federal grant funding sources," Geisler wrote in a memo to council. "Opportunities to achieve energy savings through converting conventional lights to LEDs on city properties helps continue to advance these efforts."
All 45 of the new LED lights — spread out across 14 acres of lot space — will be used to replace existing fixtures located at the Wheeler Service Center. City officials said the fixture locations are included on the site plan approved by Pittsfield Township, which has jurisdiction over the site.
A grand opening for the city's new field operations and maintenance facility at the Wheeler Service Center was held on Sept. 29, 2007.
The project included an operations building (39,000 square feet), vehicle storage building (65,000 square feet), maintenance garage (40,000 square feet), salt storage dome, and fueling facility.
Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.