125 new LED light fixtures on their way to Broadway bridges in Ann Arbor
The Broadway bridges in Ann Arbor will welcome 125 new decorative LED light fixtures soon following action taken by the City Council Monday night.
The council voted 10-0 with Margie Teall absent to authorize the $72,500 purchase from low bidder Caniff Electric of Hamtramck.
Nate Geisler, the city's energy programs associate, said the city anticipates a 50 percent savings in energy and maintenance costs after installation of the LED streetlights.
LED streetlights on Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
"I want to thank the city staff and the administrator for moving forward on this particular contract because I don't think a week has gone by in the last three months that someone in my ward hasn't commented to me that the lights were out on the Broadway bridge," said Council Member Sabra Briere, D-1st Ward.
"But it's most interesting to me that we're now going to have LED lights that hopefully will last longer than what we have seen in the past decade," she added.
The city began the process of converting all city-owned streetlights to LED fixtures in 2007 to save on energy and maintenance costs. Crews began the project with the conversion of 1,000 downtown streetlights through a grant from the Downtown Development Authority.
The effort was then expanded to include the conversion of the city-owned streetlights outside of the DDA area using funding from various state and federal grants.
The city is paying for the latest installation using a small portion of a $1.24 million Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Geisler said a large portion of the grant has been spent now and the city is nearly complete with the conversion to LED streetlights throughout the city.
"Broadway is one of the last remaining locations of city-owned lights that remain," he said.
He said DTE Energy owns about another 5,000 streetlights in the city. City officials have said in the past that DTE wasn't as cooperative as they'd like about converting those to LEDs, though.
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.
Comments
Sparty
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 8:47 p.m.
So Margie Teall was ABSENT Again ? And Marcia Higgins left before the meeting adjourned ? Is that what representation in Ward 4 looks like ? Why yes it does, and continues to look like. It's what the voters continue to vote in. It's a travesty, and Margie Teall is an absolute Hypocrite for holding onto her seat with absolutely no dedication to representing her constituents to the level that they should be served. Let's hope that the recount that Jack Eaton has requested will find those 18 votes separating him and Ms. Teall and he will be declared the actual winner of this contested election so that Ward 4 can actually have the representation it deserves.
RUKiddingMe
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 5:38 p.m.
Does this purchase price include installation? If not, can A2.com get an estimate on installation of all of them as well?
Ryan J. Stanton
Wed, Aug 22, 2012 : 5:44 p.m.
Just got this in an email from the mayor: "The contract covers the purchase. City field staff will do the installation just as they did with the Downtown LED's."
RUKiddingMe
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 10:51 p.m.
My sincere thanks for the direct response, Mr. Stanton. I will attempt to follow up w/ Ms. Briere in the near future, as the latest "believing so"s haven't gone so great, nor is that a confidence-building answer from someone who is in some part in charge of the money. Thanks again.
Ryan J. Stanton
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 9:44 p.m.
Sabra Briere says she believes it covers installation.
Ryan J. Stanton
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 9:11 p.m.
I'm checking on this still.
JRW
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 4:59 p.m.
Plenty of money for fancy lights, but no money for filling potholes and removing snow. Something is wrong with this picture.
zanzerbar
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 2:25 p.m.
This may be saving energy but not the city money. If I am correct Detroit Edison or D.T.E charges a set amount for each light pole not by the amount of electricity actually used.
kraiford12
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 1:50 p.m.
Didn't we (meaning city counsel) decide to turn off a bunch of lights off Stadium Blvd. in an attempt to save money? Then they (meaning city counsel) found out after the fact it saves no money because of the way the city is billed? Just curious how this is different? Or am I mis-remembering?
Brad
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 1:27 p.m.
So between those, the little whirly windmill things and the blinky-blue-light dry fountain wonder by city hall we are poising ourself for the next top 10 list: "Most LED endowed city".
AllDownHill
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 12:57 p.m.
Perhaps the City would like to save more money by shutting off the flood lights on top of City Hall. Didn't the City make some commitment a few years back to lower the amount of light the CIty projected into the night sky? These lights are a nuisance to the highrise dwellers. I remember when the developer finished the building on the corner of Washington and State and installed a flashing red light on the roof. What a pain that was. The building was lower than the UM Clock tower! The City needs to take more care allowing this kind of thing with the changing of the CIty from 2-3-4 story buildings to buildings 8-9-10 stores and higher.......and what happened to that night sky commitment?
63Townie
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 12:44 p.m.
If the intention was to put LED lights on the Broadway bridge, why on earth didn't they install them on the bridge when it was being rebuilt? Ann Arbor wastes so much money redoing things that (with a little foresight) could have been done properly in the first place.
Epengar
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 6:32 p.m.
"why on earth didn't they install them on the bridge when it was being rebuilt?" Probably because LED lights like this weren't available, or were too expensive, when the bridge was rebuilt. LED lighting is quite new.
JRW
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 5 p.m.
YES! Kind of the the high costs of moving the "public" art inside the city building so it's more "public." Do things right the first time, A2!
xmo
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 12:26 p.m.
Is this suppose to save money or save the planet? I see that the LED lights are suppose to save energy & money: "50 percent savings in energy and maintenance costs after installation" Now we get a chance to see if this is true! Mr. Stanton & Annarbor.com,Please follow up with the city and find what the actual savings are?
widmer
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 11:41 p.m.
It would be very surprising if the LED lamps do not end up saving the city a lot of money for the two primary reasons: 1. The 'bulbs' won't need to be replaced for decades. 2. LEDs use much less electricity to produce light than any other technology (ie traditional street lamp technologies like metal halide or sodium lamps). Even the lowest quality LEDs are bound to be more efficient, while higher-end LEDs will produce 160 lumens/watt as compared to metal halide that will produce ~60-100 lumens/watt. This means fewer watts for your target illumination.
Billy
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 11:57 a.m.
That actually a reasonable price for those lights. As long as they aren't those stupid "windmill" lights that guy scammed the city on then this is fine.
Epengar
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 6:30 p.m.
I love the whirlydoodle lights, I think they're delightful. Also, based on this article, I don't think the city paid for them at all. http://www.annarbor.com/news/inventor-of-downtown-ann-arbors-new-whirlydoodles-is-looking-to-go-big-with-next-phase/#.UDPThEQWVNA
JRW
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 5:01 p.m.
Yes, the windmill lights were awful, probably some "art" project approved by the non-elected arts commission, who continues to waste tax dollars that were not approved for art.
Alan Goldsmith
Tue, Aug 21, 2012 : 10:31 a.m.
"The council voted 10-0 with Margie Teall absent..." Surprise.