Contractor boosts levels of new lights in campus parking garages
October 17, 2012
Capitol Campus Update
OLYMPIA – Adjustments are being made to boost the minimum light level emitted by the new energy-efficient, white-light LED fixtures being installed in all Capitol Campus parking garages.
The McKinstry Company, the project contractor, is resetting about 20 percent of the new lights.
In addition to the new LED fixtures, the project calls for the installation of occupancy sensors that dim the lights to a lower setting when the surrounding area is unoccupied. The goal is to improve safety and cut energy use.
When the first phase of the project was completed in the Plaza Garage earlier this month, some state employees who park there and work late had concerns that the sensor-adjusted light levels were too low and that they felt unsafe.
A mock-up of the readjusted lighting has been set-up on the east side of the "E" level of the Plaza Garage for employees who park there to check out.
The new LED lights are expected to save the state about $145,500 annually through lower utility bills and fewer repairs compared to current costs. Enterprise Services will receive more than $700,000 in energy-conservation incentives from Puget Sound Energy. The state should recover the $2.2 million project costs in about 10 years.
The new lights will be installed outside of normal business hours, from 5 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday, so there should be few, if any, impacts to state employees who park in these garages.
The new LED fixtures are currently being installed in the Department of Transportation building garage. The lights will be installed next in the Natural Resources Building garage, and later in the Columbia Street and General Administration garages and the 14th Avenue tunnel. The work is scheduled to be complete in December.
The existing lights in campus garages cast low levels of yellow-colored light that are below building standards for parking structures. The new lights will render colors and detail better and be noticeably brighter than the old ones, improving safety.