New lights to illuminate big savings in campus parking garages

September 12, 2012

Capitol Campus Update

OLYMPIA – Enterprise Services will replace the existing lighting in all Capitol Campus parking garages with new energy-efficient, white-light LED fixtures. The project will start in the Plaza Garage on Sept. 17.

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 will be also be installed in the Natural Resources, Columbia Street, General Administration and Office Building 2 service-level garages, and in the 14th Avenue tunnel. The work is scheduled to be complete in December.

Occupancy sensors that will dim the lights to a lower setting when the area surrounding each fixture is unoccupied will also be installed.

The garage lighting project is expected to save the state about $145,500 annually through lower utility bills, fewer repairs and less money spent on capital expenditures compared to current costs. Enterprise Services will also 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 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.