Energy Savings Potential: Downtown Streetlight Study
Background: Streetscapes & Energy Grants
Last November Council voted to approve a recommendation from the City’s Energy Committee to pursue an energy planning grant that would enable a comprehensive assessment of how the City uses energy. With this assessment in hand, the city could target areas with the greatest potential for substantial savings in energy costs. The grant has been awarded and the City is awaiting the final contract and initial funding. One aspect of the energy planning grant is to complete an inventory and preliminary assessment of the 700 plus street lights for which CMP bills the City. Energy Committee is in the planning stages for this part of the project. The electricity powering street lights is the second largest use of electricity in city government. Rockland’s street lights consume more power than any single city building, regardless of the fuel source, except the Library.
In 1999 as part of a major Main Street enhancement project, the City entered into a lease with CMP for fifty nine 19.75 ft/175 watt decorative street lights plus an additional ten 8 ft/70 watt decorative lights. These lights are located along Main and South Main Streets from the intersection of North Main south to the intersection of Pleasant Street. The combined lease and power costs for these Main Street lights represent about 40% of the city’s annual street light expenses. Both the nature of the lease and the manner in which electricity is billed for these lights differ from the arrangement for the rest of the City’s street lights.
Energy Committee Update On Main Street Lights
The purpose of this update from the Energy Committee to Council is two fold. The first reason is to provide a concise summary of the costs related to Main Street lights. The second is simply to contrast the difference in the cost to the City between the two types of decorative lights used in this part of town. The smaller 8 ft/70 watt, often referred to as pedestrian scale, lights are popular in downtown business districts. For example, lights of this style are all that is used in downtown Camden. While a somewhat overly simplistic analysis, if the fifty nine large 19.75 ft lights were actually like the other pedestrian scale lights, the savings to the city could be on the scale of $40,000-$45,000 per year.
Fifty Nine 175 Watt Lights & Ten 70 Watt Lights
The bulk of the downtown street lights are 19.75 feet tall/175 watt units. As the table below indicates, the rental fee to CMP for these 175 watt lights totals $84.55 per light per month excluding any charges for electricity. Thus, the 59 units along Main Street cost the City of Rockland $59,861.40 in annual rental fees and approximately $68,449.29 when electricity cost is added into the equation (values based on bills for 2008-2009 budget year).
Along the west side of Main Street for three blocks from Elm to Limerock a smaller 8 foot tall/70 watt light is used. There are 15 of these 70 watt lights along this segment of Main Street. Ten are leased by the City from CMP and the five in the block in front of the Farnsworth (i.e., Elm St. to Museum St.) are owned by the museum. (Note: During recent renovation, Camden National also added lights like these on Orient Street). The rental fee for one of these smaller lights totals $33.67/month (vs. $84.55/month for a 175 watt unit). The ten costs the city approximately $4,622.83 annually.
Cost Comparison for Single 19.8 ft/175 Watt vs 8.0ft/70 Watt Lights
| 19.8 Ft. Pole | 8.0 Ft Pole | |
| Monthly Fees/Cost Per Light: | 175 Watt Light | 70 Watt Light |
| Luminaire/Light Fixture | $32.55 | $23.17 |
| Camden Arm Brackets | $15.50 | NA |
| Decorative Pole | $16.50 | $10.50 |
| Hallbrook Base | $16.00 | NA |
| Harbor Slipfitters | $4.00 | NA |
| Total Rental Fee/Light/Month | $84.55 | $33.67 |
| Approx Electricity/Light/Month | $12.13 | $4.85 |
| Approx Total $$ Per Light Per Month | $96.68 | $38.52 |
Cost Comparison for 59 of 19.8 ft/175 Watt vs 59 of 8.0ft/70 Watt Lights
| Total Annual Lease Fee | $59,861.40 | $23,838.36 |
| Approx Annual Elec $$ | $8,587.89 | $3,435.16 |
| Approx Annual Cost for 59 Lights | $68,449.29 | $27,273.52 |
Costs in table reflect what City was paying per light in '08-'09 Fiscal Year
It should also be noted that street lights along Main/South Main are located on City sidewalks with the wiring connecting the lights belonging to the City. In addition, the power to these lights is metered. This stands in contrast to monthly power bills for the rest of the City’s Street lights which are calculated by CMP based on the size of the light.
Energy Committee Recommendations
The purpose of this update is to bring this issue to Council’s attention. In an era of tight budgets, the committee concluded that an area that could over time yield $40,000 per year (or more) in savings warrants careful evaluation. Any change will take time and careful consideration to be sure aesthetic values and lighting needs downtown are preserved. The Energy Committee, working with the City Manager and other city staff, will continue to collect information concerning streetlights in order to maximize energy savings and budget dollars as part of the citywide energy planning process.
Given the need to review options well before the current service agreement ends (summer 2014), and given that some savings could be potentially be realized sooner, and given that more tight budget years lie ahead, Council might wish to consider directing the City Manager, with assistance from the Energy Committee, to bring some options before Council for consideration far enough in advance that implementation could occur if desired in the FY 2012 or as soon as proves feasible.
