Solid-state lighting (SSL) luminaire manufacturer the Lighting Science Group (LSG) and lighting vendor the Lumetech Group have worked with the city of Dallas, Texas to perform a lighting upgrade to LED-based fixtures in five downtown parking garages. The partners estimate that the retrofit will cut 1,700,000 kWh in annual energy consumption.

The upgrades took place in parking garages at the Dallas City Hall, the Dallas Public Library, the Jack Evans Police Building, the freight terminal beneath Thanksgiving Square, and the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony center. LSG supplied its Flat LowBay LED luminaires to the project.

While light quality should ultimately be judged in part based on quantitative measurements, photos from the Dallas project seem to clearly indicate the superiority of the LED lights. Before and after photos from the library garage indicate that the SSL provides brighter and more uniform lighting.

”The City of Dallas is committed to acting in the best interests of its taxpayers and to improve the efficiency in which it operates,” said Ron Natinsky, Dallas Council Member. “Over the past few years, we have actively worked to become more environmentally efficient and have enacted a number of important green initiatives, including the recent efficiency upgrade of our parking garages.”

Lumetech is specifically focused on energy-efficient lighting and especially LED-based SSL. Lumetech CEO Ron Lusk said, “Increasingly, facility owners and managers are taking proactive steps to increase the operating efficiencies of their properties and to reduce costs. We are in the middle of what has proved to be an industry-wide, multi-year undertaking of commercial properties instituting ‘green’ energy solutions.

Like most SSL upgrades, the Dallas project targets both energy and maintenance savings. “With rising energy costs across the country, cities like Dallas are looking for ways to save energy -- the installation of Lighting Science Group’s LED fixtures will significantly reduce the city’s maintenance, replacement and energy costs,” said Rich Weinberg, Chairman and CEO of Lighting Science Group.

Lumetech’s Lusk added, “The major driver behind this movement is the recognition of substantial savings in power consumption and labor costs, monetary rebates and incentives offered by state and federal governments and utility companies and the accelerated rate of payback, often in less than 36 months. There is also an increased commitment from property owners and operators to act in the best interest of the communities in which they operate.”

The city hasn’t projected maintenance savings attributable to the upgrade. But the aforementioned reduction in energy usage is a 60% reduction from the prior lighting. Councilman Natinsky said, “I hope that our actions compel the leadership of other cities and private sectors to follow suit” referring to the investment in SSL.

Lumetech also recently completed an in Dallas County Schools parking lots. Lumetech handled that project in partnership with the Oncor regulated utility. The upgrade is projected to save 505,000 kWh per year, and $363,600 in energy and maintenance costs over the lifetime of the luminaires.