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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 377-08TO: City of Palo Alto City Manager’s-Report ! " " ~’’! HONORABLE CITY CONCIL ¯I FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT:. CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE DATE:OCTOBER 6, 2008 CMR: 377:08 REPORT TYPE: INFORMATIONAL SUBJECT:Update on Plan to Pilot, Fund and Expand Use Of LED Street Lighting Technology This is an informational report and no Council action is required. : ¯ ’ .. BACKGROUND At its July 21, 2008 meeting, Council .requested that staff .rettim in September-with. plans to implement those short-term (by December 2009) Climate Protection Plan action items for which cost benefit analysis had been performed and could be implemented.in the next few months: Of. particular interest was the prospective use of light-emitting diod~i (LED) technology .for street lighting. This technology offers both a reduction in greerih0use;.gas (GHG)emissions and long- term operating cost savings from reduced energy use, maintenaneei mid hazardous ¯waste ~disposal. The purchase of remanufactured toner cartridges was also discussed; how.ever, their contribution to GHG reduction is much less significant at about tWo tons pbr year. .Plans. to expand and maximize their use and to require specifications that ensure strong pe.rfo .rmance are .already included inanew office supply contract "Request for Proposals" that is scheduled to. be released later this fall. This report focuses on current plans to pilot LED street lighting technology in the community over the next one to two years and a preliminary plan to depl6yttie: te(hn0i~.gy over the next i0 years. Additional GHG reduction measures that are new, part of on, going programs or prbjects, or that were assessed as part of the cost-benefit analyses delivered in July 2008 .will be reported to Council later this year. This report will also include a revised GHG cOntribution estimate from this year’s California Climate Action Registry GHG inventory. ’ -. . - DISCUSSION - LED Lighting Technology Overview White LED lamps can replace traditional Street lamps for both glObe and cobra head lamp fixtures. Work to effect the LED lamp installations involves complete disconnection and removal .of the existing fixture, and installation and reconnection to the power sourde ofthe new LED lamp. Manufacturers are pursuing the use of LED in lighting appiications because of their potential benefits, which include: CMR: 377:08 Page 1 of 6 Reduced, energy consumption projections of approximately 50 percent compared with the High Pressure Sodium (HPS) street lamps currently used throughout the City; Extended product life of upto 25 years (wattage dependent) yielding a lifespan that is potentially five times longer than HPS lamps currently in use; Improved light distribution; Lower maintenance costs; Truer color rendition that is preferred by security staff and police officers. Staff.is. committed to implementing LED technology and readying itself operationally to incorporate new LED technology into street, garage and other lighting applications as soon as possible. Implementation ability is contingent on product performance, availability, efficiency, price and sufficient, funding for capital costs. Staff is currently piloting LED technology for parking lot and garage applications and will expand pilot efforts in the next fiscal year to review and test various street lighting products on the market. Pilot projects are an excellent way to obtain public input because LED technology will change the illuminated character of the City’s streets. The pilot projects will provide staff with experience installing, maintaining, and adjusting the new fixtures to achieve appropriate lighting levels which will ultimately facilitate the City-wide conversion to LED lighting. Advances in the reliability, effectiveness and efficiency of LED lighting are expected during the next few years which could potentially help the City reduce GHG emissions even more than current LED technology. While the City’s use of LED lighting is not contingent on further efficiency improvements, best available technology will be used whenever possible. Bay Area LED Lighting Projects: In addition to Palo Alto’s current pilot projects, several private and municipal LED street light and parking light pilots are underway throughout the Bay Area. These projects are all in the pilot stage; no Bay Area cities have yet commenced replacing all HPS street or garage lights with LED technology alternatives. Many plan more comprehensive deployments over time pending Sufficient available funding, improved quality of. LED lighting products and sufficient commercially-available quantities., PG&E and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) have partnered to conduct a ’LED street light pilot that includes trials from different manufaeturers (Cyclone, BetaLED, Relume, and LeoTech) to evaluate energy savings, lighting performance, and longevity. Installations have recently been completed and are located in front of PG&E’s headquarters building in downtown San Francisco and near San Francisco City Hall on Fulton Street. The City of Sunnyvale has two test locations for LED streetlights and is installing additional units in a few of its commercial/industrial areas. Sunnyvale has been testing and gathering comments for the past six months and expects to go forward with permanent installations in the near future if PG&E develops a flat rate for LED streetlights or offers a rebate program to offset the material costs. If PG&E funding is unavailable or insufficient, Sunnyvale will likely purchase and install units only after failures of existing streetlights. Sunnyvale staff report success and are very satisfied with the LED street light performance thus far. San Marco Community College District replaced a total of 22 parking lot HPS cobra heads with LED fixtures at two of its campuses. It has received excellent feedback from CMR: 377:08 Page 2 of 6 facilities crew and is currently discussing the creation of a new LED light district standard and replacement of cun’ent HPS cobra head parking lot lights with LED (Beta) lighting. Other Northern California LED pilots have been conducted by Google, Cal Trans, Sacramento Municipal Utilities District, and the cities of Richmond, Oakland, San Jose, and South San Francisco. Many of these trials have resulted in valuable information that the City of Palo Alto can use in making critical purchasing selections. Implementing LED street lighting in Palo Alto The 6,300 lights comprising the HPS street light inventory are maintained by a two-member crew funded by the Electric Fund. The annual expenditures related to energy and maintenance costs are estimated at approximately $300,000 and $400,000 respectively for a total of $700,000. In August, Utilities and Public Works staff met to discuss the feasibility of expanding the current parking structure and surface lot LED lighting pilots to include street lighting. Staff agreed to pursue the following actions and have aligned the short, medium and long-term goals with the time frame used in the City’s Climate Protection Plan. In fiscal year 2008-09 (Short-Term) a) Incorporate LED street light technology in California Avenue Business district in summer 2009. A current effort in Public Works-Engineering is underway to provide LED street lighting as part of a larger effort to realign/restripe California Avenue and eventually to replace or repair other street elements e.g., trees, furniture, and fountain repair. This will be accomplished under the current Capital Improvement Project PE- 07005 "California Avenue Improvements." The inclusion of LED fixtures in the planned streetlight replacements will be accomplished without diminishing the other important elements of this project. LED fixtur~es are more expensive than currently used high pressure sodium fixtures. However, because the existing streetlight infrastructure (pole bases, foundations and conduit system) will be reused, some of the cost impacts are mitigated. A preferred LED product has been identified and new poles (selected for aesthetic reasons and not related to LED technology) will undergo formal ARB review so the community can participate in the review. While this project will have nominal impact on the FY 2009 five percent GHG reduction goal, this project will inform other LED lighting pilot projects that are in the planning stages. It should also help identify general design standards that will be beneficial for future development projects. b)Expand pilot projects at Cambridge surface lots and the Cambridge and the Cowper/Webster parking structures. These pilots were funded with $20,000 of the City Manager’s Innovation Fund money. Cambridge surface lots: The Cambridge surface parking lot LED lights use one manufacturer’s product (Relume) and are designed to replace. HPS cobra head luminaires which are typically used in residential street lighting. City street light crews reported that the installation of these four units was comparable to CMR: 377:08 Page 3 of 6 that of HPS luminaires. Light output shows improved quality and lumen output and distribution comparable to the HPS luminaries. Cambridge and Cowper/Webster parking structures: Twelve LED light installations at this site will include occupancy sensors enabling the lights to normally operate at half power. Upon motion detection, these lights will instantly adjust to full power. Installation is planned for the fourth level of this structure where lights are anticipated to be on at half power for at least 90 percent of the time, resulting in 83 percent less power use at this location. LED lighting will also be installed at the upper deck of the Cambridge Parking Structure. This site will provide an opportunity to compare LED lighting side by side with metal halide lighting, another traditional lighting source, and simultaneously improve upon existing lighting levels. c)Evaluate the feasibility of using LED lighting for new private developments through the Architectural Review process. This approach could be implemented immediately and would involve directing staff and the Architectural Review Board- (ARB) to include such an evaluation by app!icants for new commercial and multi-family residential projects. This is similar to the approach the ARB used in implementing green building checklists prior to enacting ordinance requirements. In fiscal year 2009-2010 (Medium-Term) a) Complete neighborhood LED street lighting pilot by July 2010. Staff will work with citizen groups, such as Community Environmental Action Partnership and others, to locate a residential neighborhood in which to test and compare LED street light technologies in FY 2009-10. The project will include a review of other local agency efforts to leverage the best information and research to date and may include a pilot of several LED lighting technologies to identify preferred models and vendors. The pilo{ project will use $30,000 from the Electric Utility’s Public Benefit Research and Development funds in its initial stages. Addit{onal funding may be requested as the project becomes more defined and the exact number of fixtures is known. After installation, staff will monitor and evaluate the pilot area for six months and survey the pilot community for feedback. The project is expected to take approximately one year for completion. b)Explore requiring LED lighting for new private developments. This task would requir.e a ,six-month period of outreach to developers, applicants, local business owners and other stakeholders to gather and process feedback on this potential requirement. Based on the input received, staff would develop a recommendation on whether the City should add this requirement as an ordinance to the Performance Standards section of the zoning code which would require another six to nine months for approval. Before 2020 (Long-term) a) Set target to implement LED replacement for a majority of street light inventory in the approximate timeframe of 2015. After completing the street lighting pilot project, Utilities will revise its estimate of when LED lighting could be fully deployed and provide a replacement plan which will discuss project schedule, resources, and life-cycle costs and benefits (2010). Based on the outcome of the pilot projects, the total number of streetlights, and the availability of cost-effective products in the field, it is conceivable CMR: 377:08 Page 4 of 6 that the LED replacement project could be conducted over an approximately five year period with the installations budgeted and contracted for as part of the Electric Capital Improvement Program. The exact percentage of replacements will be based upon the types of lights required (historic street lights may not be able to be retrofitted), the capability of product to be commercially delivered, and the cost-effectiveness of the available products. Estimated Costs and GHG Reduction Replacement of all 6,300 HPS lamps would reduce GHG emissions by 800 to 950 metric tons per year. This reduction is equivalent to approximately 1.5 percent of the 65,329 metric tons of total municipal government COa emissions estimated in the December 2007 Climate Protection Plan. The amount of GHG is about 40 percent lower than the previous GHG reduction estimate for this project because the electric supplies purchased for Palo Alto are clearer than the coal units originally assumed in the GHG calculations. The current estimated capital cost of converting all 6,300 fixtures is approximately $4 million. If a 50% energy and operational cost savings could be achieved as a result of the conversion, the simple pay back period would be approximately 11 years. These estimates are preliminary and will be refined as operational experience is gained through the pilot programs. Staff is seeking opportunities to collaborate with other cities on bulk purchases of LED lighting fixtures to drive down initial capital cost and will also consider the remaining life of the existing HPS light fixtures when developing the HPS phase-out plan. Funding for Long Term Expansion of LED Lighting In response to Council’s request to address the financing for a LED conversion project, Utilities staff has agreed to explore the possibility of transferring the complete responsibility of the City’s streetlight system (including all costs and expenditures associated with converting the traditional lights to LED and maintaining them once installed) to the Electric Utility Enterprise Fund as part of the FY 09-10 budget process. Such a change will require~review and approval as appropriate by the Utilities Advisory Commission, the Finance Committee and City Council. If approved, the costs for the city-wide deployment of LED streetlights will be funded by the Electric Utilities Enterprise Funds, and incorporated in the associated budget. Such a change would enable the benefits and costs of the conversion to accrue to the Electric Fund. RESOURCE IMPACT Funding for the California Avenue project and residential street lighting pilot project is already, identified in an existing Public Works capital project and in the Utilities budget. Future funding of LED replacements for a majority of the street light inventory is expected to come from the Electric Utility Enterprise Fund. POLICY IMPLICATIONS The expansion of LED street lighting is in line with the City’s Sustainability Policy, the Council- approved Climate Protection Plan, the Environmentally Preferred Purchasing Policy and the Mercury and Dioxin Elimination Policy. This program will be developed within the framework of the Council-approved Ten-Year Efficiency Portfolio Plan of 2007. The Ten-Year Energy Efficiency Portfolio Plan has been focused on re-optimizing existing programs to maximize cost- effectiveness criteria; revamping the commercial custom rebate program to better reflect new technologies and costs; establishing new construction and remodeling incentives; pursuing third- CMR: 377:08 Page 5 of 6 party and joint agency efficiency programs; and conducting analysis and procuring legislatively mandated third party measurement and verification services needed to review the results of the plan. Since energy efficiency program portfolios are required by state law to remain cost-effective, further analysis will be undertaken on the benefits and costs of this lighting replacement program when additional data becomes available from the pilot programs. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW The actions described in this report are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, pursuant to California Code of Regulations, Title 14 §15061(b)(3), because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant impact on the environment, and pursuant to §15308, since these are actions taken by regulatory agencies for protection of the environment. PREPARED BY:STEVE EMSLIE, Deputy City Manager JULIE WEISS, Sustainability Team/PWD-RWQCP CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: CMR: 377:08 Page 6 of 6