ANCHORAGE – Yesterday at the GLACIER conference, Mayor Ethan Berkowitz announced plans to install cost cutting, energy efficient LED lighting along streets and in facilities in Anchorage. Berkowitz directed the Municipal Maintenance and Operations division to accelerate an inventory of Anchorage lighting infrastructure to determine the best targets for retrofitting. After completing an inventory, the municipality will formalize a finance package and begin the installation process.
“Here on the northern edge, we can also be on the cutting edge,” stated Mayor Berkowitz. “Investing in energy efficient public lighting saves taxpayers money and will reduce our energy demand.”
A previous LED replacement program changed 4,000 of the roughly 16,500 roadway bulbs in Anchorage, mostly along lower speed roadways. This program resulted in annual cost savings to the Municipality of approximately $260,000. On top of the monetary savings, LED bulbs use 50 percent less energy than their traditional counterparts.
Phase one of the retrofit project will focus on local collector streets in the Municipal Light and Power areas such as Fairview, Mountain View, Government Hill, and midtown. The second phase will be based on results from a street lighting analysis along higher speed roadways. Advancements in LED lighting technology in recent years makes it more applicable to higher speed roadways.
Ten villages in the Northwest Arctic Borough recently completed LED replacements, achieving estimated annual cost savings of $120,000. The City of Kotzebue has replaced 75% of local street lights with LED bulbs and the City and Borough of Juneau, when possible, currently installs LED fixtures on new construction projects and when replacing old street lights.
For more information, contact Myer Hutchinson at (907) 343-7133.
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