Contra Costa County - Lighting Retrofit

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With funding from a $180,000 loan from the California Energy Commission, Contra Costa County will install new energy-efficient lighting systems at eight of its county buildings. This retrofit is estimated to save about 297,092 kilowatt-hours (240 thousand pounds of CO2), or $41,593 in avoided energy costs, annually, and reduce its electric demand by 93.4 kilowatts. The county will replace old T12 and T8 lights with new low-power factor electronic ballasts and T8 lamps that use about 25% less energy. Additionally, exit signs will now be lit by LEDs instead of incandescent and compact fluorescent light bulbs, and standard metal halide lamps will be replaced with lower-wattage pulse-start models. After Pacific Gas and Electric Company rebates, the project has an estimated payback of 4.3 years. The county loan was from the California Energy Commission's Energy Efficiency Financing program, which offers California schools, hospitals and local governments loans of up to $3 million, with rates as low as 3.95%, for energy saving projects.

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