As covered in the Whittier Daily News: the City of Whittier is going green. It’s spending about $2.1 million on ways to make street lights and city buildings more energy efficient, a move that will pay for itself in about four years and save hundreds of thousands of dollars afterward, officials said.
Work is expected to be completed by the end of the year, said Carl Hassell, capital projects administrator.
“This is a good project for Whittier,” said Mayor Joe Vinatieri. “First of all it’s green and it helps us save electricity. We’re getting a lot of bang for our buck. It’s win-win-win all the way around.”
The largest project calls for replacing about 1,600 city street lights with LED fixtures, creating light that is brighter and whiter in appearance and will save $158,156 annually in energy costs, according to city officials.
Comet Electric of Chatsworth was awarded a $1.2 million contract to replace the street lights and is expected to be done in August, said Hassell.
The project is expected to realize an estimated annual electricity savings of 1,261,254 kilowatts, an energy conservation savings of approximately 68 percent of total existing streetlight electricity usage, said City Manager Jeff Collier in a recent City Council written staff report.
Another project calls for the installation of new LED lights at the Community center and City Hall, which should be completed by August, Hassell said.
Facilities Systems Group of Texas is replacing the indoor lighting as part of a nearly $380,000 contract.
New heating/air conditioning equipment is being installed at City Hall and the Community Center at a cost of about $565,000. Work should be completed by the end of September, he said.
Installation of variable drives for mechanical equipment at Palm Park Pool, City Hall, and the Community Center also is under way.
Read more from the Whittier Daily News here.