LED Street Lighting Village of Chicago Ridge

October 27th, 2015

Residential property owners aren’t the only ones installing energy efficient products to save money on their utility bills: governmental agencies are starting to go green, too. The Village of Chicago Ridge was recently able to reduce its street lighting power consumption by 29% by switching to energy efficient luminaires.

One of the largest utility bills the Village pays is for street lighting, which helps drivers see at night and can provide a sense of security. It is important that the light emitted is focused on proper areas of the pavement and parkway, because stray light is often considered light pollution.

Existing street lights are directly connected to the electric utility company and are paid through a rate agreement. To reduce the electric bills from the street lights, Chicago Ridge began a two-phase project to transition the existing 250 watt high pressure sodium luminaires to 88 watt Light-emitting diode (LED) luminaires. A total of 404 luminaires were replaced during Phase 1 which is approximately half of the luminaires located on residential streets within the Village. Provisions were also made that would allow the Village to install lighting controls at a future time that could monitor the luminaires and provide dimming capabilities. These new fixtures help reduce the amount of light pollution that is reflected into the night sky. Future phases are anticipated and the Village hopes to eventually replace all of the Village owned luminaires with more energy efficient LED luminaires.

To offset some of the construction costs, the Village received $131,000 from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) Incentive Program. This totaled 53% of the construction costs.

Andrew Pufundt, PE
Project Manager
Civil Engineering Department

Katrina Ballado, PE, LEED AP
Project Manager
Mechanical/Electrical Engineering Department