HEIF Redwood Bowl lighting: Difference between revisions

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HEIF Meeting 12:00PM - 2:00PM November 6, 2009 Room 113 in the NHE^[1] building

Humboldt State University is changing their lighting system of Redwood Bowl in order to reduce emissions, light pollution, and energy consumption of the university. Students of the Green Campus Programor (GC) wrote a proposal that was submitted in spring 2009 to gain interest in the subject of retrofitting the Redwood Bowl. This site is dedicated for everyone interested in understanding the current lighting, future lighting, and reasons for retrofit.

The Proposal

Old System

The Old System consists of 60 fixtures on 8 lead based poles with 12 lamps each and the current light usage for all the lamps together is 65,500 kWh/yr. The lamps on the old system are 1500 watt metal halide standard and only last about 3,000 hours of usage. Since the poles were built in the 80s, the catwalks to reach the lights are very hazardous and it is unsafe for repair workers to climb up them. This makes it very difficult for when the lamps need to be changed after they have burned out.

New System

The new system thought of by the GC came from Musco Lighting® (Musco) Sportscluster Green ™ specializing in HSU's needs. This system has 60 fixtures of specialized 1500-Watt metal halide lamps. Unlike the current lamps, these lamps are guaranteed to last up to 5,000 hours. In addition, the new system guarantees a constant level of light at 60 foot-candles, or FC,and will light the track by 25 FC for the life of one lamp. These lights will be installed by Humboldt State University's Plant Operations or (PO) Plant Operations and under watch by a Musco representative. To monitor the system's energy consumption GC interns will use a device known as the ElitePro™ Recording Poly-phase energy meter. This will let the GC and http://www.humboldt.edu/~plantops/ PO] record the overall efficiency of the new system.

This new system originally was supposed cost HSU $261,370. These costs come from the material needed to make the lights($139,378), a monitoring device to keep data on how the system performs($1,600), and the initial installation and labor($120,392). Now the new system's cost is significantly higher due to the need to remove the old poles and replace them with non-lead based ones. The new system's expected light usage is about 39,000 kWh/y.

Comparison

The differences between the old system and the new system are expected to be noticeable to both Humboldt State University and the surrounding environment.

For Humboldt State University this system is projected to reduce energy usage by 1,525,000 kilowatt-hours expanding over a 25 year period and an estimated cost-saving of 186,221 dollars, according to the GC. Not only will in cut Humboldt State University in its energy usage, it will also reduce the university's greenhouse impact of carbon dioxide by 796,525 pounds over 25 years. Since the Redwood Bowl is at a higher elevation than the rest of the town of Arcata there is a dispersion of light pollution during evening events onto the town. It becomes even more of an issue during foggy nights, which is common in this environment. This light pollution also effects the animals living around the bowl. A common creature that is active around the time when these lights are put on are bats. This artificial light was found to delay the emergence of juvenile bats, thus leaving them with less mass and a shorter wing span than bats away from artificial light. To relief both the local town and the bat population around the bowl the new system is guaranteed to reduce light pollution 50%. The reason for this is because the lights are carefully manufactured and placed to try and only shine light on the stadium.

Funding

GC with assistance from various people, covered in the proposal, came up with a request proposal to change Redwood Bowl's lighting system. This request was then brought to HIEF who granted $75,000 of the originally $261,370 needed for the project. GC also put in an application to the UC/CSU/Investor-Owned Utilities(IOU)Partnership for $14,593 in rebate funding for the energy savings the project will yield. The cost of $171,777 is up to Plant Operations to pay.

The Hours

Between June 1, 2007 and May 31, 2008 the lights were used a total of 1126 hours. The picture on the right shows a sample of the total amount of hours from June 1, 2007 to May 31, 2008.

Expected Construction and Completion Dates

Originally the new lighting system was supposed to be installed summer 2009. There have however been setback due to newfound safety hazards. The current lighting poles are lead based and it is a new goal to take them down. The eight poles will be replaced with 4 non lead based poles. Now the expected date of construction and completion is around winter break, but a setback is very possible.

Terminology

Fixtures - An electrical device used to create Artificial light.^[5]
Foot-Candles - A unit of illuminance, equal to one lumen per square foot.^[6]
Lumen - A unit of measurement of Light.^[7]
Catwalks - An elevated service platform, used to change light bulbs.^[8]

Footnotes

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Sources

• HSU Campus Map
  
• Plant Operations
  
• The Proposal for Redwood Bowl relighting
  
• Appendix J, Data table showing how long the lights were on.pdf
  
• Appendix K Photos
  
• Musco Green Light structure