Demonstration Assessment of Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Parking Lot Lighting in Leavenworth, KS

This report describes the process and results of a demonstration of solid-state lighting (SSL) technology in a commercial parking lot lighting application, under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solid-State Lighting Technology GATEWAY Demonstration Program. The parking lot is for customers and employees of a Walmart Supercenter in Leavenworth, Kansas and this installation represents the first use of the LED Parking Lot Performance Specification developed by the DOE’s Commercial Building Energy Alliance. The application is a parking lot covering more than a half million square feet, lighted primarily by light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Metal halide wall packs were installed along the building facade. This site is new construction, so the installed baseline(s) were hypothetical designs. It was acknowledged early on that deviating from Walmart’s typical design would reduce the illuminance on the site. Walmart primarily uses 1000W pulse-start metal halide (PMH) lamps. In order to provide a comparison between both typical design and a design using conventional luminaires providing a lower illuminance, a 400W PMH design was also considered. As mentioned already, the illuminance would be reduced by shifting from the PMH system to the LED system. The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) provides recommended minimum illuminance values for parking lots. All designs exceeded the recommended illuminance values in IES RP-20, some by a wider margin than others. Energy savings from installing the LED system compared to the different PMH systems varied. Compared to the 1000W PMH system, the LED system would save 63 percent of the energy. However, this corresponds to a 68 percent reduction in illuminance as well. In comparison to the 400W PMH system, the LED system would save 44 percent of the energy and provide similar minimum illuminance values at the time of relamping. The LED system cost more than either of the PMH systems when comparing initial costs. However, when the life-cycle costs from energy and maintenance were factored into the scenario, the LED system had lower costs at the end of a 10-year analysis period. The LED system had a 6.1 year payback compared to the 1000W PMH system and a 7.5 year payback versus the 400W PMH system. The costs reflect high initial cost for the LED luminaire, plus more luminaires and (subsequently) more poles for the LED system. The other major issue affecting cost effectiveness was that Leavenworth, Kansas has very low electricity costs. The melded rate for this site was $0.056 per kWh for electricity. However, if the national electricity rate of $0.1022/kWh was used the payback would change to between four and five years for the LED system. This demonstration met the GATEWAY requirements of saving energy, matching or improving illumination, and being cost effective. The project also demonstrated that the Commercial Building Energy Alliance (CBEA) specification works in practice. Walmart appreciated having an entire site lighted by LEDs to gain more experience with the technology. Walmart is reviewing the results of the demonstration as they consider their entire real estate portfolio