is page or responsible for its content.
currents newsletter 11 - 1/00 receive two highly-
efficient compact
fluorescent bulbs
when they join.
The energy saved
from the compact
fluorescents will
offset some or all
of the 6% green
power price premi-
um.
All of LADWPs
lower income cus-
tomers will also receive 100% green
power at no additional cost.
Goodrich worked closely with
Caltrans personnel to develop the
first agreement with Caltrans for a
City to enjoy the full dollar saving
benefits of an energy retrofit under
such a cost sharing agreement.
Caltrans wanted to be in a position
of promoting energy conservation
and supporting local government
agencies, said Goodrich. There
were ancillary benefits from the
conversion including greatly ex-
tended lamp life and reduced risk
of catastrophic lamp failure.
Since the approval of the original
plan, the City has undertaken a
more extensive traffic signal retrofit
plan. When complete, the bill for
traffic signals will be reduced by
nearly 300%, saving 200,000 kWh
per year.
T
he Los Angeles Department
of Water and Power
(LADWP) announced last
fall that 20,000 customers had
signed up for its Green Power for
a Green LA program.
The early success of the Green LA
program has allowed LADWP to
give the go-ahead to construct new
green power plants. Generating
electricity from geothermal, solar
or wind sources, these new green
facilities will comprise 20% of the
Green LA power mix. The remain-
ing 80% is from existing hydro-
electric sources.
LADWPs dollars and
sense approach to green
power will provide
Green LA customer a
cleaner, sustainable pro-
duct at a competitive price. Proving
the adage that the greenest (and
cheapest) power is the power that
you dont use, Green LA customers
Los Angeles Green Power
Program Signs Up Its 20,000th Customer
CURRENTS
AN ENERGY NEWSLETTER FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
WHATS INSIDE
Green Power in LA
Marysville Lights Up
Utilities Walk the Talk
Earth Day Partners
Tree Guides Online
Spring Conferences
8
Local Government Commission
1414 K St., Suite 250 Sacramento, CA 95814-3966
(916) 448-1198 fax (916) 448-8246
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
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editing & design: dave davis
Non-Profit
Organization
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PAID
Sacramento, CA
Permit 1818
Check out the LGCs Energy Website:
www.lgc.org/energy
Toll-Free Energy Hotline: (877) 674-5159
by Dixon Coulter
City of Marysville
T
he 1997/98 fiscal year tested
the mettle of the City of
Marysville. Decreasing state
allocations had left the City with a
significant revenue shortfall that
left many essential municipal
services in jeopardy.
After implementing many creative
budget measures (the City even
contracted with the California
Department of Forestry to replace
its fire department), the city coun-
cil made the very difficult decision
in July 1997 to turn off 750 of the
Citys nearly 1,200 street lights.
The shut down was scheduled for
August 18, 1997.
Today, Marysvilles nighttime streets
shine brightly, and the City is sav-
ing over $100,000 in energy costs
for the street lights. What hap-
pened?
After seeing Mayor Jerry Crippen
discussing the Citys plan of action
on the evening news, Honeywell
engineer Mike Goodrich approach-
ed city staff in early August with a
proposal to keep the lights on in
Marysville by purchasing the street
lights from Pacific Gas & Electric
while implementing extensive
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
JAN/FEB 2000
intersections in Marysville are on
part of Highway 70 and are there-
fore owned and maintained by the
California Department of Trans-
portation (Caltrans). The electric
utility bills are paid for by the City
of Marysville under a cost sharing
agreement with Caltrans.
compared to a potential savings of
as much as $16 per month per lamp.
While LED traffic signal conver-
sions are becoming very common,
the Marysville project presented a
unique challenge. The majority of
Marysville Teams Up for Energy Efficiency
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2
Marysville Streetlight Purchase
Prevents A Return to Dark Ages
New Ordinance Guide for Urban
Forestry Available on the Web
A
publication that assists local government in developing tree ordi-
nances is now available at http://phytosphere.com/ordintro.htm.
Guidelines for Developing and Evaluating Tree Ordinances con-
tains information that can assist local governments to assess existing
ordinances, determine community needs, draft new ordinances, and
evaluate new ordinances. The guide also provides sample language for
drafting ordinances.
In less than six months, LADWP has
signed up more than 20,000 cus-
tomers for clean, renewable energy. Land & Water Fund of the Rockies
and Public Service Company of
Colorado, in which the environ-
mental group helps market the
electric utilitys green power prod-
uct. For details: www.repp.org.
White House
Painted Green?
As a consumer model for energy
savings through Energy Star prod-
ucts, U.S. DOE recently announced
that a six-year project to install
energy-efficient technologies at the
White House is now saving taxpay-
ers $300,000 per year in energy
bills. For more information: http://
home.doe.gov/news/releases99/
decpr/pr99316.htm.
Colorado Ranks #1
in Building Green
Homes
Colorado developers have built
more than $1 billion worth of
green homes in Colorado over
the past two years, far more than
any other state in the nation,
according to the Rocky Mountain
News (11/22/99). Colorado also
recently became the first state in
the U.S. to offer a statewide energy-
efficient, earth-friendly designation
for its homes. For more
information, visit www.
builtgreen.org.
technology (see the Sep/Oct 1999
issue of Currents for more informa-
tion on energy-saving LED traffic
lights), retrofitting street lights
with new lamps and digital photo
controllers, and purchasing the
street lights from PG&E.
A
cquisition of utility-owned
street lights by local govern-
ment agencies has been on
the rise since 1979. The trend has
been driven by the difference in
electricity rates between street
lights owned and operated by utili-
ties and local governments. Local
governments that purchase their
street lights can typically expect a
net savings of 50% or more, accord-
ing to Goodrich.
The recent passage of Assembly Bill
1890 provides an additional reason
to acquire street lights as local gov-
ernment agencies make Direct
Access electricity purchases in
which all agency accounts are
energy efficiency upgrades on the
Citys infrastructure to reduce energy
costs.
With the new opportunity presented
by Goodrich, the city council voted
to delay pulling the plug on its
streetlights for a month. In mid-
September, the council voted unan-
imously to sign a letter of intent
with Honeywell to develop a plan
to keep all of the Citys street lights
on. A formal agreement was signed
in December.
Under the 13-year financing agree-
ment, the City would purchase all
its street lights from PG&E.
The plan also included financing
for $700,000
worth of energy
saving measures,
including retro-
fitting all City
buildings with
high efficiency
lighting systems,
a u t o m a t i n g
sewer and storm
pumping sys-
tems, convert-
ing traffic and
p e d e s t r i a n
signals lamps
with new LED
Marysville Enters Age of Enlightenment
Statewide Group Sheds Light on
Street Lighting Issues and Rates
C
omprised of participating local government personnel, the
California City/County Street Light Association works to main-
tain fair and equitable street light rates and disseminate street
light-related information. CAL-SLA produces a newsletter, Street Light
Circuit, and organizes an annual conference on up-and-coming tech-
nologies and issues in the field of street lighting.
Through intervention at the California Public Utilities Commission
since 1983, more than $200 million has been saved in street-light rate
reductions. For more information, call Russ Hamm, Executive Director
at (707) 823-4819.
aggregat-
ed togeth-
er to get
the best
price. For
example,
blending
the less-
expensive
nighttime
e l e c t r i c
d e m a n d
of street
l i g h t s
with other
agency electric loads can reduce
the overall cost of electricity for all
agency facilities.
There are two paths for arriving at
an acquisition price for street
lights, negotiation and condemna-
tion. Negotiating the price is often
the least time consuming and can
often result in a mutually agreeable
price between the utility and the
local government agency. Honey-
well utilized the services of Russ
Hamm, Executive Director of the
California City/County Street Light
Association to help in negotiations
with PG&E (see CAL-SLA story
below).
Upon acquisition of the street
lights by a local government
agency, the agency will become
responsible for maintenance and
repair. Should the agency decide to
do the maintenance in-house, one
person can maintain approximately
4,000 to 5,000 street lights includ-
ing relamping, preventative main-
tenance and burnouts.
Additional labor is required for
knock downs. Outside contract
maintenance can typically be pro-
cured for about $1.50 to $2.00 per
lamp per