Share:

A $2.4 million LED project is near completion said officials to change all the fluorescent tubes to LED tubes on the entire campus.

This project began in November and slowly covered the whole except the U Building. Over 34,000 Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) tubes have been changed out for Light Emitting Diode (LED) tubes.

A LED tube uses 55% less electricity than a CFL tube, which is a 17 watts difference, to emit the same amount of light. “So 17 watts multiplied by 34,000, you can imagine the extent of the savings,” said Richard P. Van Pelt vice president of administrative services.

Vice Chair of the Associated Students Sustainability Committee Jason Carman favors the changes. Previously, two employees would constantly change the CFL tubes because they would burn out, but with the LED tubes there would be less manpower needed to change the tubes.

Also LED are better for your eyes. “Hopefully that improves test scores,” Carman said. The savings already are around $20,000 a month.

Art and Interior Design Instructor Heather Kurze has not seen significant change in the lighting in her room. “LED technology represents a huge savings in both the cost of electricity as well as frequency of replacement,” she said.

One-third of the cost, for this project, will be paid by the Pasadena Water & Power Department for its energy saving project said Van Pelt.

According to seesmartled.com, LEDs do not contain mercury. LEDs mostly fail by dimming over time rather than burning out and are approximately ten times more efficient in turning energy into light.

Follow: