On a recent evening, Norfolk’s environmental sustainability manager Megan Hale stood downtown between City Hall and the courthouse.
As the sun set around 5 p.m., she looked upward. Holiday lights lining the tops of the city buildings flickered on.
“And they're on!” Hale said. “So these are the warm colored lights, if you're a connoisseur of holiday lights.”
The lights on 17 buildings downtown now shine with LED bulbs, including the ones at Nauticus, Wells Fargo, Selden Arcade, the Waterside bridge and city parking garages.
In total there are about 16,000 bulbs, enough to stretch three miles if they were to be laid end to end.
Norfolk made the switch last year as part of its Watts Going Down initiative to cut the city’s energy consumption by 20% between 2019 and 2032. They’re currently hovering around 9%.
The commitment is tied to the city’s Climate Action Plan and participation in a federal program called the Better Buildings Challenge.
Hale said Norfolk is working on different approaches to achieve energy savings, including more energy-efficient windows and equipment at a city animal shelter and 911 call center.
Upgrading lights from traditional bulbs to LEDs is another relatively easy strategy, she said.
“LEDs right now are the most energy-efficient bulb that you can get,” she said. They use at least 75% less energy than incandescents.
LED lights, which come in a range of different colors and brightnesses, also stay cool and last about 25 times longer.
Norfolk’s lights stay up all year, but only shine for 45 days during the holiday season, seven hours each day.
During that time, the switchover to LEDs will save about 42,000 kilowatt hours of energy, roughly 30 times the amount of electricity the average Virginia household uses in a month, according to the city.
That will also save the city thousands of dollars in energy bills each season, Hale said.
She said the project cost a little over $100,000, which the city expects to be paid off from energy savings over time.
