MWI CASE STUDY | MUNICIPAL
WE ARE ENERGY CONSERVATION
CITY OF
BATTLE CREEK,
MICHIGAN
PROJECT SCOPE
The City of Battle Creek Traffic Signal
and Decorative Streetscape Upgrade
represents the largest LED conversion
project per capita to date in the State
of Michigan and one of the largest per
capita in North America.
HOW WE SAVED
THE CLIENT MONEY
Pedestrian-Scale Decorative
Streetscape Fixtures
The conversion of 536 existing metal
halide and high pressure sodium
decorative luminaires located in
the Downtown Battle Creek Central
Business District, Riverwalk and
Lakeview Shopping district with LED
Light Engines represents the most
significant portion of the project.
While LED traffic signals and
illuminated street sign panels have
been commercially viable for several
years, the use of LED light engines
as an alternative to traditional high
intensity discharge (metal halide, high
pressure sodium or mercury vapor)
light sources represents leading-edge
technology.
Working in conjunction with Relume
Technologies, our technology partner,
a 56-watt LED Light engine was
developed to retrofit 338 existing
100-watt (125 system watts) metal
halide Lumec “New Westminster”
fixtures located along Michigan Avenue
in the downtown Battle Creek Central
Business District. In addition to these
fixtures, we also retrofitted 198 100watt high pressure sodium “Acorn”
These four-sided illuminated information kiosk signs sprinkled throughout Battle Creek’s downtown Central Business
District were converted from a traditional fluorescent lighting system to the new LED system. Not only do they save the
city money in both energy and maintenance costs; they help convey the city’s message of a safe, fun, walkable downtown.
and “Shepherd’s Crook” style fixtures
located along the downtown Battle
Creek Riverwalk; and on Capital Avenue,
in the Lakeview neighborhood shopping
district.
• Providing increased light levels,
superior color rendition, and
heightened visibility, the LED retrofit
resulted in savings of 237,842
kiloWatt hours with annual electric
cost savings of $13,795 and annual
material and labor maintenance
savings of $54,506.
Traffic Signal LED Conversion
We retrofitted 1,388 existing
incandescent traffic, turn, and
pedestrian signals at 56 intersections
with new LED modules.
In addition to the long term energy and
maintenance savings, the project will
provide the City and its drivers safer
intersections due to the increased
visibility of the new LED modules as
well as the fact that the LED modules
have a rated life ten times that of the
old incandescent signals resulting in
fewer signal outages.
• The retrofit produced a 521,044
kiloWatt Hour reduction, providing
for electric cost savings of 90.7% or
$32,888 annually with an additional
$33,948 per year in material and
labor maintenance savings.
Illuminated Street Name Signs,
Left Turn Signs and Information
Kiosks
This portion of the project consisted
of: the retrofit of 82 existing overhead
fluorescent street name signs, 60
existing overhead incandescent Left
Turn case signs, and four four-sided
fluorescent, illuminated Information
Kiosks located in the Central Business
District with new custom-engineered
LED Light Engines.
• The conversion reduced the energy
consumption of the street name
signs from 106 to 46.5 watts, the
Left Turn cases signs from 250 to
156 watts, and the Information
Kiosks from 675 watts to 400 watts,
for a total kiloWatt Hour reduction of
192,938 producing annual electric
cost savings of $7,949 with annual
material and labor maintenance
savings of $6,122.
• The illuminated street sign, and
decorative streetscape LED light
engines utilize Relume Technologies’
patented “silver circuitry” circuit
board technology, which employs the
Cree XRE 7,000-degree Kelvin color
temperature LEDs, and an advance
transformer power supply. With a
projected live of 70,000 hours, the
new light engines are projected to
have a useful lifespan of at least
15 years, versus two years of the
existing lighting systems.
BY THE NUMBERS SUMMARY
• Total Demand Savings of 217.725 kW
• Total Use Savings of 951,824 kWh
• Total Annual Electric Cost Savings of $54,632 or 81%
• Total Annual Material and Labor Maintenance Savings of $94,576
“The decision to convert lighting to LED will help Battle Creek
reduce its carbon footprint and overall costs,” said Michelle
Reen, City of Battle Creek Assistant to the City Manager.
“Midwest Illumination designed custom lighting solutions that
helped Battle Creek meet its specific and unique needs.”
About Our Partner
any significant lumen depreciation
occurs.
After researching their competitors,
Midwest Illumination selected
Relume Technology as their LED
technology partner due to their
extensive research and development
capability, their patented Silver
Circuitry technology, as well as the
fact that they are also an Oakland
County, Michigan-based company.
Relume’s competitors solder their
LEDs to a metal circuit board or
clip to cabling thereby retaining the
significant heat generated by the
diode.
While LEDs have significant
advantages over traditional light
engines, heat is the enemy of LED
light output. Heat significantly
degrades lumen output and useful
life. Luminous output declines
1% for every 1 degree C (1.8 F)
increase in temperature. Heat is
also the enemy of LED Lifespan.
The lifespan of an LED is cut in half
with every 17degree C (30 F) rise
in temperature. Simply put, cooler
LED’s are brighter and last longer.
Powered by Relume’s technology
inside, it is estimated the Battle
Creek LED Light Engines will have
a 15-year useful lifespan before
Over 500 decorative streetside lamposts throughout Battle
Creek’s Central Business District, Riverwalk, and
shopping districts were retrofitted with the new LED
lighting system.
Relume’s patented Silver Circuitry
design virtually eliminates the heat
generated by the diode. No other
LED light engine provider can make
that statement.
This Silver Circuitry is 95.5% pure
silver, plated onto an aluminum
heat-sinking substrate. LEDs are
bonded to it using the same silver
epoxy that LED manufacturers use
to bond the LED diode to the LED
leads. This design maximizes the
extraction of heat from the diode
through the leads, then through the
circuit to the aluminum substrate,
through the back of the housing and
into the outside air.
SPECIAL THANKS FOR THE BATTLE CREEK PROJECT ALSO GOES TO HONEYWELL
8405 Andersonville Road, Suite C | Clarkston, MI 48346
P: 866-620-3340 | F: 248-620-3342 | www.mwillumination.com