Trinidad, Las Animas County, Colorado, When the ballasts in the existing fluorescent light fixtures in the gymnasium at Trinidad’s community center began failing in recent months, causing the lights to go out one-by-one, Marty Velasquez, the center’s director, called Dean Duran, city power and light superintendent, to get some help for the problem.

The solution to the problem turned out to be LED light fixtures that provide better lighting, cost less to operate and are expected to last much longer than the fluorescent lighting they have replaced.

Duran said in a Tuesday phone call that the city replaced 454 four-foot fluorescent bulbs with LED bulbs in a project that began May 1 and was completed late last week. Most fixtures contain two four-foot bulbs. The problem of failing ballasts has been eliminated because the new LED bulbs bypass existing ballasts, and each LED bulb has its own, self-contained driver. Ballasts are not needed with LED lighting fixtures, thus eliminating the cost for their replacement.

A light ballast allows a fluorescent light to turn on and stay illuminated. The ballast is either a magnetic core and coil or electronic. A fluorescent fixture produces light by sending a uniform electric arc through the bulb at a high frequency that illuminates the phosphorescent coating on the bulb tube, and the ballast initiates and controls this process, according to the website ehow.com, under the category “Definition of Light Ballast.”

Duran said the old ballasts were wearing and most had exceeded their three-year warranty. Replacing them would have meant a significant expense for the city, and meant buying ballasts with a limited lifespan.

The city purchased the new LED lights from Next Step Energy Solutions of Denver. Duran said the company offered a 10-year warranty on the LED lights, which he said could last for 30 years.

"It was a real no-brainer for the city," Duran said. "We’re now getting much brighter lighting at one-third the cost of what we had before. We won’t know how much money we’re saving until the end of May, but we’re expecting it will mean a big drop in our energy costs. We looked at other companies, but Next Step was the only one that offered the 10-year guarantee."

Duran said each fluorescent lighting tube operated using 41.5 watts of electricity, while the LED tubes operate using just 17 watts, meaning the total savings in a large building such as the community center could be very significant, especially over a long period of time.

Tom Acre, city manager, approved the LED project in April. He said that his discussions with Duran and Velasquez indicated that the city could find ways to save money on energy costs by exploring a new approach to lighting the community center.

"I talked to Dean Duran several months ago as far as the ballasts going out and some of the bulbs becoming obsolete," Acre said. "I asked him to come up with some quotes on LED lights and we found that we could do a retrofit. Our staff was able to do it and that makes it cost effective. We should see savings on our energy costs immediately, and get a good return on our investment."

Acre said the cost of the LED project was about $24,000. He said the light from the new fixtures would be brighter and purer. He said it would be a good investment for the city, and his discussions with lighting vendors indicated that the lights would pay for themselves within five years. He said he’d had experience with earlier LED projects during his tenure as a city employee in Commerce City, and found them to be beneficial on several levels.

"I was part of an energy retrofit in Commerce City at our recreation center and gym," he said. "I would anticipate moving forward that we would take a look at LED retrofits citywide. I have never heard of an LED lighting project that didn’t save a city money."