Visitors to Portland International Airport are seeing the short-term parking garage in a whole new light. Since the late 1980s, the garage had been illuminated with high pressure sodium light bulbs. These are the same types of bulbs that are widely used for street lamps and emit an orange-colored glow. The Port of Portland just finished replacing over 2,000 bulbs in the garage with primarily high-efficiency fluorescent bulbs.
The fluorescent bulbs proved to be the best fit for most floors of the garage due to the low ceilings and they also now match the lamps installed in the long-term garage in 2010. On the roof of the garage, where low ceilings are not an issue, light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs were used.
The new bulbs will save 1,130 megawatt hours of energy per year, enough electricity to power 247 homes. Energy savings, of course, equate to cost savings and the project is estimated to save $90,000 annually in energy costs.
In addition to being lighter on the environment, the new bulbs are easier on the eyes of weary travelers and will help regular users of the garage, such as rental car companies, better serve their customers during dark evening hours.
