Mayor Mike Cooper on Monday announced that the City of Edmonds has won an award from the lighting industry that recognizes the city’s ongoing efforts to reduce energy in its buildings and operations.

The award, from the Light Doctor, “demonstrates the City’s resolve to reduce the environmental impact of municipal government services,” Cooper said.

The City of Edmonds has saved significant energy and money since it completed Phase II of the Edmonds Energy Savings Contract (ESCO) Project in 2008, Cooper said. The project was facilitated through a State of Washington program that allowed the city to hire the Quantum Engineering firm to perform audits of energy use throughout city government. Based on this analysis, Quantum proposed a project scope and guaranteed a level of energy savings for the city. Quantum then acted as general contractor during the implementation phase of the work.

Included in Phase II was replacement of existing lamps and ballasts in city-owned lights and traffic signals with more energy-efficient lighting. The bottom line result was that quality of lighting improved while overall energy consumption was reduced, Cooper said in a city news release issued Monday. Employees were pleased with the changes noted in their work environments, and city budgets benefited from decreased electric bills, he said.

The new lighting saves the city 10,476 kWh per year, translating to an annual reduction of 7 tons of CO2 emissions.  This is equivalent to avoiding the use of 604 gallons of gasoline or taking 1.1 automobiles off the road for that same one-year time period, the mayor noted.