Seeing the Light
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Updating the lighting of national landmarks has changed the way they look -- for a price.
Jefferson Memorial Relighting
The memorial is 129 feet tall. Its relighting involved the installation of 17,000 light-emitting diode units and the illumination of the 19-foot statue of Thomas Jefferson on four sides with 400-watt metal halide lamps.
The new lights illuminated 30 percent more of the memorial and reduced energy usage by nearly 80 percent, from 125,840 watts to 27,893 watts. The cost was $900,000, paid by Osram Sylvania.
Source: Osram Sylvania
Capitol Dome Relighting
The Capitol dome is 288 feet tall and is illuminated for eight hours nightly by 38 1,000-watt metal halide lamps mounted on the rooftops over the House and Senate wings. The lighting, which dates to 1990, is not energy efficient and it poorly illuminates the Statue of Freedom atop the dome. The system consumes more than 122,000 kilowatt-hours of power and costs nearly $15,000 a year.
The new lighting system has not been designed, but it is supposed to offer smaller, more powerful light sources that use less energy while providing sharper color and better distribution of light. It also will require less maintenance.
The contractor is the Lighting Practice, based in Philadelphia, and the cost for design alone is $671,900. There is no estimate for the overall cost of the project.
Sources: Architect of the Capitol, House chief administrative officer, the Lighting Practice
