It’s been a while but the lighting renewal project is finally under way. We thought we had a decision regarding the new lighting fixtures we wanted for Barron Square, but then there was a new wrinkle. The City of Palo Alto informed us that any new fixtures had to comply with Title 24, the California Energy Conservation code. That meant that the fixtures had to have a GU-24 bi-pin socket and not the usual medium screw type. The purpose of this was to discourage people from continuing to use incandescent bulbs and encourage switching to LED or even CFL type lamps. (Nobody told the lawmakers in Sacramento that there were incandescent bulbs available with a GU-24 base.)
Anyway, it was back to the catalogs to find an appropriate fixture and one we chose was the Galen by Quoizel in bronze finish. The Board felt this was a good design and color to match the decor of our buildings. It is available in a family of sizes and all of the main light fixtures will be replaced. Twelve inch (12″) lamps will be installed on the garages, ten inch (10″) lamps on the wall opposite the stairs of the middle units and seven and a half inch (7.5″) next to the entrance doors. Even the post lamps at the back of the clubhouse by the pool will be replaced with matching fixtures. If you want to see samples, there are new fixtures at Building 1 on the garages, sidewall and entrance to 4108. There is also a 12″ unit on the garage at 564.
The ‘jelly-jar’ lamps on the stairwells, trash room walls and other places will also be replaced by a comparable fixture. If the Board approves at the next meeting, we will also replace the lights on the patios and balconies with this same fixture. It was the closest match to the Galen we could find at a reasonable cost. NOTE: If you have installed replacements for the original lights, these will be removed.
One of the advantages of doing the lighting replacement at this time is that the construction crews and the painters have to remove the fixtures as they work and they will install the new fixtures for us at no additional charge. Of course, we expect that the replacement of the old fixtures with their inefficient fluorescent lamps with new LED lights will also save us on the cost of electricity and maintenance. (Sorry, Laszlo. You won’t need to replace many bulbs anymore.)