120 conventional fluorescent tubes are still burning in the municipal underground car park in Grünwald, causing annual electricity costs of around 11,000 euros. That was determined by SPD local councilor Achim Zeppenfeld. He therefore applies for “the immediate conversion of the parking garage on the market square to LED lamps”.
As early as September 28, 2021, Zeppenfeld addressed the topic in the municipal council and asked how far the conversion in the parking garage under the market square had progressed. The deputy head of the building authority, Peter Klessinger, informed him at the time that the retrofitting always takes place when the lamps have to be replaced, for example in the event of a defect. The administration promised at the time to check the progress and to report on it at one of the next meetings. “To date, after eleven months, there has not been a report,” complains Zeppenfeld.
He has now looked into it himself. He found that there isn’t a single LED tube yet, or at least he couldn’t identify any. “In the vast majority of sockets, the conventional 58-watt lamps are still used. The best LED tubes with comparable brightness have an average power consumption of 24 watts.” He considers this state of affairs to be untenable in the current situation. “Every single old fluorescent tube means considerable additional costs,” he complains. On the afternoon of his visit in early August, around 120 lights were operating throughout the area.
“It can be assumed that these lamps burn 24 hours a day, all year round,” says Zeppenfeld. According to Zeppenfeld’s calculations, the old lamps cause additional costs of at least 11,000 euros per year at an assumed electricity tariff of 32 cents per kilowatt hour. “Every month of continued operation costs over 900 euros,” he calculates. 120 LED fluorescent tubes would cost about a quarter of that and only once. The tenants in the underground car park would certainly have an interest in savings, since they share in the costs.