County set to seek $160,000 grant for Powderhorn Park LED ballfield lights

Teton County’s Board of County Commissioners will decide Monday whether to apply for a $160,000 Energy Conservation Works Community Energy Reduction Fund grant to replace the Powderhorn Park ballfield’s metal halide lights with DarkSky-certified LED fixtures grant application packet.

The application frames the project as both an energy upgrade and a neighborhood and wildlife issue: the existing 2010-era fixtures are described as poorly shielded, with “large amounts of light trespass” into nearby homes, and the packet notes impacts to “birds & other wildlife species that frequent this part of Jackson.” The proposal estimates the lighting load would drop from 69.7 kilowatts to 19.5 kilowatts (a 72% reduction), and projects 865 tons of avoided CO2e over a 25-year fixture life.