South Ridge YMCA Lighting Upgrade – City of Medicine Hat

Overview

As part of the Action Centre’s Community Energy Conservation Program, the City of Medicine Hat completed an LED lighting retrofit throughout the South Ridge YMCA. 

The South Ridge YMCA is a vital community recreation facility in the City of Medicine Hat, offering fitness, wellness, and recreational programming to residents of all ages. With high ceilings and extended operating hours, the facility’s lighting systems are critical to its energy profile. By 2025, the aging T8 fluorescent and metal halide fixtures throughout the building had become increasingly inefficient, contributing to elevated electricity costs and unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions. With support from the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre’s Community Energy Conservation Program, the City replaced 308 outdated fixtures with high-efficiency LED troffers and highbays, significantly improving lighting quality while reducing energy consumption.

Approach

The City of Medicine Hat secured $40,280 in MCCAC funding to help cover the $88,927 project cost. The City undertook a comprehensive lighting retrofit at the South Ridge YMCA, replacing 308 T8 fluorescent and metal halide fixtures with modern LED troffers and highbays. The new LED lighting provides improved illumination for gym floors, fitness areas, and common spaces while consuming a fraction of the electricity of the previous system. The project was carefully coordinated to minimize disruption to YMCA programming and members.

Results

The new LED lighting system is expected to save the City of Medicine Hat approximately $13,669 in energy costs each year, reducing electricity consumption by 131,119 kWh annually and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 64 tonnes of CO₂e per year. Over the approximately 8-year expected useful life of the fixtures, the project will prevent an estimated 410 tonnes of CO₂e from entering the atmosphere. With these upgrades, the South Ridge YMCA now offers a brighter, more energy-efficient environment for the thousands of community members who use the facility each year.

“These upgrades demonstrate how targeted investments can make a real difference. Being able to retrofit existing fixtures helps stretch project dollars further while minimizing disruptions for facility users. We appreciate the support from the MCCAC and look forward to continued collaboration.”

Kevin Schaaf, Acting Manager of Facilities Management

“We are pleased that Medicine Hat has returned to the MCCAC for more savings. This latest project cuts another $24,000 off their utility bills. We admire their commitment to energy efficiency and are glad we can help facilitate it.”

Trina Innes, Executive Director of the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre