Maryland Department of General Services Upgrades Lighting on Maryland State House Dome

ANNAPOLIS, MD – The Maryland Department of General Services (DGS) will commemorate the beginning of the 2018 legislative session with greater illumination of the Maryland State House Dome beginning at sundown on January 10, 2018. As a part of DGS scheduled maintenance replacement, the old lights were replaced with new LED lights. The replacement lighting system was custom built specifically for the Maryland State House and provided by iValue LED.

“The new lighting system will brighten the future of Maryland’s historic dome,” said DGS Secretary Ellington Churchill, Jr. “There is no better time to introduce this state-of-the-art technology for the oldest state capitol in continuous legislative use than the opening day of the 2018 legislative session.”

The system has a total of eight lights, two per corner of the dome. For each tandem light, one light will point at the lower dome and the other light points toward the acorn of the dome to illuminate the U.S. and Maryland flags. The lights are 18 inches by 24 inches, which make them smaller and lighter in weight than the previous dome lights. The new lights have a five-year guarantee and an expected life span of approximately 10 years. In addition, each light is approximately 30,000 lumens, where the previous lights were 5,000 lumens. More aspects of the dome will be uniformly illuminated at the same operating cost of the old lights.

The new light system also utilizes its own standalone IT structure which allows the system to dim the lights and sync with various calendars and local weather stations to know when it is sun up and sun down. This also allows the lights to automatically adjust for day light savings, overcast skies, and various storms. The new system’s IT structure will also notify DGS if maintenance is required on any of the lights.

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About DGS: The Department of General Services is responsible for essential services and programs administered on behalf of the state, including procuring goods and services; designing, building, leasing, managing and maintaining facilities; leading energy conservation efforts; and providing essential services such as fuel management, disposition of surplus property and records management. The Department of General Services Maryland Capitol Police maintains safety and security at state buildings.

Photographer: Joseph Andrucyk