Too many street lights

Posted 8/21/12

NARROWSBURG, NY — Towns in New York are beginning to reduce street lighting and replace existing bulbs with LED bulbs to be more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. There’s another …

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Too many street lights

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NARROWSBURG, NY — Towns in New York are beginning to reduce street lighting and replace existing bulbs with LED bulbs to be more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. There’s another benefit too: a major cost reduction. The Town of Tusten is on its way to reap these benefits. Through the work of the Tusten Energy Committee, the town could see a cost reduction in their energy bill of 20%.

Energy Committee Chair Brandi Merolla said the town’s current energy bill is its biggest expense, at $14,000 a year. She also said the town has more street lights than needed, at about 100 lights. “I drove around in my car at night recently and started looking; if there are 10 lights on a street maybe we only need five lights. That’s a 50% reduction. It is clear there are too many lights in certain places,” Merolla said.

A public hearing will be held on the subject for residents in the light district on July 14 at the Tusten Town Hall. The energy committee will take the public’s opinions and recommendations into consideration, and then plan the changes and present it to the town board. “We don’t want to put people in the dark or in danger, we want people to feel safe with the light they are provided with, but there might be people who say there is too much light. We’re hoping to present the town with some suggestions,” Merolla said.

Besides reducing the amount of street lighting, the energy committee also hopes to replace the remaining bulbs with LED lighting. LED lights are energy efficient and also very low maintenance. When the energy committee recently got solar panels for the town, they hoped that would feed the street lights. However, NYSEG (New York State Electric and Gas Corporation) would not allow that to happen because each pole would need a meter. The current poles don’t have meters; NYSEG estimates the cost for their electricity bill. Also, Merolla said that estimate was calculated years ago and there may be lights that are blinking or don’t work that the town is still paying for.

Because the solar panels weren’t an option, the energy committee decided to move forward and figure out other options. Hence the LED lights. For the LED lights to be installed, the town would have to rent the poles from NYSEG. And to remove the extraneous poles, NYSEG would have to take them down for a cost and charge a termination fee. Even though the initial cost may be high, Merolla said the payback period is very short, and could be around three years.

Although negotiations with NYSEG have been difficult, Merolla remains hopeful. She said it’s a work in progress, but NYSEG is working with them. “It would behoove them to help Tusten, or any other town, to move into the 21st century and have efficient lighting,” Merolla said. “That’s what I’m going to propose to them, that it is beneficial to their reputation and practice to reduce lighting where necessary and to reduce the carbon footprint of each town.”

Other towns in our area and across New York State are joining Tusten in reducing their carbon footprint with more efficient street lighting. Merolla said Tusten is “a forerunner, we’re figuring it out as we go,” and she and other members of the energy committee (Star Hesse, Carol Wingert and Charles Blanchard) have been attending street light symposiums, such as the Municipal Street Lighting Forum in Kingston in April.

Recently, the Sullivan Alliance for Sustainable Development (SASD) held a Sullivan County Street Lighting Roundtable in White Lake. They partnered with the Mid-Hudson Climate Smart Communities regional coordinator to host the roundtable for local governments to share experiences, learn about current projects in Sullivan County, and discuss challenges and opportunities for upgrading municipally-owned street lights to energy-efficient and cost-effective fixtures. One town that has successfully switched their street lighting to LED is Yonkers, replacing 11,300 streetlights with energy-saving LEDs. They will save $3 million in 10 years.

A smaller project occurred in Dobbs Ferry. The town replaced 300 streetlights and has had a three-year payback period. They have had no maintenance issues so far in three years, and the brutal winters have not affected the lights at all. The lights are believed to last 10 to 15 years. They are reducing the town’s greenhouse gas emissions due to lighting by 40% annually.

Because Tusten is an even smaller project, NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) does not have grant money available for streetlight replacement. But if the Tusten Energy Committee presents a broader project that includes neighboring towns, they may be eligible. Currently the towns of Bethel, Delaware and Highland have banded together with Tusten to make the project larger. They are currently in talks with NYSERDA and NYSEG.

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