Energy-Efficient Street Lights Could Be Bright Idea for Town

The Board of Selectmen Monday night mulled a proposed project to replace the town's existing incandescent street lights with energy-efficient bulbs and fixtures, a move that will save the town on electricity costs and cut energy use, officials said.

If a conversion to energy-efficient bulbs is completed by Nov. 30, Nstar will make an incentive payment of about $237,724 to the town, which would cut down on the replacement project's cost of $930,500, said Dept. of Public Works Director Bill Hadley.

"At the end of this, we'd like your endorsement to move forward with the energy efficiency program," he said.

Two years ago, the town began replacing burned out incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent, and since has swapped them out in 720 of the town's 3,428 street lights, Hadley said.

Under the proposed project, the remaining street lights and fixtures would also be replaced with compact fluorescent or induction lamps, depending on size.

With Paul Chernick, chairman of the Electric Utility Committee, Hadley outlined the project's costs and estimated savings. Rob Addelson, assistant town manager for finance, also laid out how the project would be funded.

The town in fiscal 2010 and 2011 paid $222,556 annually for 1.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity for its street lights, Hadley said, though the town is actually using 1.9 million kilowatt hours at a cost of $286,252.

A mixup in Nstar's database has meant the company has been incorrectly billing the town for electricity use of just 2,606 of its 3,428 street lights, a problem which Hadley said has been rectified and would now mean a higher bill for the town if it does not move to the energy-efficient bulbs, which would cut costs significantly.

"If we do nothing, we'll still see an increase in cost because of better inventory control by Nstar," Selectmen Chairman Hank Manz said. "They now have a good count of the street lights."

"Correct," Hadley said.

After converting its remaining 3,384 incandescent street lights, the town estimates using 668,556 kilowatt hours annually to light them, at a cost of about $96,205. That would mean a savings of about $190,000 annually, said Addelson.

Addelson said the project's $930,500 cost could be financed through a third-party lease, while the money the town will save in electricity costs could pay for the cost of the lease. He also said the Nstar incentive payment could be taken as a one-time payment and used to write down the cost.

The estimated pay-back period with the incentive payment would be 3.6 years, he said.

Chernick said the Electric Utility Committee recommends switching to the compact fluorescent and induction lamps, as opposed to high-pressure sodium bulbs, which cost less but last 25,000 hours as opposed to 100,000 hours, he said.

Selectmen wondered about other lighting options as well, with member Peter Kelley asking about LED lights. Chernick said using LEDs for street lights is relatively new, and they can be more expensive to buy and install, while their lifetime isn't well known.

Members of the board said they felt somewhat rushed with having to make a decision on the energy-efficiency program, up against the Nov. 30 deadline. They asked how long it would take to put bids out on the bulb replacement project, and what the reason behind the Nov. 30 deadline is.

Chernick said he expected the deadline was related to Nstar likely being under pressure to produce energy savings, and may have goals to meet at the end of the calendar year.

Town Manager Carl Valente said a vote by the board could authorize the bid process to begin, however selectmen could put a stop to the project after reviewing progress at a future meeting if they felt uncomfortable with how it was proceeding.

The board voted 4-0, with Kelly abstaining, to endorse the energy-efficiency program recommendations, subject to further review at its Aug. 30 meeting.