Savings expected from new LED lights
Lori Saal, town of Farragut stormwater coordinator and former sustainability coordinator, said new LED lights will save the town of Farragut $6,000 per year.
“It’s important for energy conservation. The LED lights use significantly less energy than the old ones, which also is going to save the Town thousands of dollars on our electric bill each year,” she said.
“It has a higher up front cost, but the savings long term make the operations of our facilities more sustainable,” she said, referring to the cost of the new lights compared to the old ones.
“Sustainability is about finding a balance between economic, environmental and social aspects,” she said.
The new lights can be found throughout Farragut Town Hall’s interior, including Town offices, Farragut Folklife Museum and Board Room among other spaces.
Chelsey Riemann, town of Farragut public relations coordinator, said the contractor Broadway Electric Services Corporation, has finished with Town Hall’s big overhead lights. It also has replaced smaller, scr-ew-in type bulbs, including ones in Town Hall’s rotunda.
“Everything with the implementation process has gone very smoothly from my perspective,” Saal said.
She said total cost for the project would be around $60,000, which is the amount budgeted in the Fiscal Year 2016 budget; $30,466.20 of that cost would
be paid by a matching
Clean Tennessee Energy Grant
from Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. The project and its funding also include occupancy sensors in conference rooms, kitchen areas and public restrooms. Saal said she does not anticipate going over budget.
Saal was the sustainability coordinator when the Town received the matching grant for the project in 2015. She said she was involved in the process of obtaining that grant.
Saal said, based on manufacturer specifications and the number of hours on average that lights will be on, the LEDs in large light fixtures should last around 20 years before having to be replaced.
“One of the drivers really is that the fixtures that we had, the larger fixtures, are actually being phased out by law. So it was really a necessity,” she said, as the old T12 fluorescents the Town had been using will no longer be manufactured.
BESCO bid to $57,545, the lowest bid for the project, to install the lights.
“It is a very exciting project and also will provide an updated aesthetic to many areas of Town Hall. I am extremely thankful to the Town’s leadership and TDEC for the opportunity to implement this project,” Saal said.
