Energy-efficient lighting approved for two schools, discussed for others

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
By John I. Carney

Bedford County Schools recently received grant funding for energy-efficient lighting at Central and Cascade high schools, but may consider installing such lighting at all county-wide schools, which a company says would pay for itself in less than five years.

Bedford County Board of Education voted Thursday night to formally accept the already-announced $170,525 grant for lighting at Central and Cascade. But Excel Energy Group has proposed installing the new lighting equipment at all county schools, with a guarantee that the annual savings in energy costs would be more than the annual payment on the finance plan. The annual savings are projected to be $284,542, compared to annual payments of $231,943 on the upgrade over a five-year financing term.

In addition to the savings in electrical use, according to the proposal from Excel the change would standardize lighting fixtures across the school system, simplifying the process of stocking and installing replacement bulbs. The upgrade would also include motion sensor controls which automatically turn off the lights when a room is not in use.

School Suprintendent Ed Gray mentioned and briefly discussed the Excel proposal during the discussion of accepting the grant for Cascade and Central.

In other action at Thursday's meeting:

* The board approved the June and July monthly financial reports and the April-June quarterly financial report. Gray said the school system realized 99.08 percent of budgeted revenue but spent only 91.43 percent of budgeted expenses, leading to a slight improvement in the fund balance compared to budget.

* The board approved a contract with Winnett Associates to audit school activity funds. This contract only applies to each school's activity fund; the general school system budget is audited by the state along with other components of the county budget.

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Energy Efficient light fixtures means those that have mercury in them.

Are any of you parents out there concerned about this aspect of it?

http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/event/a...

Go do your own due diligence for more articles concerning this issue if you want to.

-- Posted by Brett Favre on Tue, Aug 25, 2009, at 9:29 PM

Motion sensors are only effective in rooms with periods of little to no useage. In a school, rest rooms, hallways, and the cafeteria would be likely candidates. Putting them in classrooms would be a bad idea. The problem with these sensors is that most require large amounts of movement to register or have a narrow viewing window. Ever had to back up at a store to get the automatic doors to open? If a teacher has assigned the students work that requires them to "sit quietly" and work at their desks, the motion sensors will most likely not pick up enough movement to remain on. So while the students are working, the lights go out. To get them back on, someone has to make a large movement (disrupting the class). There are several ways to get energy savings that are of minimal cost and can be phased in. Simply a change of the way they do business and the items being used. Rather than using 40w soft white (most common) florescent bulbs in standard fixtures utilize a 35w daylight bulb. The lumens at desk level are very close but the room will seem brighter because of the type of light (yellow vs. white). Utilizing a setback on the A/C and heat during off times. The county really needs to put pen to paper and calculate savings themselves rather than depending on what some salesman says. All the numbers are available to the county if someone would put forth the effort to look them up.

-- Posted by Bamadoc72 on Wed, Aug 26, 2009, at 11:46 AM