Township plans to save with LEDs

By John w. Goodwin jr.

Officials are hoping stimulus money can buy some of the lights.

LIBERTY — Some township officials are hoping to shine a new light on savings with a change in light bulbs used by the township — the first of which having been installed at the township government building.

The Liberty Business Association purchased a LED (light emiting diode) light to be placed outside one of two public entrances to the township government building. A second public entrance still has the traditional standard lighting.

Trustee Jodi Stoyak said township residents can see the good quality of the lighting and compare the two types of lights by visiting the government center and looking at the two entrances, which can be viewed simultaneously by standing in the parking lot.

The business association paid about $1,210 for two of the new lights, but only one of those lights has been installed. Township Administrator Patrick Ungaro said the new LED lighting is something that pays for itself over time.

“You have to look at it like a return on your investment. It will pay for itself in two years, and then it’s all profit,” he said.

Stoyak has information showing that the LED replacement bulbs will have a cost of about $400 but have to be replaced only every 10 years and cost less to burn than standard light bulbs. Bulbs currently used by the township must be replaced every two years.

Stoyak said the hope is to decrease demands on electricity by about 60 percent with the increased use of the LED bulbs. She said the federal government may play a key role in the increased use of the new lighting here.

“The big plan is that we are trying to get stimulus money to replace all 734 streetlights in the township. Our township pays about $90,000 a year for our streetlights, and this [LED installations] would cut it in half or more,” she said. “This is the wave of the future.”

jgoodwin@vindy.com