Town starts saving with LED retrofit

The Town of Coupeville will be a little more energy efficient in the near future. The town council approved an agreement between Puget Sound Energy, or PSE, and the state Transportation Improvement Board to retrofit all of the street lights in town with LED lights.

The Town of Coupeville will be a little more energy efficient in the near future.

The town council approved an agreement between Puget Sound Energy, or PSE, and the state Transportation Improvement Board to retrofit all of the street lights in town with LED lights.

The agreement is part of an ongoing, statewide project to switch municipalities to LED lights and won’t cost the town anything.

Municipalities that have already done this are seeing a 25 to 30 percent average savings, said Mayor Molly Hughes.

“If you look at our vouchers each month, out largest bill is energy by far,” she said.

PSE did a quick inventory of all the street lights and gave an estimate of about $10,000 to replace all of the lights. Once an agreement is in place, the utility will do a more accurate inventory and submit it to the transportation improvement board.

PSE owns the light poles, while the town leases them and pay the electric bills for the lights. The energy company will be the one doing the retrofitting and the board will be footing the bill.

The project is estimated to take about five to six months, Hughes said.

Council members had some comments and concerns.

“I’m really delighted with this,” said Councilwoman Pat Powell. “I think the cost savings are going to be significant.”

Powell’s one main concern was finding out what type of LED lights will be used. She said she wants the town to use lights that are in the warmer, rich spectrum of the bluer spectrum.

She also wants to ensure the fixtures include shields so the light is directed downwards and isn’t going out into the night sky.

“It’s important to Town of Coupeville for our quality of life and for migratory birds,” Powell said.

Hughes said she would verify these requests prior to signing the agreement to make sure the council’s wishes are met.

 

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