The Town of Colonie took another step in becoming energy efficient after the board voted unanimously on Thursday, March 10 to work with National Grid in replacing light bulbs and fixtures in Town Hall.
The town is expected to realize a savings of $10,866 a year by just replacing light bulbs and some fixtures because of how old they are. The total cost of the program would cost the town $45,741, but because National Grid is picking up 65 percent of the tab, leaving the town to only have to pay $17,963 for the improvements.
This effort came after the town started an energy committee to look at ways to reduce energy costs to the town. The first step was doing a town-wide audit by hiring Johnson Controls. This led to a roof replacement for the William K. Sanford Library and replacing a boiler in the Colonie
Community Center after a $661,900 from the Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant was awarded. While the town only had to pay $338,125, it will soon realize a savings of $447,547 in 15 years, according to Director of General Services Doug Sippel.
With some of the stimulus money still available, the town was looking for more improvements.
As opportunities have come up, we’ve looked at them from the standpoint of, ‘Can the town afford to do this,’ he said. `And this one came along and it seemed like a really good program that National Grid was going to pay 65 percent of the cost to replace the lighting with a more energy efficient lighting at Town Hall.`
Out of several options of payment, the town decided to pay it off in a lump sum, giving it a 15 percent reduction in payments.
There will also be occupancy sensors put in place in all of the offices. So when there is no movement in the office, such as someone leaving for a meeting, the light will turn off on its own. Sippel said the program pays for itself within 22 months.
`Then it’s all gravy savings after that,` he said. `We’ll be paid off.`
This is just a pilot program for the town, Sippel said, adding that if the program is successful and still continuing, they would like to extend it to other buildings such as the Public Safety Building due to its hours of operation.
`Because of the fact it is a 24 hour, seven day a week operation with lights on all the time,` he said. `Maybe make it more energy efficient since the lights have to be on anyways.`
This program has also seen its success in both the City of Cohoes and Albany, and that when he heard about the program himself, he was ready to get it in place.
`In the financial situation we’re still digging the town out of, it is the out of the box thinking this town needs to be engaged in,` he said, `Once the department came to me and wanted to move forward, I jumped right on board with it.`
Town Supervisor Paula Mahan said she is excited by the progress made by the won and the savings it will realize as a result of this program and said both Sippel and the energy committee has done a great job in looking to save the town money.
`We look forward to continuing on this savings energy plan, which goes out 20 years,` she said. `As you move through the plan it pays for itself and provides the town with savings like this particular plan will do.`
The project set to begin in April, Sippel said, but he is unsure of how long the process of changing out the fixtures and light bulbs will take.“