A bright idea in Swampscott

SWAMPSCOTT – Lighten up might as well be the town?s motto with a plan to replace bulbs in 1,400 local street lights with long-lasting light-emitting diode bulbs.Assistant Town Engineer Dan Dragani said the $500,000 project has public-safety and cost-savings benefits with installation taking about a month once financial details and other final plans are pinned down.Dragani and Town Planner and Energy Efficiency Manager Pete Kane hope to secure grant this month to pay for part of the project?s cost. Dragani said street lighting is a major town energy expense that can be reduced with LED lighting. LED light fixtures function for up to eight years.?We could be doubling, tripling bulb life,” Kane said.LED lights spread illumination instead of creating light hotspots like traditional bulbs.Dispersed light helps police officers on night patrols and residents driving or walking at night.Street light conversion is just one of several town energy efficiency projects in place or underway, said Kane and Dragani.Energy savings from solar panels mounted in 2011 on the high school roof saved the town $25,000 in electricity costs last year. Connecticut-based Constellation Energy installed the panels on 85 percent of the 180,000-square-foot roof of the school. The town did not pay for installation, plus it sees savings by being locked into a 15-year rate schedule that includes a rate crediting formula arranged with National Grid.The roof panels send solar energy through a junction box and down to inverters located in the school boiler room for conversion into a useable current.?The nice thing is we don?t own any of this,” Dragani said.Dragani and Kane have helped oversee or are planning other town energy efficiency projects, including high school kitchen ventilation, weatherization and lighting control improvements. Heating and ventilation work in the high school and the library translate into savings, Kane said.?We still have some large items that need to be done,” Dragani said.As it gradually shifts over from traditional to energy efficiency utility systems, the town will see increased costs savings, said Kane. The trick, he said, is to squeeze more savings out of energy equipment in different town buildings by making them work efficiently.?The idea is to ?trend? the systems so they work the way they should,” added Dragani.