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DONATION DOLLARS AT WORK:BRIGHTENING THE FUTURE
Fleischmanns, NY—If you’ve ever wondered how your contributions to the public library are used, stop in any day at the Skene and the answer will be made brilliantly clear.
That’s because the latest Skene upgrade consists of new, energy-efficient lighting throughout the library to illumine every book, periodical, DVD cover, and computer screen more brightly, more warmly, and in a way that’s far easier on the eyes.
Brand-new in every fixture in every room are the ballasts—that is, the components that moderate the changes in electric current—and the 21st-century LED bulbs to replace the old fluorescent tubes. Many of the bulb lenses, grown dusty and discolored with age, have been replaced by clear safety sleeves.
The result is more light, better light, brighter light ensuring that everything there is to read or see in the library gets its due.
The new light-emitting diode bulbs, the LEDs, are of course well known not just for brightness but also for their lower consumption of energy, longer lifetime, greater robustness, and, when they must be disposed of, gentler impact on the environment than incandescent or fluorescent bulbs. For all those reasons, LED bulbs are also cost-effective, and the Skene’s new bulbs are expected to lower the Skene’s operating costs significantly.
The impetus for the lighting transformation was a suggestion by Skene Trustee Doug Greene to request consulting from NYSEG’s Small Business Energy Efficiency Program, which offers financial incentives to smaller, low–power usage organizations that seek energy efficiencies and “green” improvements. The Board of Trustees unanimously accepted the suggestion, and NYSEG’s subcontractor, Lime Energy Services Company, duly dispatched auditor David Andrick to assess the Skene’s activity and potential lighting improvements. Andrick’s proposal called for retrofitting every piece of lighting in the Skene, including dimmer controls and the two EXIT signs. The proposal estimated a reduction in annual carbon emissions—as Andrick explains, that’s the reduction in the amount of fossil fuels that would otherwise have to be burned to generate the power that lights the Skene—of more than 13,300 pounds. The proposal also estimated an annual savings in lighting operating costs of 68 percent—“a way lower lighting bill,” says Andrick. Perhaps best of all, more than 60 percent of the total cost of installing the new lighting would be covered by NYSEG.
The Board unanimously approved the proposal, the Fleischmanns Village Board concurred, and on Monday, April 4, electricians Samuel Vazquez, Manuel Medina, and Julio Velez from Rochester-based Central Services effected the transformation.
The Skene’s Trustees and staff invite you to come by and see it for yourself.
