BUCKSPORT – The lights along the town’s waterfront walkway now go out at 11 nightly, and that has made a dent in the municipal electric bill.

The town installed timers on the waterfront streetlights and at the Elm Street parking lot last November and that has resulted in significant savings for the town, according to Town Manager Roger Raymond.

A photo cell turns the lights on automatically at dusk and used to turn them off again once it got light enough. During the winter months, Raymond said, that meant the lights would stay on until 7 a.m. or even later.

“On some mornings, I’d come in at 8 a.m. and the lights would still be on,” he said.

With the timers installed, the lights still come on automatically at dusk, but are turned off at 11 p.m.

It cost the town about $1,000 to buy and install the timers, Raymond said, but the savings have more than offset that cost. The savings at the waterfront and the parking lot have totaled more than $4,000 so far this year.

One section of the waterfront lights runs off the electric meter at the town office building. The reduction in usage there has enabled the building to move from medium user to a small user, Raymond said.

“That’s a significant cut in rates,” he said. “This has been a very good investment.”

The savings have been enough that Raymond has not had to increase the energy budget line for the lighting for the year that began July 1 and likely will not have to increase the budget for the next year either. That’s an important budgeting bonus in light of the LD1 caps on spending increases, he said.

Town employees have bought into the energy conservation effort and work with officials to make sure the programs are successful, Raymond said. They understand that, with spending limits, if energy costs increase, that means there is less money available for other budget items including wages and benefits, he said.

The timer project was included in the town’s energy plan which councilors adopted last year, and the waterfront lights are not the only place where they’ve been used. According to Raymond, the town installed a timer on the engine warmer for the forklift at the solid waste transfer station and on the trucks at the town garage. The heaters used to run all night, he said.

The savings from those and other projects have been measurable, Raymond said, so much so that, although the end of the year accounting has not been completed, the energy budget lines for most municipal buildings have funds left in them.

The town is not done yet, he said. Officials will look at all the municipal buildings to see if there are other measures they can take to reduce energy costs. Raymond said he also hopes to work with the school department to see if they can adopt some of the same type of energy saving methods in the school buildings.

He pointed out areas such as the exterior lighting on some of the school buildings that remain lit throughout the night.

“We’re not saying turn them all off,” he said. “But maybe you don’t need them all on when the building is not being used.”

Cutting energy usage significantly in the schools could result in making additional funds available for programming, he said.

“Because they are larger energy users, the schools have an opportunity to create larger savings,” he said. “Those savings could go toward programs for students.”

rhewitt@bangordailynews.net

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