Bowden - Town council has endorsed a pitch by a FortisAlberta representative to replace street lights with new, more efficient LED street lights.
Bowden - Town council has endorsed a pitch by a FortisAlberta representative to replace street lights with new, more efficient LED street lights.
A letter indicating the endorsement will now go to the Alberta Utilities Commission, which oversees power generation in the province.
During a meeting with council on Nov. 14, FortisAlberta stakeholder relations manager Stan Orlesky said 148 lights in Bowden would be changed under the program.
He projected the new lights could save the town $5.70 per light per year.
Orlesky said in total, the company would like to convert about 8,000 street lights to LED in its service area.
He said the conversion likely would not begin until at least around the end of the first quarter of 2017 "because we've got to get enough communities supporting it."
Orlesky confirmed the new lights being installed in Olds are LEDs – including the decorative ones in Uptowne.
Orlesky said FortisAlberta would not be changing the poles, just the headlights at the end of the poles.
He said six communities involved in a pilot LED conversion project seemed happy with it.
"This light is more of a downward light. There's virtually no backlight going up to the property. Light is basically for the sidewalk and the street," Orlesky said, adding it improves "the safety and visibility of your community or people, your citizens."
Mayor Robb Stuart wondered what effect the provincial government's pending carbon tax might have on lighting costs.
Orlesky could not say for sure.
He said because no one yet knows what the impact of that tax is going to be, FortisAlberta's figures are based on today's costs without a carbon tax factored in.
"It looks like from all accounts, there'll be a consumption tax of some kind. And so if we're using less power, we're going to be paying less carbon tax – period," Coun. Paul Webb said.
Councillors said LED lights were installed in the Igloo Arena about five years ago.
"They've been amazing," Coun. Wayne Milaney said.
Councillors said those lights are brighter than their predecessors.
"There's no heat, there are no bugs," Orlesky said. "There are no moths that gather around, or June bugs, because there's no heat."
"It sounds like a win-win," Stuart said.
"I put them in at Olds College – been putting them in for the last couple of years, and there's no other option, really," Coun. Milaney said.
Coun. Earl Wilson asked how much FortisAlberta will give the town for the old street lights.
"We're going to recycle them," Orlesky said. "There are a lot of components in them that can be recycled, and there are still some jurisdictions worldwide that use those in Third World countries and that's all going to be recycled for them."
"I put them in at Olds College – been putting them in for the last couple of years and there's no other option, really." COUN. WAYNE MILANEY
