Longmeadow Completes Street Light Project

This summary report was submitted by Select Board member Mark Gold who championed this cost savings project from the beginning.  Cost savings are expected to be ~$200,000/year with a projected 10 year savings of almost $2,000,000.

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The Town of Longmeadow recently announced the completion of the street light purchase and conversion project.  As a result of this effort the town will save over $4.8 million and 157 million kilowatt hours over the 20 project life.

The project was conceived more than 10 years ago but restarted in 2018 when the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities adopted a street light cost structure that, for the first time, allowed municipalities to take advantage of high efficiency lighting such as Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).  

Using funding approved at the May 2019 Annual Town meeting, with additional support from state, regional and utility grants, the project began when the street lights were purchased from Eversource in the fall of 2019.  In spring, 2020, with project management by Tanko Lighting of San Francisco (a company that specializes in municipal lighting conversion) and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (the Boston area equivalent of the Pioneer Valley Planning Committee), Longmeadow began the process of specifying, purchasing and replacing all the street lights in town with high efficiency LED lighting.  From June through August all 1424 streetlights in town were replaced with LED fixtures or internal electronics and emitters.  

The project economics and energy savings impact of the project are summarized in the attached table.  The cost savings ($201,914 in the first year) are net of bond, maintenance and lost tax revenue and increase after the project bond is repaid in year 10.  These savings do not assume any increase in energy costs over the 20-year period of review.  The high efficiency LED lighting results in energy savings from this project just shy of 70% per year. 

  

[click table to enlarge]

The new streetlights carry a 5-year warranty.  Any problems with street lights should be reported by calling the DPW office at 567-3400 or completing the street light problem report form that can be found on the town’s DPW web page.  The Longmeadow project team members were Town Manager Lyn Simmons, Select Board member Mark Gold, DPW Director Mario Mazza and Purchasing Manager Chad Thompson.    Residents seeking more information or a more detailed financial summary should contact the Select Board office.