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By the time The Windham Eagle newspaper hits mailboxes
this Friday, the Town of Raymond will be the first municipality in the greater
Windham/Gorham and Standish communities to be lit up by Light Emitting Diodes
streetlamps – otherwise known as LEDs. A total of 110 pole mounted cobra head streetlamps
will be converted to the new technology by the weekend. The 69 decorative
lights along Route 302 are not a part of the present project but are under
review for a future technology upgrade, cost permitting.
These highly energy efficient streetlamps not only
produce double the energy proficiency than the
older standard compact
florescent lamps but their lifespan lasts much longer - 100,000 hours to be
exact – thus being more cost-effective and requiring less maintenance.
But that’s not all. LED streetlamps are known to reduce
carbon emissions and do not contain toxic chemicals like mercury that is found
in traditional sodium and mercury vapor lamps. This makes it a Win-Win
situation: a win for the residents of Raymond to keep cost to a minimum and a
win for the environment.
In addition to cost savings and energy efficiency, LED
lights provide directional lighting which puts the actual light where it is
needed for public safety and also reduces night sky light pollution. Another
major factor is that the new lights are programmable. “We will be able to
program a specific streetlamp for light intensity or perhaps to blink at the
location of an accident.” Town Manager Don Willard stated in a previous
interview. “I don’t know if we will want or choose to do all that, but the
point is, we could if we want to with an LED lighting system for additional
energy savings or public safety.”
Known as “smart controls technology”, there are many
other ways in which LED lighting can work to the benefit of municipalities like
Raymond. Some towns and cities use a number of techniques and capabilities such
as increasing in brightness when a pedestrian walks by, getting traffic counts at
intersections, and even taking pictures of street surfaces to alert
municipalities where pavement and sidewalk improvements need to take place, thus
creating a more effective pavement maintenance program and elevating personal
safety.
Willard explained that Raymond has been working in
conjunction with Windham, Standish and Gorham to provide more cost effective
and energy saving street lighting by installing the LED lighting. “As a part of
the cost saving efforts, we have been working with consultant REALTERM Energy,
a company that works closely with municipalities to install reliable and
affordable LED lighting upgrades, often providing the service to groups of
towns working together.” In this case, the collective buying will be a result
of the collaboration between the four Lakes Region towns. The cost of the project for the Town of Raymond is
$78,936 with a payback period of 4.8 years.
In a phone interview Tuesday
afternoon, Willard couldn’t contain his excitement regarding this latest,
cost-effective and environmentally friendly upgrade. “The streetlamp outside of
my office [at Raymond Town Hall] was converted today,” he began. “It will be
coming on in a minute and I can’t wait to see what it looks like.”
Other towns in Maine that have converted to or are in the
process of converting to LED lamp lighting include Presque Ise, Biddeford,
Portland, South Portland, Wells, Dover-Foxcroft, Fort Kent, Houlton, Rockland,
Falmouth and Caribou to name just a few. All these municipalities worked with
REALTERM Energy.
In a previous interview, Kaela Gonzalez, Administrative
Assistant to Willard, joked “All the
cool kids use LED and I think we should consider using it, too.” Well, it seems
Raymond has moved forward and is now one of the cool kids on the block.
