Gloucester Getting City-Wide Lighting Upgrade!

Gloucester  Mayor Carolyn Kirk is pleased to announce the completion of a four-year, city- wide lighting upgrade that will produce significant energy savings estimated at l.2 million kilowatt hours annually. The upgrades include l8 individual projects in nine municipal buildings and Will result in improved safety and better lighting quality in these buildings.

Gloucester was designated a Green Community by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) in 2010. As part of that designation, DOER provided funding to help the City achieve a 2() percent reduction in municipal energy consumption over five years. The lighting projects are part of that greater five-year energy reduction plan and are projected to reduce the City’s energy consumption by seven percent.

Mayor Kirk stated, “Our community benefits from the clean energy generated by the Wind turbines. Similarly, we all benefit by reducing energy Consumption. It is better for our pocketbooks and for our planet. l am proud of the progress We are making in reducing energy costs While helping to build a sustainable future.”

As a result of Green Community grant funding and use of National Grid incentives, the cost to the City for the lighting projects was 53 percent less than it would have been and resulted in a savings of $710,000.

In addition to the lighting projects, Green Community grant funding has been used to purchase idle reduction technology as part of a pilot project for the city’s vehicle fleet. The goal is to reduce vehicle fuel consumption and emissions. The grant funding is also being used to explore the potential retrofitting of City streetlights with LED lights in order to further reduce municipal energy consumption and costs.

The Green Community projects are managed collaboratively by the Department of Public Works and the Community Development Department with support from the Clean Energy Commission. Together, these two departments and Commission are Working to develop and fund additional energy reductions projects.