Lighting upgraded on school properties

Workers in this bucket truck install energy-efficient lighting in the parking at the Central Office for Madison City Schools (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – After work crews tackled the job during fall break, several properties with Madison City Schools now have new, energy-efficient lighting.

Lighting upgrades are part of a long-range project to reduce energy costs as the district faces rising utility bills and shrinking allocations from the state budget. “As things get tighter and tighter, we have to look for ways to cut money, and one of the ways we’re looking to cut is with our energy consumption,” superintendent Dr. Dee Fowler said.

“The more we spend on utility bills, the less we are able to spend in our classrooms,” Fowler said.

This $500,000 project involved replacing 29,500 light bulbs with low-energy LED ones. Workers also removed existing lighting setups and installed many new lighting fixtures.

During the first week of October, workers replaced light fixtures in the Central Office parking lot at 211 Celtic Drive. All Madison schools received the upgrade, except the new campuses and at Bob Jones High School that has had a $20-million renovation with new LED lighting throughout and Madison Elementary School that has completed extensive HVAC upgrades.

A TVA energy incentive for $100,000 will help offset Madison Board of Education’s expenditure for the lighting. Targeted properties also included the transportation center on Westchester Drive and Madison City Schools Stadium’s parking lot.

Patrick Conner, who works as the district’s director of operations, said the investment will pay for itself within two years and will result in even greater savings with less maintenance and replacement costs.

Annually, the district’s bill for electricity runs at approximately $2 million. The new lighting will reduce that figure by about 10 percent, Conner said. The district is studying additional steps to improve energy efficiency.