Golden Valley Fire Officials announce the completion of their Energy Efficiency Lighting Upgrade project. The lighting at Station-11, Station-12 and the Administrative offices were replaced with more energy efficient light bulbs and ballasts. Chief O’Donohue said this simple lighting modification along with turning lights off in unoccupied rooms will save thousands of dollars a year. The project in conjunction with UniSource and contractor KER Electric will save approximately 33,856 KWH’s of energy, which eliminates the release of 22.2 tons of CO2 released into the environment annually. These savings are the equivalent to any one of the following: planting 6 acres of trees, removing five cars from the road, saving 2,795 gallons of gas or saving 67 barrels of oil. Golden Valley Fire received approximately 60% of the funding from UniSource Energy for this project, making each of the three fire stations more “Green” for the environment. The total cost of the project was $8,250.93, of which $5,226.55 of which was covered by UniSource Energy rebates. The balance of $3,241.81 that Golden Valley Fire budgeted for the project will be recouped in approximately seven months, after that it simply reduces the operating costs of each fire station. Chairman Curt Hardy added; “Energy efficiency is just one of the ways the Fire District is looking to trim the budget”.
