Switching from high-pressure sodium to LED lights in parking lots
Thanks to a grant from Minnesota Schools Cutting Carbon, DCTC is switching from 40-year-old, high-pressure sodium lamps in the college’s parking lots to new, Beta LED lights.
“The LED lights use one third the power,” reported Don Deutsch, an electrician in the college’s Operations department. Deutsch provided technical assistance to Trudi Greaves, the assistant director of the DCTC Foundation, when she wrote the original grant application. “The sodium lamps are 450 watts as opposed to the LEDs, which are only 144 watts.”
Students in the DCTC Electrical Lineworker program volunteered their expertise to swap out the lights. Steve Addy, an instructor in the program, brought out a number of bucket trucks plus a crack crew of future lineworkers to do the job. “We can all do our part to conserve electricity and decrease the college’s carbon footprint,” Addy said. “Sustainability is the name of the game.”
