Streetlights
Town of Berlin Exhibit A Lighting Inventory 20180508
Please note: This shows 67 lights rather than the 66 in the FAQ. One non-functional light was removed due to potential interference with the wires and low utility to the town.
This is an example of the new LED light installed. This is on Fosgate at Gates Pond Road. 
Streetlight Conversion FAQ
Q: How Many Lights are being changed?
A: There are 66 lights across town that are being changed out as part of this program
Q: What color are the lights going to be?
A: The Energy Committee elected to go with a warm white model that emits light at 3000K.
Q: What is this going to cost and how are you paying for it?
A: At the 2018 annual town meeting an article was passed for $25,000 to pay for this project. Going into contruction we have about 10% of our budget left over to deal with contingencies. Probably the two biggest threats to us going over budget would be if we require more detail officer time than we expected and if the wiring of the existing lights is inadequate and needs to be redone.
Q: Will the Town get any rebates or grants to help pay for this?
A: Yes! National Grid confirmed recently that they have allocated $4640 in rebates to our project (National Grid BA Number: 5294707006; Application #: 9272131) and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council estimated that we would recieve a grant of $4458 at project completion. This money would go back into the Town's General Fund. We are not using the rebate or grant to fund the project. Our goal is to deliver the entire project using only the $25,000 allocated at Town Meeting and return all the grant and rebate money to the Town.
Q: So why are we doing this? Weren't the old lights fine?
A: No, they really weren't. They were old technology and very inefficient. There are (soon to be were) many lights around town that weren't even operational. There are two ways that we expect to save money by doing this project: reduced maintenance costs and energy savings. According to the budgetary proposal that was provided to us by the MAPC at the start of the project, Berlin should expect to save $3168 per year on energy costs and $3571 for maintenance = $6739.
Q: I heard we own the lights now. Isn't that going mean we have to pay more for maintenance?
A: Probably not, but even if we do we're going to actually get something for the money we spend. National Grid charged us a flat rate for "maintenance" whether they did anything for us or not. Judging from the condition of the lights around town it is fair to say that not a lot of maintenance was done for the money we paid. The lights we purchased have a 10-year limited warranty on the luminaire and components. Speaking to other towns who have already made the switch, these lights rarely need service.
Q: Who is going to do the maintenance on the lights now that we own them?
A: In the very near-term it will be the installation vendor but we're working on an agreement with Boylston Light to take over from them. In the long term, it might make sense for our own Highway Department to do it. One of the advantages of installing these new lights is that they will be properly fused and isolated from the electric wires (they weren't before). This makes it much simpler and safer to maintain and change the lights.
Q: So how much did we have to pay National Grid to buy the lights?
A: $1
Q: What kind of lights are these?
A: Leotek Green Cobra Jr. LED Streetlights. Most of our lights are the GCJ0 model.
Q: I heard someone say something about a "dimulator". What is that?
A: A "dimulator" is a control that dims the streetlight by 50% at 11PM until it shuts off at dawn. It's smart technology that controls the light based on time of day rather than a photosensor. The Energy Committee elected to install these at additional cost because we expect that in the next 18-24 months National Grid will adopt a new rate plan that will again lower the operational costs of these lights. We're not going to save any money quite yet, but it will reduce the amount of electricity we use even if we don't get credit for it. Most importantly, we'll be positioned to benefit from a future rate plan without having to do anything more.
Q: I'm a backyard astronomer, what are these going to do to light pollution?
A: The good news is that these lights are full cut-off which should keep the light shining down on the roads where we need it and not up in the sky where we don't. Plus, the dimming at 11:00 should help out when you're trying to find those deep space objects.
Q: I'm not a backyard astronomer and would like to see more lights in town. What about that?
A: We have no plans to add any more lights at this time and the existing lights are being replaced on a one-for-one basis. However, there is nothing stopping us from doing that in the future. As the Energy Committee we want to use as little electricity as possible but we understand that added lights, especially at some of our intersections, would benefit public safety. We would be happy to work with the Town's Public Safety team and submit a plan for funding and approval.
Q: We're a Green Community. How does this project further those goals?
A: Based on an analysis by our lighting consultant and submitted as part of our rebate application we expect to save 18,360 KWh in electricity. The average home in the United States uses about 940KWh per month, so our 66 lights have the effect of removing the equivalent electricity use of about 1.5 homes. Or to put it in terms of CO2: 12.98 Metric Tons
Calculation From EPA.GOV
Emission Factor
1,559 lbs CO2/MWh × (4.536 × 10-4 metric tons/lb) × 0.001 MWh/kWh = 7.07 × 10-4 metric tons CO2/kWh
(AVERT, U.S. national weighted average CO2 marginal emission rate, year 2017 data)
0.000707 * 18,360 = 12.98052 Metric Tons
This calculation does not include any greenhouse gases other than CO2.
This calculation includes line losses.
Q: Where can I find out more about the MAPC rapid retrofit program?
A: There is much more information about the statewide impact of this program on the MAPC website. If you don't want to click over to their website, here's a short excerpt from their site:
Since 2013, MAPC has developed and managed procurements to help municipalities obtain the necessary goods and services to retrofit their streetlights. MAPC’s collective procurements helped reduce cost and accelerate retrofit timelines for over 30 municipalities with a cumulative 60,000 streetlights.
As grant administrator for the DOER’s Rapid Retrofit LED Streetlight program, MAPC is working with over 45 municipalities (served by investor owned utilities) to retrofit more than 75,000 streetlights.
(Note: There is a map on their website and Berlin is not colored in as a participating community. They haven't updated that graphic since November 2017 and we didn't sign our memorandum of understanding until 2018.)