Same
Sign + New Lights = Huge Savings
The old Smith sign bulbs (pictured from 2006) required
more than four times the wattage of those lighting the
new sign. |
It won’t be noticeable to the eye, but this year,
when the sign lights up on the athletic field heralding “Smith
2009” to the night sky during the senior candle-lighting
ceremony and Illumination, it will be consuming far less
power than similar signs of the past.
That’s because this
year the traditional sign has been retrofitted with LED
(liquid-emitting diode) bulbs, which use substantially
less electric wattage than traditional bulbs, which have
lit up the sign for many years.
“The savings should be substantial,” said
Dano Weisbord, director of environmental sustainability.
The new LED bulbs will use 1,685 watts, explained Weisbord,
in comparison with the old bulbs, which required 8,400
watts.
The cost- and energy-saving
measure is another in a continuing line of sustainability
initiatives big and small across campus—from
programming campus computer monitors to shut down automatically
when not in use to multiple environmentally friendly innovations
in the new Ford Hall for engineering.
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