Downtown Salina going green for Christmas

By GARY DEMUTH

Salina Journal

This holiday season, lights in downtown Salina will be ecologically friendly.

At Tuesday's meeting of the Salina Downtown, Inc. board of directors, members voted to adopt a recommendation made by a downtown holiday lighting task force to replace current Christmas roof lighting in the Lee District with warm white LED rope lighting.

Plans are to install LED lights on all decorative lighting poles along the north 100 block and south 100 and 200 blocks of Santa Fe Avenue by Nov. 21, the day of the annual downtown Christmas Parade of Lights.

"The current lighting system has been in place for a long time and needed an upgrade," said Phyll Klima, executive director of Salina Downtown, Inc. "This is our move to make downtown more green."

Building owners and renters in the Lee District will be able to switch to the new system at no additional cost, Klima said. Salina Downtown board members have developed a cost share program to assist property and business owners with initial costs and have established a perpetual maintenance and repair agreement to keep the lights in operation.

Arrangements also have been made with the Greater Salina Community Foundation to enable donors to contribute to a "Green Lee" fund. Additionally, Salina Downtown Inc. is offering to match every dollar of private investment to install the rooftop LED rope lighting, Klima said.

Research by the task force estimated that rooftop lighting and installation will cost about $5 for a linear foot, or about $125 in total for a 25-foot roof line.

The new lighting not only will last longer -- an estimated five years -- but will use just one-twelfth of the electricity of the current system, Klima said.

Saving money

The new lighting is expected to save the city money and energy, she said, and also might help Salina win a statewide contest.

Salina is one of six Kansas cities -- Quinter, Merriam, Mount Hope/Haven, Wellington and Kinsley are the others -- participating in the Take Charge Challenge, a contest to determine which participating city cuts electricity use by the largest amount in one year.

The winner of the contest, which concludes April 1, 2010, will get the choice of a wind turbine for one of its schools, solar panels for a civic building or funds to complete a civic energy efficiency project.

Salina, partnering with Westar Energy, will receive points for every incandescent bulb replaced with more energy-efficient lighting, Klima said.

"When we make the big switch, you can be sure we'll count every bulb that comes off a building," she said.

nReporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at gdemuth@salina.com.

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