Brighter, Greener Days at Rec Center

Things are looking brighter, very literally, at the rec center these days.

Crews are in the process of installing $355,000 worth of new lights inside and outside the that will provide better illumination while saving energy -- and money.

"The new fluorescent lights are supposed to be about three times brighter," Recreation Director Bryan Bogre said. "They're going to help out the energy bill quite a bit."

A NOPEC Powering Our Communities grant is paying for the project.

Mayor Tom Perciak said the city expects to save at least $35,000 a year on its electric bills with the new energy-efficient lighting.

 Steve Bowers of R.J. Runge Co., which is handling the installation, said 700 to 800 new lights will be put in. They will include high-output fluorescent lights inside the building and LED lights in the parking lot.

Lights on the City Commons will also be replaced as part of the project, he said.

The indoor lights will feature occupancy and daylight sensors, so that if only part of the gym is in use, for example -- only one basketball game is going on, say -- the lights on the other side of the room will dim to 50 percent power.

"When they don't need to be at full brightness, they won't be," Bowers said. "It will reduce the amount of electricity being used."

Ian Young, also of R.J. Runge, said the project is part of a green initiative aimed at lowering energy consumption.

The Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC) awards grants funded by FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. (FES) as part of a recent agreement FES reached with NOPEC to provide long-term discounts on electric generation service to 129 NOPEC communities.

The grants distributed by NOPEC under a program called Powering Our Communities. Strongsville sought -- and was awarded -- $355,000 for the rec center project.

NOPEC is a non-profit governmental organization that offers residential and small business utility customers in 129 member communities in nine northeast Ohio counties a discounted electricity program as well as a natural gas program.