Lowering Energy Bills Isn’t Hard, BPU Spokesman Tells League

CAPE MAY – Lowering energy use by 15 percent “isn’t that hard,” according to Gary Finger, ombudsman, of Board of Public Utilities, Office of Clean Energy.
He briefed the Cape May County League of Municipalities March 22 on some high points of the state’s programs geared to assist municipalities and private businesses lower energy bills by installing more energy efficient devices.
Finger cited Viking Yacht, located in New Gretna, as an example of a manufacturer that is employing workers, “and is growing their business left and right” yet cut their energy costs. “How did they do that” Finger asked. “They produce their own power.” He said the company generates its own electricity and heat on-site.
“Not that they’re off the grid,” he said, but the company has greatly reduced its energy consumption.
As another smaller example, he cited a Margate restaurant that has on-site electrical generation. A small, 20 kilowatt micro-turbine is their method of production. “They save $40,000 every single year,” he said.
Transferring that business’ concept to a municipal complex, said Finger addressing elected officials, on-site electrical generation becomes feasible for a municipal complex, perhaps with a library, administration building and school or perhaps a senior citizens housing project nearby.
Being able to power one’s own needs reduces the reliance on the electrical grid. Finger cited Hurricane Sandy when the casinos in Atlantic City were ordered closed by the state. It wasn’t due to their lack of electricity, since they had their own generation, and even housed some emergency workers.
Finger cited one municipality that changed its street lights from older ones to light-emitting diode lights. In so doing, the electric bill went from $28,000 annually to $8,000, he said.
He cited a change that must take place when thinking about lighting from wattage to lumens. Since the great majority of energy used in ordinary lighting is given off as heat. It makes little sense, Finger said, to put bulbs that produce heat in refrigerators or freezers, where the idea is to cool items. Instead light should be revalued in the amount of lumens produced, which is a measure of light not heat.
Finger urged any business or municipal entity to contact his office to explore possibilities that may exist to assist in converting from older, high-energy-using units to more efficient units that use less energy.
Finger’s office number is 609-777-3304.