Hampshire Township Park District installs LED lighting via ComEd small business incentive

Laura Schraw, executive director of the Hampshire Township Park District, was contacted by Tyler Crater with Vivid Energies about an analysis of the district's current facilities.

Crater, a former Hampshire resident, had helped the park district at the Ream Park on mulching day and was back in town to visit family. He reached out to Schraw to see if he could be of assistance to the park district on a LED relighting project.

After meeting and seeing the potential cost savings, Schraw contacted the Smart Energy Design Assistant Center to see if ComEd had any additional incentives for the park district according to its size and current energy usage.

Through their direction, the incentive amount more than doubled, making it an easy decision for the park district board of commissioners to move forward with the project immediately.

"Updating our lighting is something we knew we needed to do, it was the financial outlay that was holding us back. Mr. Crater had explained our cost savings with ComEd based on our current electric bills and ComEd business incentives, and the original return on investment was less than two years," Schraw commented.

"However, with Vivid Energies working with ComEd to get us even more incentives, ultimately reduced the project cost by over 50 percent. We anticipate the reduction in our electric bill will be over $8,000 annually."

The lighting project was completed in December.

For information on the park district, visit www.hampshireparkdistrict.org or www.facebook.com/hampshireparkdistrict/