Libertyville Upgrades Lighting, Sustains Small Business

As a taxpaying small business owner in Libertyville, Paul Cronin wanted to help reduce the cost of running .

“A huge source of our tax dollars goes toward funding the  and this is one way to help alleviate some of the costs associated with running it,” said Cronin, 32, vice president of .

In 2009, Cronin says he approached the village and proposed the idea of applying for a grant to upgrade lighting at the .

Working with the Metropolitan Mayor’s Caucus and 360 Energy Group LLC, a company that provides energy solutions, the village obtained two grants totaling some $111,000 from the Illinois Clean Energy Foundation and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, to replace existing light fixtures at the  with energy-efficient lighting.

360 Energy Group LLC worked with the village to develop bid specifications for the projects and the village received 13 bids for the projects.

On Feb. 14, the Village Board awarded a $50,000 contract to  for materials and a $51,700 contract to Jasco Electric Corporation of McHenry for installation. Both companies were the lowest bidders. As a result the project is set to cost only $102,000 and the village will not need to pay any out-of-pocket costs for the project.

Upgrading 385 Lighting Fixtures

The grant will be used to replace 385 lighting fixtures at the complex. The lights consume 458 watts per fixture and will be replaced with lights that consume 225 watts per fixture, representing a 51 percent energy saving, Cronin said.

The village says the upgrade will save $22,625 in electricity costs per year and reduce 800,415 pounds of carbon dioxide emission annually. The new lights will also provide 24 percent better light area coverage, according to Cronin.

Illinois Clean Energy Foundation provided $44,465 of the grant and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity provided the remaining $66,700.

Sustaining a 36-Year-Old Company

Not only will the upgrade help save electricity costs and the environment, it is also helping a Libertyville small business.

“The economy has been tough on construction for the past four to five years, so it’s hard to predict a consistent future,” Cronin said. “It’s definitely a nice project and nice that it helps to sustain our business moving forward.”

The 36-year-old company has worked with area schools to upgrade to energy-efficient lighting, but Cronin says the latest contract “is definitely one of our larger projects, if not the largest project of 2012.”

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