Some of my thoughts and concerns for April of 2005:
You can view the official Township meeting minutes at:
http://hometown.aol.com/maidenminutes/minutespg1.html
I still have copies of the Fredrick Bastiat book “The Law” available to Maidencreek residents
Storm Water:
PA Act 167 Maidencreek Watershed plan is another state mandate, but this time it looks like one I can support. We held the public hearing in April, and passed this ordinance at meeting following the hearing. The big thing about this ordinance is that it will require future development in the Willow Creek watershed to over-retain their storm water. The Willow Creek watershed is already very problematic. Homes in Maidencreek Estates have water in their back yards frequently as the creek overflows. The other good thing about Act 167 is that the Willow Creek watershed, and the Maidencreek Watershed will be considered as a whole system. Act 167 should give a coherent storm water management plan for these creeks that will not start and stop at the township line. For more on the Berks County Act 167 plan Click here
Street Lights:
One of the more surprising outcomes of the meeting was the concern over street lights. Met Ed encourages us to switch from Mercury Vapor (Hg) to Sodium Vapor (Na). The Na lights save money as they are cheaper to run, but they give a yellowish glow rather than a blueish glow of the Hg bulbs. Bob and I votes to switch new installations over to Na from Hg as the Hg fixtures fail. This means that just the failure of a Hg bulb will not cause us to switch to the Na lamp. The Hg fixture must fail as well. For similar light the Na puts out more lumens for 60% of the energy, but the savings is not as dramatic as the energy consumption would imply. See the following table:
|
|
Sodium (Na) |
Mercury (Hg) |
|
Power Consumption |
250 W |
150 W |
|
Lumens |
11,000 |
14,000 |
|
Customer Fixed Charge |
$5.65 |
$5.65 |
|
Energy Cost |
$2.63 |
$4.39 |
|
Provision A (Maintenance) |
$1.91 |
$0.78 |
|
Provision B (Met-Ed Owned) |
$1.82 |
$1.82 |
|
Monthly Operating Cost |
$12.01 |
$12.64 |
Notice that the savings of the Na bulb is nearly eaten up by the maintenance charge. This is in-spite of the fact that the Na bulb is supposed to be better for the environment (less mercury waste) and the bulb life is similar (4 to 5 years) Most of the residents present at the meeting seem to prefer the Hg over the Na. I was unaware the energy savings is almost negated by the provision A charge. The results are a little better for higher wattages for example, a 400 W Hg bulb is replaced by a 250 W Na and the monthly savings is $1.40
Paid for by Roy Timpe