Where's the light?

By Eric Downing
Critic Staff

LED lights to come to Vail parking lot

Lyndon State College says, “Let there be light.”
Students who go out to the Vail Parking lot in the next week might look up and wonder where the new lights they were promised are.
Director of Maintenance Tom Archer said that the new LED lights for the Vail Parking lot were scheduled to come in last week. Unfortunately, due to a factory mix-up, LSC was sent the wrong size arms for the fixtures, which had to be sent back.
The LED lights are to replace the high pressure sodium bulbs that were removed from the Vail parking lot before the fall semester began. Currently, the lot is lit at night by two construction light towers. Archer said that the 500 watt bulbs are safe enough in the mean time, but that the he's “psyched” that the new lights should be arriving shortly.
The 20 new light fixtures will require 53 percent less energy to run, according to the manufacturer. The light bulbs also have a lifespan of around 20 years and are virtually indestructible. “So you're not buying new bulbs all the time,” Archer said.
Another difference is that the lights provide white light, as opposed to the orange haze high pressure sodium produces. “The town of Lyndonville will like us a lot better,” Archer said. The lights are even effective in the low temperatures in the area. “They actually work better the colder it is,” Archer said.
Although the lights will only go to the Vail parking lot right now, Archer said that he looks forward to getting the rest of the lamps changed in the future. This might not, however, happen until after next year. One of the reasons for the delay is that there are plans to expand the Stonehenge parking lot.
“The plan is to keep moving,” Archer said.