Green grant lights up Aspen dispatch center

Aspen-Pitkin County Communications received $1,915.00 over the last year in grant funds to replace current lighting with more energy efficient lighting. The grant comes from an employee-funded organization of Pitkin County and City of Aspen called the “Green Team”. The Green Team is a voluntary effort whose mission is to contribute to actions that support County and City environmental values.

The Communications Center, where all calls to 911 are received, operates 24 hours per day, 365 days per year and dispatches police, fire and medical for Pitkin County and portions of Eagle and Gunnison Counties serving over 1,000 square miles.

Interim Communications Director, Bruce Romero said he “is aware of the amount of energy required to run a center that is continuously operating and wants the operation to be as environmentally responsible as possible”.

Existing lighting at the Communications Center was replaced with LED lighting that can be up to 90 percent more energy efficient than incandescent light bulbs. A heat generation reading conducted at the time the new light bulbs were installed showed that each bulb decreased the amount of heat expelled by as much as 50 degrees. LED bulbs can last 10 times longer than traditional bulbs.