Red, white and blue going green

Presidential museum and executive mansion receive LED lighting; more historic sites to follow

[May 08, 2012]  SPRINGFIELD --  Our colors might be red, white and blue, but Illinois history is now going green. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and the Illinois Executive Mansion in Springfield have recently installed light-emitting diode, or LED, lighting that provides the same light levels as standard bulbs while producing less heat and ultraviolet light and using less energy.

A federal grant administered by the Illinois Capital Development Board has helped the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum replace high-energy lighting with more efficient LED lighting. Over their expected 10-year life, the LED lights are projected to save the museum more than $303,000 in energy costs per year and reduce energy consumption by approximately 272,500 kilowatt hours of energy per year. In addition, the LEDs produce less ultraviolet light, which will protect the museum's one-of-a-kind artifacts and murals.

The lighting in the Illinois Executive Mansion has been retrofitted with LED light bulbs courtesy of PolyBrite International Inc. of Naperville, manufacturer and creator of environmentally sustainable Borealis LED light bulbs. PolyBrite donated 450 LED bulbs to replace standard lighting in the mansion. Ninety-five percent of the building's interior light fixtures are now LED-equipped, reducing interior lighting costs by about 80 percent. Solar panels, rain barrels, an electric vehicle charging station and a community vegetable garden have also been added, helping the mansion increase energy efficiency and be more sustainable.

Officials from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which administers the presidential museum, are also experimenting with LED lighting at the Old State Capitol State Historic Site in Springfield, and if that proves successful, the energy-saving technology could be used in more of the agency's 60 historic sites and memorials.

For more information about Illinois' energy-saving and environmental initiatives, visit www.green.illinois.gov.

[Text from file received from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency]