The Township in the coming days will begin the installation of solar panels on several Township buildings, TLS has learned. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Township has received an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) of $678,200.00, which will be used to save energy, improve efficiency, install energy saving equipment, and help the environment through the use of solar energy, all without spending local tax dollars.

This grant is being used for two separate projects. One project will involve replacing windows and doors and installing special lighting to conserve energy, which was already done, and the second project will focus on solar energy.

The Township buildings to receive the solar panels, are the Municipal building, the inspections building on Fourth Street, the Blue Claws stadium, the DPW and the OEM building on Pine Street. At the stadium, the solar panels will be placed on tents being placed in the parking lot.

“We are very excited about the possibilities”, Reinman says. “I think we are getting a lot of leverage out of the money from the federal government allotted to Lakewood under this grant. A good portion of it is going to the direct improvement of our facilities. Birdsall will manage the solar process for us with the small amount of money left”.

Ervin Oross, the community development director, says, “This grant is a great thing for the township because we can realize hard cost savings to the taxpayers via efficiency and energy systems. It is important for the public to know that we had a professional energy audit done that guided the committee’s decisions about how to judiciously spend the grant money we received. Birdsall was fantastic because they had experience in 30 other towns to help us put this thing together.”

Members of the steering committee included Senator Robert Singer; Committeeman Ray Coles; Lawrence Bathgate from Bathgate, Wegener & Wolfe; representatives from Birdsall Engineering, Steve Reinman, and Ervin Oross. TLS.