April 20, 2009

City gets $332,000 for two energy projects

By Sheldon S. Shafer
[email protected]

The city has received about $332,000 for two energy-conservation projects, one a “green” roof with plantings at the Louisville Zoo and the other solar lighting at 13 school-bus stops that don’t have lights.

The projects, which were funded in a recent appropriations bill, were two of the 25 “earmarks” sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-3rd District. The 25 projects cost a total of about $12 million, Yarmuth said.

At a news conference this morning in front of the orangutan exhibit at the Islands pavilion at the zoo, Yarmuth said America needs “to overhaul our use of energy. These projects will help establish Louisville as being on the cutting edge of the move away from foreign oil” to clean, renewable U.S. fuel sources.

Details of the two projects:

-Green roof. The money included $142,725 to the zoo for an environmentally friendly roof on the HerpAquarium. It should be installed in about six months, said zoo director John Walczak.

The roof will save the zoo tens of thousands of dollars a year in energy costs, Walczak said. The current roof is predominantly made of stone. The new roof will be covered with extensive plantings that will absorb stormwater runoff and help keep the building cool.

The new roof also will be quieter, look better and reduce the zoo’s carbon footprint, officials said. The roof will be described for visitors at a kiosk and serve as a learning tool for zoo visitors. It is being designed by the firm of Luckett & Farley, with the plantings to be provided by Boone Gardiner Garden Center.

– Solar-powered bus stop lights. Thirteen suburban locations, now all unlighted, will get new solar lighting, so children won’t have to board school buses in the dark in the morning, said Mayor Jerry Abramson.

Yarmuth gave Abramson a check for $190,300 for the lighting project, which Abramson said will greatly improve safety. None of the 13 sites in line to get the lighting had electric hookups available, said Abramson.

The lighting should be installed by this fall at these sites:

-Old Shelbyville Road near Clarland Road.
-Ellingsworth Lane at Swan Pointe Boulevard.
-Heafer Road at Hines Court.
-Heafer Road at Hiawatha Avenue.
-LaGrange Road at Lilly Lane.
-Old Shelbyville Road at Middletown Square Apartments.
-Wooded Falls Road at Ledges Drive.
-Lunenburg Drive at Halifax Drive.
-English Station Road at Berrytown Road.
-Wooded Falls Road at Towne Creek Road.
-Johnsontown Road at Yuma Way.
-Bramble Lane at Hepatica Drive.
-Feyhurst Drive at Datura Lane.

Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at (502) 582-7089.