‘Green’ lights ahead for Nassau County

County Executive Ed Mangano’s aides, in sharp business suits, suddenly appeared out of side doors, carrying folding stands, maps and charts, which they hurriedly set up in the center of the Nassau County Executive and Legislative Building’s ornate press room. Then came the big yellow stoplight.

Yes, the stoplight.

It was about half the height of the men carrying it, and stood on a tripod. After it was deposited on the floor beside Mangano’s lectern, reporters and others approached it with quizzical grins, lifting, tapping and inspecting it. It was as if a giant toy had been left there.

The stoplight appeared out of place amid the chamber’s exquisite stained-glass windows and polished trim. It was utilitarian, not fanciful.

Still, this was no ordinary stoplight. It was an LED — light-emitting diode — stoplight. LED lights burn brighter than the ones we’re used to, meaning drivers can see them better, particularly in a fog, and yet they use a fraction of the electricity.

The county is replacing its old stoplights at 1,300 intersections with their LED cousins, thanks to an $812,000 grant and loan guarantees from the New York Power Authority, the state-owned utility (the largest in the country, by the way). Work on the project is expected to begin this summer and cost $8.75 million.

The stoplights will save the county $1.1 million in annual electricity costs because they are that much more efficient than the 20th century technology we’re accustomed to. The new lights last 10 years — so, in the end, the county should save more than $2 million while also helping the environment.

Mangano appeared with NYPA President and CEO Richard Kessel, a former head of the Long Island Power Authority. Both men touted the environmentally friendly aspect of the lights. Because they’re energy-efficient, they need less electricity. So we needn’t burn as much oil and natural gas at power plants, so fewer greenhouse gases are sent into the atmosphere. And that should help stave off global warming, the slow, steady heating of the Earth caused by solar radiation being trapped by atmospheric carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.