Lighting the way
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Eric Poole, Ellwood City Ledger
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis at the Community College of Allegheny County. ALSI manufactured LED lamp post in foreground.
WAYNE TWP. - The number of people impressed with Appalachian Lighting
Systems (ASLI) is growing.
Last month, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Labor Secretary Hilda
Solis were photographed at the Community College of Allegheny County alongside
a street light manufactured by the Wayne Township-based company.
A few weeks before that, Allegheny County announced that its jail experienced
an 83 percent savings in lighting utility costs after installing ALSI light-emitting
diode fixtures there.
On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire stopped by the plant’s production
floor, and he came away impressed as well.
“We’re going to try to help them grow and thrive,” said Altmire, D-4, McCandless
Township. “It’s an easy sell if you can save 80 to 90 percent in energy
costs, and if you have an American company against foreign competition.”
Altmire met Thursday with company and local officials to discuss how the
federal government can help ALSI expand. One answer
is simple — to be the company’s biggest customer.
ALSI manufactures LED fixtures for streetlights, office
lights and institutional lights.
Company President Dave McAnally said he is hopeful its products can be
installed as lighting along the nation’s highways and in federal buildings
across the United States.
And he had plenty of selling points to throw at Altmire Thursday. Changing
over to LED lighting has the potential to deliver a multibillion-dollar
short-term impact for installation projects.
In the long term, the fixtures being developed by Jim Wassel, ALSI’s chief
science officer, have already delivered energy efficiency and massive energy
savings in the Allegheny County Jail project and a test streetlight project
in Ellwood City.
McAnally also cited reports from LED industry analysts such as Phillips
Lighting that estimate Wassel’s innovations have the company at least two
years ahead of its competition.
Another factor in Altmire’s “easy sell” assessment is that 75 percent of
the components used in the company’s fixtures are made in the United States.
McAnally said virtually all of the competing companies’ lights are made
overseas.
Altmire said he would make an effort to include ALSI in
future federal legislation, including the federal Highway Reauthorization
Bill, which sets road projects for the next five years.