Sagamore Hill Installs Green Lights at Old Orchard Museum

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site has upgraded its lighting fixtures at the Old Orchard home in an effort to reduce energy consumption and enhance exhibit lighting.  Two projects were undertaken; one resulted in the replacement of outdated fluorescent light fixtures throughout the second floor administrative office area with more energy efficient fixtures.  The second project included the retrofit of the first floor exhibit track lighting system in the Theodore Roosevelt Museum at Old Orchard with state of the art LED fixtures.

These upgrades are in support of the National Park Service’s greening and climate change response initiatives and Executive Order 13514 signed by President Obama on October 5, 2009 which calls for federal government leadership in environmental, energy, and economic performance through the reduction of energy consumption government agency wide. In the fall of 2009, Sagamore Hill NHS collaborated with the Long Island Power Authority who conducted a free energy audit of the site’s main buildings. The audit determined that upgrades to the Old Orchard museum’s exhibit and administrative office lighting fixtures could generate an annual energy savings of at least $2,400.00.

With this information, the park worked with a National Park Service lighting architect to develop a plan to replace lighting fixtures throughout the building.  New exhibit lighting, the centerpiece of the project, called for the replacement of sixty-seven inefficient incandescent light bulbs with forty-two efficient LED lights.   Even with the reduction of fifteen lighting fixtures, lighting in the exhibit galleries is enhanced for a greater visitor experience and there is a significant drop in energy usage from using the older lights drawing 50 watts of electricity per bulb compared to only 16 watts of power used in each LED light.

In addition to the improved lighting and energy savings, other benefits of the LED fixtures include a life expectancy of 50,000 hours, or approximately 14 years; little to no emission of ultra-violet rays (ultra-violet rays can be harmful to collections); a more natural light illumination of the galleries; and the LED lights generate little to no heat as compared to incandescent bulbs, lowering summer cooling costs for the building.

The second floor administrative offices lighting project resulted in the replacement of sixteen outdated fluorescent light fixtures with modern, energy efficient fixtures to complete the project.

The public is invited to visit the Theodore Roosevelt Museum at Old Orchard Wednesday through Sunday 10:00AM to 5:00PM to view the galleries and experience the high tech LED lighting. Entrance to the museum is free.  For further information, visit our website at www.nps.gov/sahi, or call 516-922-4788.